Buzz
Upon seeing Sister Lan hanging clothes around the house without changing or washing bath towels, her husband immediately carried them to the over $20,000 dryer.
1. Revolution of damp winter families
Like many people in the North, Mrs. Pham Ngoc Lan in Dich Vong, Cau Giay District, is not afraid of freezing cold or heavy rain, but the cold and misty weather, drizzling from Tet until now, makes her extremely fed up.
The house, with four members, changes the overflowing clothes basin every day. After washing and drying without sunlight, the clothes still have a mixed smell of dampness, odor, and the lingering scent of fabric softener. 'Holding a garment with that smell, really just want to throw it away,' she said.
In previous years, Lan used to bring clothes into the house, using a powerful fan or dryer, iron for drying. However, no matter how, the smell of sunless clothes still haunted her.
Since the beginning of this Spring, I've been discussing with my husband about getting a dryer, but he shrugged it off, thinking it's unnecessary for our small balcony and only useful for about a month in spring. I managed to convince him that besides drying clothes, the machine also has the ability to remove fine fabric dust, saving us time on hanging clothes, so it will be useful throughout the year. However, he remained unconvinced.
After spending the Tet holiday in our hometown for five days, the Lan family continued a three-day trip to Moc Chau. With over a week's worth of laundry accumulated, this time, Ngoc Lan didn't try to persuade her husband anymore. Instead, she spread the clothes like a 'heavenly net' all around the house, instructing her husband and kids to minimize changing clothes and towels.
The next morning, I saw my husband getting up early, arranging the balcony and placing a potted plant. By 9 a.m., someone delivered the dryer for installation. 'I knew this would happen because my husband is a neat freak and cannot tolerate the inconvenience of not washing towels daily,' Lan chuckled.
After a week of using the dryer, every day hugging a bundle of fresh, soft, and perfectly dried clothes, my husband had to admit, 'Spending tens of millions is meaningful down to the last decimal place.'
Fabric dust sucked out after 3 rounds of drying the Lan family's clothes. Photo: Provided by the characters
The humid and gloomy weather often appears in the North after Tet, characterized by prolonged drizzles, high humidity, resulting in the phenomenon of houses 'sweating', water vapor condensing everywhere in the house, damp walls, slippery roads, clothes not drying, and mold growth, causing respiratory-related illnesses for many people.
This weather pattern has persisted from the beginning of the Tet holiday until now, with humidity frequently exceeding 80%, causing a lot of inconvenience for families, especially those with small children and properties. Many families, despite economic constraints, find themselves compelled to invest in various types of dryers and dehumidifiers, ranging from a few hundred thousand to a few million dong. Mr. Le Quang Vu, CEO of the Media Mart electronics retail chain, stated that the cold and rainy weather in February, extending beyond expectations, has led to an increased demand for clothes dryers in the Northern region.
This year's market also notes a trend of consumers being willing to spend more on dryers. Particularly noteworthy is the growing interest in dryers with heat pump technology, priced under 20 million dong.
Tuyet Nga's family in Thanh Xuan recently spent over 17 million dong on a 9 kg heat pump dryer due to being overwhelmed by the sight of their 5-month-old's clothes scattered all over the house. They applied all the tricks but couldn't thoroughly dry them.
'I called many places, and everywhere was reporting 'out of stock.' The preferred models were all priced above 20 million dong. Luckily, I found this product with a 20% discount, but I had to wait a week for it to be available,' shared Nga, 29 years old.
This heat pump dryer consumes less electricity than the steam type. When taking out the clothes, they are warm but not hot, and the mixed drying mode ensures that jeans, wool sweaters, T-shirts, and dress shirts all dry evenly, without wrinkles.
After two cycles, a pile of fabric dust was removed, startling the young mother. Meanwhile, her husband was completely relieved from the burden of hanging their child's intricate clothing. Another satisfying aspect for the couple was the aesthetic improvement. Previously, the clothes rack, including delicate items, occupied the balcony space, but now it's reserved only for airing out blankets and carpets, providing a more spacious view. Nga's husband even decorated the area with additional lights to enhance its beauty.
