The Sims 3 Generations laundry PLEASE HELP

Basically, my sims were getting into bed and having showers/baths and leaving their clothes on the floor. Luckily, i had some points so i bought a hamper from the store (i think..) and everything was okay. Then i realised i could get a washing machine too (the wishy washy one, or something like that) so when the maid came the next day, he put the clothes into the machine. Once it was done, i clicked on it and it said i needed a clothes line or a dryer to carry on doing laundry, but there is no option to buy one, anywhere!

Can someone please explain what i should do? I know the laundry stuff comes with Ambitions, but i do not have that. I would have thought that if you could do laundry on Generations, the options to be able to do it properly should be there.