quilt task I despise!

I can sympathize a bit. Two weeks ago the pump went out in my washer and I had to haul my laundry to a laundromat. Most are icky places and the other patrons are sometimes downright scary. Boy, did I have a pile of laundry after the pump was ordered and it finally got repaired- I only took absolute essentials to the pay-to-wash place- and it cost almost $10 for three loads! How do people who can't afford a washer and dryer ever afford to use a laundromat???

Sorry you had such an ugly experience.

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

It certainly makes me appreciate having a washer and dryer at home!

I had to go to the laudromat after we moved here for a couple of weeks. I felt like I needed to wash everything after I got it home. The employee was nice enough and the place was fairly clean but it still game me the heebie geebies! Is that spoiled?

We bought the Maytag front loader washer and dryer 4 years ago and still love them. Hopefully they will last as long as my Kenmores did years ago. I think they lasted 15+ years. :-)

There's no place like home................there's no place like home..............there's no place like my own laundry room!

Peace,

Marsha in nw, OH

I remember endless hours spent watching the machinery spin in inner city laundromats when I was younger. They were some of the creepiest place on earth. There were junkies, weirdoes, and just plain bad-ass characters, to say nothing of the people like myself, that populated such places at all hours of the day and night. It can be a frightening experience for the faint of heart. At least you got through the experience with a successful load of fabric washed. Those places are great time holes in your life.

John

Boy I gotta smile at this thread. I just came home after stopping to get my hair trimmed after work. There is a strange dude that lives in the apt across from me.

"Hi" "Hi" "I see you just moved in here a couple of months ago" "No I've been in this complex over a year, I moved into this unit four months ago" "You have washer/dryer hookups!" "Yes, everyone does" "No, not me" "Yes, you do, you might not have the hoses, but you have the hookups." "Well, I was wondering if you'd like to buy my washer and dryer. They're just sitting there. I don't know if they work, but I'll sell them to you." "Uh, thank you, but, no." "Okay, thought I'd try to make some money."

Oh, my heavens, what a strange dude!

Ginger in CA

ide quoted text -

Same around the world obviously! No different Down Under ('cept the washers are upside down ). Why is the person who doesn't own a w.m. have such odd personality traits? It's not just the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' ---- it is the 'have-not a w.m' against the world.....

-- Cheers Bronnie

i can remember when my septic tank backfired not long ago. the laundromat is about 2 miles from us. it was clean and in a nice town so we didnt have to worry about the "bad people". but it closed down not long ago to make room for an expansion of the restaurant next door to it. Thank Goodness we only had to go there a couple times, tho. what a pain to drag everything. yep, we are spoiled. but we love it!!

amy in CNY

I remember doing lots of laundry in laundromats. When I was in high school we had to make use of them for a while. My mom would load up my sister and I and about 2 weeks worth of dirty clothes. She would drop us off and we would fill about 14-20 washers with clothes soap and such. Then go down the row plugging in the quarters and closing the lids. Then sit and read or whatever until they finished washing. Then it was about 3 washers worth into one big dryer and plug the quarter in there. Then take the clothes out as they dried and fold/hang them. Lots of work, but only every other week. (One of the last times we did it we "lost" a whole washer load of clothes. :) )

Also did the laundromat shuffle when I was in college and first married. That was when one of my textiles professors told us about using pine oil cleaner (Pine Sol or equivalent) as a disinfectant/deodorizer in the washer. As she said, you don't know who has been using the washers, what they might "have" and better safe than sorry. I still use it here at home because it works real well as an odor remover.

Pati, > I just got back from the laundromat, having washed, dried, and folded

Lucked out on our trip as the hotel we were at had w/d that we could use. Got the wash started and couldn't get the soap dispenser to work. Lady manager came down and we got to talking (She was folding her clothes) so it was rather a 'pleasant task'. What do women talk about? Honeys, kidlets, and her grandkidlets--and HBPressure meds.

Butterfly (unfortunately the compie room was FREEZING, so I didn't stay...thus no posting whilst we were gone. Yes, they were working on the heater )

"Hi" "Hi" "I see you just moved in here a couple of months ago" "No I've been in this complex over a year, I moved into this unit four months ago" "You have washer/dryer hookups!" "Yes, everyone does" "No, not me" "Yes, you do, you might not have the hoses, but you have the hookups." "Well, I was wondering if you'd like to buy my washer and dryer. They're just sitting there. I don't know if they work, but I'll sell them to you." "Uh, thank you, but, no." "Okay, thought I'd try to make some money."

Oh, my heavens, what a strange dude!

