I Got This $170 Portable Washing Machine to Prepare for Having a Baby, and It’s a Total Game-Changer for Renters

With a newborn on the way, I was determined to find a solution for all the accidents and dirty laundry that were sure to come. Living in New York, many apartments do not have in-unit washing and drying machines. Most are usually located in the basement and are shared with the entire building. We wanted a quick and easy way to clean our newborn’s clothes without the hassle of bringing them down to the basement or to my parent’s place. We stumbled upon this portable washing machine that had more than 13,000 Amazon reviews. With that many reviews and the reasonable price, what could go wrong? We put the machine in our baby registry, and it was immediately purchased by a family member. 

Before putting it in our registry, we did some research, looked at other options, and felt the size of the machine and overall features checked the boxes on our list. We live in a one-bedroom apartment, and now with the addition of the baby coming soon, that one bedroom has now turned into a half nursery. Space is definitely at a premium, and being able to store this washing machine was a priority. With a bit of cleaning up and shifting items over, we found a spot in the closet to put the machine when it’s not in use. The machine measures 15 in. x 25 in. x 28 in., which is about the size of a hamper.

It’s not difficult to use this machine: Fill the washing side with water to the allocated line, put in your detergent, turn the wash timer to 15 minutes and let the machine work its magic! You’ll immediately see the clear water turn dark (depending on how dirty your clothes were) and the detergent working into the clothes. Once the 15 minutes are up, turn the button from normal to drain and all the dirty water will drain from the wash section. What I like to do is while this is happening is use the shower head to rinse out the clothes even further and run the machine again without detergent. After that is done, I take a few pieces from the wash section and put them into the spin section.

The spin section is small, so it won’t be able to handle all of the clothes you put in the wash, but it’s perfect for all the baby clothes that will eventually pile up. The spin section is exactly like a salad spinner and has a safety feature where if the lid is open, it’ll stop immediately. You may need to run it a few times but after the spin cycle, I suggest putting the clothes on a drying rack. In my opinion, it can easily handle a week’s worth of adult-sized clothing. The overall process took less than an hour (not counting putting the clothes on the drying rack.) 

Here are a few helpful tips I learned while using this washing machine:

• Use an extension cord because the cord it comes with was way too short and couldn’t reach our plug location.
• Place the washing machine in the tub or something similar in case of spills or you forget to turn the machine on from drain to normal.
• We had a shoe tray lying around in the apartment, and it fit perfectly under the machine. This will protect your floor from scratches or spills while the machine is on. This one fit under the machine perfectly.

So if you’re in the market for a portable washing machine that can do all the basics of washing your clothes, I highly recommend checking out the Giantex Portable Mini Compact Twin Tub Washing Machine.

Buy: Giantex Portable Mini Compact Twin Tub Washing Machine, $169.99