Laundro-Drama

By Karolyn Castaldo on February 26, 2012

We all have those weeks where we just can’t seem to get down to the laundry room in the off hours. Sunday morning rolls around, and you realize that you’re out of clean underwear.  You hope that you’ll be able to cram everything you can into every washer you find.

Photo from Flickr.com by rocknroll_guitar

But, say you walk to the laundry room, scope out the machine situation and decide it’s worth it to lug everything down. Once you get there, the machines are taken and you’re left to decide whether or not you want to be “that guy” or “that girl” that moves people’s clean clothes out of the washer or dryer if the owner hasn’t come to retrieve them. This is a serious moral dilemma because you know that you’d be upset if someone did that to you.

Solutions?

Bring sticky notes with you when you go to do your laundry. That way, if you do have to move someones stuff, rather than leaving it on the top of the machine, you can throw it into a dryer for them (without starting it) and leave them a note that tells them where to find their laundry. This way, you don’t feel so bad, and you’ve saved them a step, so they can’t really be mad either!

Be considerate. Obviously, if you see that someone’s clothes have been done for a while, it is understandable to want to move their clothes out. Don’t move them if the washer just stopped and they aren’t there. I would say, give it a ten minute grace period and if they haven’t come to retrieve their clothes, they’re out of luck.

Ask your University about installing online trackers for the laundry rooms. Many Universities (not mine, obviously!) have started to install programs into their washers and dryers that link to a website. Students can check this site to see if there are washers and dryers open before they get down there. Now, you don’t have to lug everything to the laundry room, only to find you have nowhere to put your clothes.

Wait until it is not peak laundry time. If you still have enough clothes to last you a few more days, stick it out. Going to do laundry very early in the morning, midday, or really late at night will increase your chances of getting machines. Obviously, right after most classes get out and on the weekends, most people will want to do theirs too. It is better to just wait it out and hope that one of these times you will find more space.

Have enough laundry to constitute using a whole machine. Nothing bothers me more than going to the laundry room and seeing someone put three articles of clothes in. Please, don’t be one of those people. If you only have 4 small white items, leave it until the next time you do laundry, when you’ll have more things to wash. It is pointless to wash one item just because you want to wear your favorite black t-shirt, but have no other dark clothes to wash with it.

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