Ginger in CA

When I was in grad school my mother called me about coming home for the weekend once, and insisted that I bring my laundry. I lived in a very nice apartment near campus and had a clean laundromat just down the hall, so I told her I'd just run the wash at the apartment. However, she absolutely insisted that I bring the laundry, and called again several times that week reminding me to bring the laundry. I figured that perhaps she was just wanting to be extra-maternal or something, but agreed. When I got to the house on Friday evening, the first thing out of her mouth was "Did you bring your laundry?", and I told her it was still in the car but I'd bring it inside right after dinner. Well, it turned out that her washing machine had died and the new one wasn't there yet, and HER laundry had been piling up, so she needed to go to the local laundromat! She didn't know how things worked there, and wanted me to go with her and bring my laundry so she could learn! Sheesh!

When DH was at University (a long time ago) he used to post his laundry home to his mother to wash. She did a quick turn around with it using an old fashioned single tub washing machine with a mangle clothes wringer, and dried outside (not automatic washer or tumble drier), and then mailed it back to him.

It was many years later that she realised that other people didn't send their laundry home, but did it themselves in the laundry place provided!

I have taught him to cook, but the washing machine defeats him. I once saw him, out of the corner of my eye, trying to work out which was the washer and which the dryer!

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)

Sally, my dad is the same way. he can re-wire the whole house, but when it comes to laundry...hopeless!!! and too funny to watch.

amy in CNY

I always enjoyed doing laundry at the laundromat, fill up 3 or 4 machines at once, then dry it all at once. I would fold it all on the big tables, bag it/hang it and take it home in 2-1/2 hours, all done. Then we got our own w/d and the laundry would take all day! That was in my old life, now my SO and I have the front loader and the time has been shortened but it still seems to take most of the day. I did have the advantage of going to "nice" laundromats, no strange people.

One great thing that I love is having the w/d in the kitchen behind folding doors, no running up and down stairs, in and out of a cold basement, etc.

I love washing fabric and I don't iron it until I'm ready to cut, no folds to mess up the cutting.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

This is why as soon as I married and left home for good I saved up and bought my own washing machine. Screaming kids ransacking the place, a blaring TV, disagreements between other patrons, spilled bleach gagging everyone, one time a snarling dog tied to the waiting bench. Another time I went to the ladies room and came back to find 1/2 my things stolen from the dryer, the other half laying on the dirty floor and someone else's clothes in the dryer ... it was always something. It got to where I dreaded laundry day.

I wash all my new fabric by hand as once in awhile I still get a "bleeder."

I have wondered this myself. Poor credit maybe? A landlord who doesn't allow washers and dryers?

Tape notes to them both with a brief description of how to use them. ;-)

I have heard -- though can't cite the statistics -- that using a laundromat may be more cost effective than owning your own equipment when you factor in the cost of the equipment and the utilities. If that was true 30 or 40 years ago when I heard it, it should be even more true today, because the inflation-adjusted cost of laundry equipment has probably not gone up and may even have dropped, while the utility cost has definitely increased.

However, even if that is not true, if you are living on the edge, it is probably easier to come up with the cash for the laundromat each month than to come up with the money for your own equipment. And if you are renting an apartment, you probably don't even have the option to own your own equipment.

Julia in MN

For what I spend on using the washers/dryers in our complex laundry rooms, it is saving money for me. Plus, those rooms have soft water which I do not have in the apt. The water here is sooo terrible, it has killed my fish even with treating the water. And I spend a small fortune on hair products to keep my hair moisturized. Add in the cost of the utilities [everything here is electric], it makes more sense to me to use the complex units.

Yes I clean them thoroughly before each use. And, I do laundry at sunrise on the weekend.

Ginger in CA

I have very fond memories of laundromats. I grew up in the city and we walked right by the neighborhood laundromat everyday on the way to school. My best friend's mother was the manager and we would stop there after school to help her keep the place clean or sometimes help the neighborhood old ladies fold their towels and bedding.

My family only had a wringer washing machine, no dryer. Every Monday my mother would fill the bathtub with clean water to rinse the clothes as they came out of the wringer, then they would go through the wringer a second time. We had no outside clothesline so everything was hung on wooden racks and wall to wall clotheslines in the attic and den. If it was humid the clothes might take 3 days to dry. When we took them down, they were all stiff and scratchy until I ironed them. I absolutely hated the "routine" of Monday being wash day, Wednesday being ironing day, etc.

My dad died when I was 14. The day after the funeral (not a Monday) I stripped the beds, collected all the laundry and towels into a basket and told my mother that from now on there would be big changes in her routine. We walked to the laundromat. shoved a couple of dimes in the washers and dryers and relaxed with a soda from the vending machine. She had never set foot in a laundromat, nor had she ever used any automatic machines in her life. In about 1 hour the entire load of laundry had been washed, dried and folded and we were on our way home. That's what we did for the next 4 years, until she passed away. We had great talks while waiting for the clothes to be finished. I never go into a laundromat without thinking of my mom.

Denise in NH