If I was only doing my own laundry, I would only have to wash a load once a week, and I would never use the dryer since I'm content to air-dry all of my clothes

If I was only doing my own laundry, I would only have to wash a load once a week, and I would never use the dryer since I'm content to air-dry all of my clothes. However, a family of four tilts the balance in favor of the time-saving machines. (That said, we /do/ make our own laundry detergent for pennies a gallon and it has saved us a ton of money over the years.)