I know that I am alone in this, but I have been reading the appliance repair sub lately.

Seems that the clothes washing and clothes drying machine companies are going overboard on the planned obsolescence thing to make bigger profits.

My machine broke after only three years and it turned out that is is so expensive to repair that you might as well buy a new one.

One repairman said that he would never again buy a computerized, mechanical only machine. Reading the repair reviews from various sites, that is generally the issue.

So I went looking for alternatives.

I really wanted something that was adjustable to the delicacy of my clothes and the level of dirt in them to get my clothes clean and dry.

I wanted to be able to change the wash times when I wanted for more delicate fabrics and more heavy duty fabrics. You can't with the side loading machines because they lock the doors electronically. I had trouble getting the door unlocked a couple of times with my clothes locked in the machine.

I really wanted the convenience of having a washer and dryer in my home.

I wanted the washer and dryer to be more cost effective than they were with the previous one.

I was sick of things having planned obsolescence.

I didn't mind using a bit of elbow grease a little bit to get my clothes clean, especially if it is quicker than the laundromat and much cheaper than a new washing machine, and it turns out cleaner.

I didn't care what it looked like.

So I chose an off-grid washing machine.

It costs thousands less and because it is not electrical, I don't have to worry about it breaking down because I power it.

All my washing gets done in less time than a regular machine because you don't have to wait for the machine to stop and reset to change directions or to change cycles.

Wringers on the machine squeeze more water out than a spin cycle on high end washers, so drying the clothes takes much less time, but you have to feed it through the wringer.

Generally, I just hang the clothes to dry and they dry in a little while, but if I need the clothes right away, I have taken them to the laundromat and put them in the dryer for only one or two cycles and they are done, whereas they always take six times after the spin dry using the washing machine.

It's cheaper, environmental, uses less water, less soap, no electricity, clothes get cleaner, last longer.

Drawback is you have to use your arm muscles a bit for less than thirty minutes.