Once you become a parent, you realize how expensive it is to live! So, saving even just a little money goes a long way when you are trying to raise a family. Since we live in California, it is really important to not only save money, but also to save water. Even though we had a rainy winter, water is always an issue for us, so why not help where we can?

Enter the Avalon Bay EcoWash Portable Washer...

This handy little guy is a portable washer. It's technology is similar to that of a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers cook food at a fraction of the time, while the Avalon Bay EcoWash Portable Washer uses that same idea to clean clothes quickly, and with less water.

The process starts out with placing the EcoWash near a sink or tub if you are in your house. You could also do this outside and use the excess water to water plants, etc. Once you figure out how much you are going to wash, you follow the guidelines given to you in the manual for water and detergent amounts. For a 3/4 full load, I only needed to use a few tablespoons of detergent and a few quarts of water. Compare that to the amounts a washing machine uses, and it is significantly less.

Simply place the water, detergent and clothes into the washer. Once you twist the lid on that is what seals the pressure in to create the cleaning process. All you need to do is twist the crank on the side of the machine.

It only takes a few minutes of cranking the machine to wash the clothes. Once you are done with however long the directions recommend to crank the machine, then it is time to drain. The machine comes with a pipe that attaches to the bottom of the water. All you need to do is attach it to the bottom and water will start coming out. Then, unscrew the top, and more water will come out. You don't want to skip this step.

Once you drain the water out, you can do a rinse cycle. You basically do the same process you did to wash the clothes, only leave out the detergent. You can also rinse the items in the sink. Then, you can either hang the items to dry, or place them in the dryer.

I think this is a great great invention for a number of reasons! I love this idea for hand washing delicates. I hate hand washing clothes, because I never feel like they are clean enough, but putting them in the washer uses up so much water. Also, baby clothes are such a pain, because they need to be washed separately from regular clothes with a much more gentle detergent, and even if it is a bunch of laundry, it still makes for a such a small load. So, the EcoWash is a great way to do such a small load of clothes very quickly, without wasting water.

You can get more information about the Avalon Bay EcoWash Portable Washer here!

Here is a great demonstration of how to use the washer: