These days, thankfully, modern technology is working hard so that we don’t have to work as hard. Not at home anyway. More and more women, and mothers especially, are able to do full time work and this is thanks in no small part to the fact that mod cons are in place to handle the domestic work. Go back to the days of a washing tub and a mangle and it’s easy to see why women weren’t exactly flying up the career ladder at the same time. Nowadays, there are certain appliances that we could not and should not live without. No longer just luxuries, certain domestic items are classed as essentials now, and here they are:
Washing Machine
A washing machine is a faithful family servant, carrying out load after load of dirty washing. Clothes, bedding, towels and teddy bears need constant washing; now who knows where we’d be without a washing machine. Probably still stuck at home without any hope of a career. Washing a load by hand would take at least an hour, and then there was the wringing out process. Now, it’s just a case of banging a load on, pressing a button, and getting on with other stuff until it’s dry enough to hang out.
Tumble Dryer
Speaking of hanging washing out – where would we be without a tumble dryer too? It’s all very well if you live in a climate that is sunny all year round, but for most people, drying clothes is something that takes up valuable living space within the house. A quick spin in the dryer leaves washing bone dry and ready to fold and put away (if only there was a machine for that too!). Many people keep their tumble dryers in outhouses or utility rooms in order to keep the kitchen clear.
Dishwasher
A pile of washing up that is stacked next to the sink is enough to fill anybody with doom. Hand-washing makes your hands go dry, and takes up an awful lot of your time too. Then there is the drying – why is there never enough room on the draining board for everything that gets washed up? Drying is essential unless you want to wait until the tower of clean plates you have just built up comes toppling down in spectacular fashion. When you consider that dishwashers these days actually use less water than traditional washing up, it’s a no-brainer.
Fridge
Can you imagine a world where you have to live without a fridge? If left unrefrigerated, food lasts for a fraction of the time. Milk grows sour, cheese grows mold and vegetables wilt. We take it for granted, but in the days before fridges were commonplace, people would have to use cold store rooms, or just buy lots of long-life food.
These mod cons that once were so rare are now installed in pretty much every home across the land. Once in a while we should look back and feel grateful to those inventors and engineers who put so much work into help us put less work into our domestic chores!
Ryan Brown is an employee at Sepgo.com, which is an ecommerce company. Whenever he isn’t busy, he enjoys travelling and capturing his memories through still photography.
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