Our washing machine arrived in the summer. It was hooked up and ready to use in the fall. I continued to hand-wash many things for several weeks after that. It's true, I'm not sure if the machine gets things quite as clean as I can personally hand scrubbing everything. The biggest difference this has made in our house is for my Host Mom, Sopo. She was responsible for washing all the clothes for three people, plus all the sheets in the house. Now, she just throws it in and then gets it out again in another hour.