Free Washing Machine

How about a free washing machine (nothing to pay) which uses no power to run (no electricity bill to pay), with an automatic dry cycle and a fresh-as-air scent before you fold it.

No capital costs.

No running costs.

On my way home, on foot or on bike, I see shopping bags, work gloves, and similar objects blown into the weeds at the side of the road.

Here is such a bag. It had been used for carrying plants, so there were traces of garden soil and vegetable matter inside.

I turn it inside out and hang it on the line, for rain was due last night, and rain is often accompanied by wind.

(Bonavista’s motto: “You can’t grow anything here; it’s too cold, it’s too wet, its too windy”)

Well, in the afternoon much of the debris is shaken out of the bag (and falls onto my lawn as top-dressing. Second Use For Everything !)

Overnight the rain falls, wetting the bag, and water, being The Universal Solvent , loosens more material. The wind shakes the bag and more debris falls off. The rain clears, and next morning in the gentle breeze that follows an overnight rain-storm, the bag is dry.

Your $1,000 washing machine does the same for you: It will agitate, soak, agitate, and spin-dry the soiled bag or work-gloves that you collected from a neighbour, or from the side of the road. But then you have spent $1,000, plus tax, plus delivery (or you have driven to St John’s and back). “120V, 10 Amps” you do the arithmetic.

“What about my work pants and shirts?” you ask. Good Question. Well, you could soak them in a mild solution of detergent overnight, scrub out the tough spots in the morning, and leave them out to drain, rinse (in rain water – nothing purer!) and dry.

If you were serious about all this stuff

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