Before we arrived in Okinawa, Chuck and I were warned about the excessive humidity on the island and advised to purchase de-humidifers as soon as possible. This was so novel to me, because I have generally dealt with overly dry homes and yearned for a humidifier to save my skin, eyes, hair, and nose from agitation (to include when I lived in the South.) I had never even heard of de-humidifiers! However – at at $230 a pop – these bad boys aren’t cheap, so we put it off and considered taking the time to find a used one. Besides, it’s only spring. How bad could it be?

Pretty bad, as it turns out. With humidity levels consistently in the 90th percentile already, Chuck and I realized we needed to stop procrastinating and bite the bullet. Our bedroom especially started to feel and smell oppressive. The sheets and towels were starting to reek of mildew, and sleeping was uncomfortable because the sheets actually felt a little bit… damp! Gross.

We ventured to the Exchange and purchased a brand new, 70 pint de-humidifier that was supposedly powerful enough to suck the moisture out of the entire apartment. We plugged it in and let it get to work. Right before bed, we emptied it. When Chuck arose at 6:30 AM to head to work, he emptied it. And when I dragged my lazy butt out of bed around 10 AM, I emptied it yet again. This is a machine capable of storing 9 gallons of moisture, and we’ve already emptied it three times in less than a day!! That’s 27 gallons of moisture it has sucked out of our apartment in mere hours…

It’s only going to get worse! This will never do.