Living in a dorm your freshman year is exhilarating as you experience a lot of “firsts” —first time living among strangers, first time living away from your parents, first time being able to wake up a few minutes before class and still get to class on time (probably in your pajamas). You are overwhelmed with novel experiences and curious personalities. It’s all very exciting and carefree. Until laundry time.
For the procrastinator, doing laundry could entail dragging a mammoth-heavy basket or bag down multiple flights of stairs, sweating like a pig, and arriving at the laundry room only to find out that every washer and dryer is occupied. However, if you plan your laundry trip ahead of time and consistently wash your clothes, you’re welcoming a smooth, stress-free laundry experience.
At a $1.50 rate to wash your clothes and another $1.50 to dry them, you want to make sure that you don’t over pack the washer, leaving all your clothes improperly washed. In the case of drying machines, shoving too heavy of a load could mean $1.50 lost on clothes that is still drenched when you go pick it up. Each machine regularly runs around 30 to 50 minutes depending on the setting you choose. To avoid unclean and wet clothes, checking in on your clothes in the middle of the washing or drying cycle to make sure clothes isn’t tangled can save you from the annoyance of having to spend more time, energy, and precious money.
Dragging all your dirty clothes from your dorm to laundry room and then seeing that every machine is occupied is the worst. Unless you are an early bird on the weekends (I’m talking seven to nine in the morning) you will not be able to wash anything during Saturday and Sunday. Optimal times to wash your clothes are during the weekdays, preferably early in the morning. In order to avoid a laundry pilgrimage or unnecessary laundry brawl, there are websites that can alert you of the availability of laundry machines. Check with your dorm’s front desk to verify that these services are provided in your residential area. This is the simplest and quickest method to help you decided the most convenient time for you to do laundry.
Lugging a load of smelly clothes, detergent, softener, and your keys and wallet out of your dorm room to the laundry room is no fun at all. This is not what you were expecting when you signed up for a room. As unpleasant as the whole ordeal is, it’s pretty much unavoidable. The good news is that you can make the whole experience a lot less painful once you realize the resources available and the importance of not procrastinating when it comes to the serious business of laundry time.
