I have an old washer and dryer that work. I don’t want to replace them with smart devices. I DO want to get a text whenever they’re done with their cycles. Any ideas how to make that happen?
ADHD person here.
I installed Home Assistant on a small RPi and used a Wifi plug.
I then I used one of the many blueprints that basically says “If power is over 5amp, and then stop for 5 minutes and under 5amps, then send a message to your phone”.
Reminders + timers are key. I have a recurring reminder that says “Laundry? Set timer!” That I check off either if there’s no laundry or once the laundry is on the drying rack. It is set to remind me every 3 days once checked off.
It will stare at me every time I check my phone until it’s done. Works pretty well.
This. As someone with severe combined type ADHD, it is vitally important to develop coping strategies. Timers, alarms, calendar entries, etc. Anything and everything that works. I also recommend passing your decision making process through a mental prioritization framework so you target the lowest hanging fruit (choose biggest impact tasks that require the least amount of effort to complete).
Gamechanger for me was automation with home assistant. I attached sensors everywhere and wrote scripts that nag me with notifications on my phone. For example I have a smart wall plug where the washer is attached to. If the power draw first rises over a threshold it means, that I started the washer. If it goes below a theeshold that means it’s finished and it sends a notification. To make sure I don’t ignore it, I attached a door/window sensor to the washer’s door. So it reminds me every 5 minutes until I open that fucking door.
And I tried to identify as many situations like these as possible so it takes care of reminding me. It’s not perfect and many things are not feasible to automate. But it helps me a lot!
I have a combination washer/dryer unit. It doesn’t do a great job at drying, but it does remove enough of the moisture that it takes a couple days to get musty. It’s nice that I can just stick a load in before bed, and besides wrinkles, there’s no problem with me not getting to it for a day.
The combo units have tiny drums and take longer than separate units. They wouldn’t be suitable for a family with kids, but for just two people It’s been pretty convenient.
You can do a wash cycle, check it and then do a dry cycle if you’re paranoid about it. Personally I just chuck stuff in mine on a combined wash and dry and it comes out clean and perfectly dry. The first unit I bought was shit and barely ever dried anything properly but I sent it back and got a Samsung instead and it’s been flawless.
I always wondered if a 2 in 1 washer/dryer was a thing but never bothered to look it up I guess, so thanks for that fact. Now I am off to restart the washer because the load I ran 2 days ago and forgot to put in dryer is now smelling a bit off
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