washin' clothes

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How often do you do your laundry, and how much do you usually wash?

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Answers

A combination of thesis "I have no time to do anything!" stress and a break-up with my SO (who had a washing machine at his place) have gotten me to the point where I am ready to wear my prom dress to work. I bought underwear at KMart on Sunday because I couldn't stand the thought of hauling laundry to the laundromat via the city bus.

My next boyfriend is going to either live above, near, or in a laundromat.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001


I wash clothes when I either a.)housesit for friends or b.) go home to my parents' house out of state. That usually translates to every 6 to 8 weeks. I have 50 pairs of underwear. I'm not kidding. I hate laundromats.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

I think songwriter Carole King is your soulmate on this one.

"Chains"-"gotta hold on me". How do we really know she was'nt talking about the "Chains of Laundry" ?

You can do laundry in a sink or tub, ya know. Carole covered that one too when she wrote "Smackwater Jack". :)

Be strong Elena. Don't throw your life away for that tall dark stranger with the sexy Maytag.

Me, I have a washer in my kitchen. Don't mean I like to use it though. Oh those "Chains".

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001


I have a washer and dryer in the house, so I'm incredibly spoilt. The house I'm moving to will need a washer and dryer. As it is, I do laundry every other week. When I was working 90-hour weeks a few months back, I bought some extra underwear and stockings and work- appropriate plain tee-shirts in desperation. My roommate's room is (soon to be 'was') right by the washer and dryer, and she has understandable issues with the dryer buzzer going off at 1 AM when the cycles are done.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

I live about 30 minutes from my parents' house, so for years and years I've been doing my laundry there. I supply the detergent and Bounce sheets, they give me facilities and electricity. I admit that some months, my sole purpose for "visiting" my folks has been so I could do laundry.
I found a clean, quiet laundromat in a shopping center I pass on the way home from work, and have gone there to wash clothes the last few times. The good thing about a laundromat is that you can wash 4 loads at once, in multiple machines, and then dry everything at once, in multiple dryers. It is far more time-efficient than doing load after load in one set of machines.
I find doing my laundry at the laundromat after work oddly calming and relaxing. Not sure why. I'm clinically depressed and anxious, though, so when I find things that soothe me, I take note.

(ps-- I, also, own fifty billion pairs of underpants. ;-) )

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001



Heh, obviously none of you have young kids (I've got 2, and they can wear 2 to 3 outfits each on messy days). I have one BIG laundry day a week (5 or 6 loads) and then do 2 or 3 small loads a week (it never seems to get put away, though). I still have mounds of dirty stuff lying around. Having a washer/dryer in the house is a godsend. Same thing for a dishwasher (if that goes, I'm movin' out).

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Amen to efficiency, klee. My wife does the laundry, I do all the dishes. She runs the washer and dryer for 3-4 hours every night, sometimes all day on weekends. I don't get it, we don't have kids but we have never ending laundry. Same goes for dishes, I run the dishwasher every day, there's always a full load, but it just never ends.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

I gave up laundrymats years ago when my kids were in diapers - prePampers so that meant stinky diapers to lug, wash, dry, and fold every Friday night. With husband and baby. I have been the mom the kids (use to) come home to to wash their clothes. Now, the washer and dryer go all weekend and sometimes during the week as opposed to every night when I had kids at home. It's not just for underwear. We have dirty towels, bedding weekly, jeans, shirts, work clothes, curtains, rugs (mud, cat hair balls, and doggie barf), doggie toys ....

I'm tired now.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001


When I was looking for an apartment, part of my requirements were a washer/dryer in the unit. I'd probably die if I had to do the laundary mat thing again, although, thoughout grad. school, I found it to be a kind of a calming thing to do. Now that I have a kid though, it sure is handy. But, it *was* nice to get everything done at once. I manage to keep up on the washing, but end up putting clean clothes in big black trash bags 'cause I have no time to fold them and put them away. When I get too pissed off at not being able to find clothes, then they get put away.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001

I had a washer/dryer requirement, too. After living in our last little hole, I couldn't take having clothes everywhere. Our space is too small to have more than one hamper full of dirty clothes (but it's one big ass hamper).

Plus, the lousy fucking laundromat ruined too many of my clothes. And jacked up the prices, so I was paying through the nose for the priveledge of getting my clothes spotted and destroyed while being gawked at by the homeless people and assorted demented souls that lived in the place.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001



Oh yeah, it was one of my requirements too. And there is a washing machine/dryer in the basement, but my lazy ass jackf--k of a landlord hasn't been by the fix the thing in months. This is the same man who replaced our living room windows and forgot to put locks on 'em. "Crappy landlords" is really another topic though, so I'll shut up.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001

I just came across this relevant bit on Salon:
http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2001/04/13/laundromats/index.html

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

I think my last answer was flippant, so I am going to try again.

About 15 years ago, I wrecked my truck in an accident. The repair time in the body shop was lengthly, and I was stuck using a motorcycle for about 2 months. I had no laundry facilities in my house. Then as now, I need to do about 3 loads a week. It was a royal pain in the ass hauling laundry to the laundromat with a motorcycle. I learned that I could wash clothes in the bathtub, and this would delay the times I needed to go to the laundromat. It didn't eliminate the trips, but it did delay them somewhat.

An inexpensive washer costs about $250.00 on sale. I bought one, along with the hoses that attach to the kitchen sink. I use the washer as counter space when not in use.

Motto- If you can have an inexpensive washer delivered to your apt, it's probably the cheapest and most efficient route. Clothes can dry on drying racks. Your quality time can be used for additional things, while you are doing laundry.

I hope this is clear and unambiguous. I understand your predicament.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2001


I am incredibly lucky to have a washer/dryer in my apartment building. Only 4 apartments so there's not too many people to share it with. Of course I still have to pay to use it and getting quarters is a pain in the ass. I usually keep up to date on my laundry though. I like having choices.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001

Chris does our laundry every Wednesday night at the laundry mat (it's cheap night -- dollar wash). I think this is probably the only way we can handle it. Since two of the people in our household are little kids, we would be screwed if we didn't do wash really regularly. If something happens on Wednesday and Chris can't do the laundry the household seems to fall apart.

I like it. The people at the mat like Chris and he watches tv there. I hang out at home and do online stuff or read. We put away the clothes right away and it's grand.

There is laundry in the building, but they have annoying hours (they lock the door at 10) and there are only two washers and two dryers. Since the dryers suck and must go through two full cycles before the clothes are dry to the touch -- and even then it's iffy -- it takes a full two hours to get two loads through. We almost never do laundry in the building. It's too hard to get it all finished. When Chris goes to the mat the whole operation (5-7 loads) is done in about two and a half hours.

I would love to have in-house laundry though. I envy those of you with it. [if you're squeamish don't read the next bit] It doesn't happen very much, but every so often we have a middle of the night vomiting situation with Joe and it seems particularly barbaric that we can't run all of the bedding down to a washer and get it all over with quickly and painlessly. It's all horrible scrubbing and soaking and setting early alarms so that we can get to the laundry room the second it opens at 7 a.m.

Ugh.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001



When I got my first apartment all alone (post exhusband, pre man of my dreams), I actually chose an isolated basement apartment in a less than safe neighborhood with no security doors because the building washer and dryer were about 15 steps from my door. That's how lazy I am. I risked personal safety for convenient laundering.

That particular apartment came with roaches, mice, and on one fine evening, a snake. It was all worth it for the laundry.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001


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