Love this little washer

I downsized and moved from a house into a 500-square foot studio apartment in the city back in February. One of the sacrifices I had to make -- or so I thought -- was private indoor laundry at home.

This little Haier changed that for me.

It is the smartest $200 or so that I have spent in a long time.

It is so cute and small, it fits right into my walk-in closet next to the bathroom. Works like a charm, I just move the washer out of the closet and a couple of feet into the bathroom, snap the hose onto the bathroom faucet and put the drain hose into the tub. I can do a whole week's worth of laundry in a couple of hours.

It holds roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of what most people would consider a normal load of clothes. In one wash load, I can do maybe 4 or 5 pairs of pants, or a full set of queen sheets (fitted bottom and flat top sheet); two large bath towels and two face towels.... you get the picture.

It is too small to wash my comfortor so I just do that once a month in the building laundromat downstairs.

I figure this machine has saved me at least $5/week in washing machine costs; probably more than that. So at this point the machine has already paid for itself.

I've never had any leaking problems except once when I experimented and washed a blanket that was too large for the machine. There was a small puddle on the bathroom floor afterwards; no big deal.

As long as you don't overstuff it, you shouldn't have any leaking issues.

It's also important to me that this machine is nice and new and CLEAN... I don't have to wonder who used the machine before me or what they put in it.

On a lighter note, this washing machine has also turned out to be something of a conversation piece. Whenever I have guests over and they see the washer next to the bathroom, they always comment on how cute and convenient it is.

I'm debating whether to get the Haier portable dryer; for now I use my shower curtain rod as a clothes line or I just do a bunch of loads of laundry, and take them downstairs to the laundromat dryer in one shot.

But it is so nice to have the option of doing all my laundry entirely in my apartment if I choose. Huge money saver and convenience. I highly recommend this machine.

The only (small) complaint I have about it is not really a complaint but more of a question. The drain hose and water line are very short. I wish they were a little longer so that I didn't have to move the washer into the bathroom (three feet away) to hook it up to the faucet.

I'm thinking of going to Home Depot and seeing if I can finding extensions for the water hose and the drain hose that would be long enough to reach into the bathroom.

If anyone has had any luck with that, please let me know.