Monday, June 1, 2009

UNBELIEVABLE! A story of a phone, a washer, and some rice.


I've been really on top of my cleaning and laundry lately. Every night before I go to bed I have all the laundry washed, folded and put away (the folding and putting away is the hard part for me!). The other night as Jason and I were getting ready to finally go to bed I decided that I would throw the little bit of our laundry that we had left in the washer. I rarely ever start a load before bed because I don't want the wet clothes sitting in the washer and getting smelly (not that I know that it happens from experience or anything). But since it was so late and we were getting up pretty early I decided to just throw it in.

As we were setting Jason's phone to be our alarm I went to plug in my phone (did I mention that these are both iphones that Jason had gotten for us in an exceptional deal a while back?). I couldn't find my phone in our bathroom so I went to look in the living room. I searched under cushions, went through me purse, had Jason call my phone several times but still couldn't find it. I finally asked Jason to go out to the van to see if i had left it out there. While he was out I had a horrible feeling overtake my stomach.... maybe it was still in my jeans pocket... which was now in the washing machine! I ran to the laundry room and before getting there could there something thumping in the washer.
I pulled open the door - allowing water to spill out and just started yanking out the clothes. Once the clothes were all out i put my hand down in the puddle of water at the bottom of the machine and pulled out my phone.

I started crying. Just about this time Jason makes it in from checking the van. he reassures me that he is not mad and I proceed to spend the next while blow drying my phone in a desperate attempt to save its life. It was trashed. The next day I put it out in the hot sun, hoping it would dry out and work again. In the mean time, Jason figures out that no insurance will cover water damage to a phone - which means we can't go get it replaced. After baking in the OK heat the phone just had moisture built up on the other side of the screen. It was trashed.

Then I decided to get on message boards to see if anyone could offer any help. Someone told the exact same story as me (leaving phone in the jeans and into the washer) and the recommendation was to put the phone into a ziplock bag of white rice for at least 24 hours - the theory being that the rice would draw out any moisture in the phone.

I did it. AND IT WORKED!!!!!

I am so happy to have my phone back, to have my phone numbers back, and to not have to replace it!! YAY! Thank you rice!!! Isn't that good to know?!

8 comments:

  1. Thank goodness for Google huh? So glad it works again, that is crazy.

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  2. WOW!!! I'm very impressed! Good thinking on your part. I never would have thought to search for a glimmer of hope after seeing it filled with water. Now I know, if I ever wash my phone, it can be saved! :) How long had it been in there for?

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  3. Unreal! I have washed Maddie and Dad Dan's ipod and mp3 player in the wash before--their fault of course. The ipod worked a few days later. The mp3 player was not so lucky.

    Glad you have your phone back!

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  4. That is incredible! Thanks for the tip! I will be sure to use this in the futue. Actually, I hope I won't have to, but if it happens I will now run for the ziploc and rice:)

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  5. That is about the freakiest home tip I have ever heard of.....TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!

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  6. That is nuts. I am pretty sure it had nothing to do with the rice and was pretty much a blessing from your Abba :)

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  7. I'm super impressed- I love it when these kinds of things really work :) You know the idea of using PB, mayo or ice to get gum out of hair... yeah, it doesn't work.

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  8. that is totally amazing! I'll put that idea in my back pocket just in case!

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