Glory, Glory, Halleluia!

In The Overworked American by Juliet B. Shore, she reports a study on the usefulness of household appliances, and their ability to reduce the number of hours a woman spends doing domestic tasks. "Studies of US women also found that those with more durable equipment in their homes, work no fewer hours than those with less. Only one major appliance has been shown to save significant amounts of time (the microwave oven). Some actually increase housework (freezers and washing machines)." (p. 88)

If you will recall, it was several months ago that I reported our microwave had blown up and was no longer working. Shortly after we contacted Maytag who sent someone to look at the microwave and repair it. That was in October.

By the way, the reason the Maytag Man of commercial fame does not have anything to do, is not because the machines never need repairing, but he was fired. There is no such thing as a Maytag man. Maytag contracts their repairs through private companies.

So after 2 different repair companies, 5 different service calls, 10 replacement parts (and 5 back order holds on those parts), 3 major holidays (and 3 minor ones), and, most notably 4 months without a microwave, glory be! we have a fully operational machine again.

We celebrated by popping a whole box of microwave popcorn. My babies can have warm baby cereal in 9 seconds, instead of me having to let the water run until it gets hot. I can defrost meat that I need for dinner right now since I never think of it ahead of time--again, I save time and water by not having to thaw it in the sink. My husband can have his beloved melty cheese hot dogs. I can use the storage containers I put my leftovers in to reheat them instead of having to dirty a pan to warm it on the stove (which usually means having to wash it out first, since I have such a limited quantity of cookware). 1-2 minute reheat calculates to much less than all of that.

In short, I was skeptical of the findings of the study when I read it a decade ago. Though I was able to maintain food quality and care without a microwave, I am satisfied that there is some validity to the conclusion that the microwave is an actual time saver, and I am ever so thankful to have one that works.