Channeling the Inner Hausfrau

One interesting experience for the two of us has been getting used to doing all the housework ourselves, sometimes with more limited tools than we're used to. Sure, at home we do our own laundry, cooking, and dishes, but we're spoiled because our wonderful house cleaner comes every other week, cleans everything, and even changes the bed linens.

Here, we do the laundry ourselves, and we're not even getting close to taking advantage of the high-tech washing machine in the apartment. Here's only half of the options:

You can really have control over your laundry here, with a precise temperature selector that includes Kochwaesche, i.e. "Boiling Laundry". Bleach is used rarely in Germany, instead, you still boil to desinfect. The heating element is included in the washing machine. There's a second set of buttons that allows for additional choices. For example, by default the machine runs for 2 hours. You can select "Kurz" to reduce that time to 58 minutes, or just program your own time.

We're using a simple detergent, but the landlady asked us to include Calgon each time we do laundry. Calgon helps dissolve the calcium that's in the water. It helps get the laundry clean and also, more importantly, protects the washing machine. I'm continuously amazed how quickly you see a layer of calcium on the sink - the water is really hard - so we're following this advice carefully.

Dryers are still not all that common in Germany, especially in apartments, but we found two Waeschestander to hang everything up. With the balcony door open, things dry pretty quickly - we're even doing sheets every other week (though we miss Maria when we make the beds...)

We miss Maria even more when it comes to cleaning, but last weekend we finally bit the bullet and did a thorough cleaning. And there was no lack of cleaning supplies. In the bathroom:

• Calcium Remover
• Two bathroom cleaner sprays
• Toilet cleaner
•  Desinfectant
• Those things you can hang in the toilet

In the kitchen, we found much more. I couldn't get it into one photo.

• Calcium remover (especially for stainless steel)
• Cleanser "Der General)
• Grease desolving spray
• Glass cleaner (I think this is for Windows)
• Wooden floor cleanser

And then:

• Fabric softener 
• Gall soap - this is a substance made from ox gall that dissolves greasy stains. I have it at home as well, but as soap, not as liquid soap. 
• Vorwaschspray - some other stain remover to use before laundry
• Drano
• Dishwashing liquid (in the background)
• Furniture polish (not shown)

Who knows, some American housewives might have an equally impressive collection of cleaning supplies, but even my mother had a lot less - and I usually get by with Bon Ami, vinegar for the floors, dishwashing liquid, and Gallseife - plus Maria use one or two other cleansers.

Was the apartment clean when we were done? Yes, it was sparkly and wonderful, and we were pleased about our accomplishment! Will we use up the cleaning supplies? Probably not...