Friday, November 7, 2014

Laundromats

I've been rather unlucky with my home appliances lately. First, my washing machine decided to break, the sensor that told it when it was full broke, so it didn't stop filling, and overflowed all over my kitchen floor (and flooded my landlord downstairs.. oops). My landlords are totally awesome and not only called and setup a service appointment to get it fixed, they also took the load that was in it and spun it out in their washer so I could then throw it in my dryer!

Less than a month later, the heating element in my dryer seems to have fried. In doing laundry the last couple of weeks, it has just seemed to take forever for each load to dry. Things came to a culmination a few days ago when I realized a single load was taking over 3 hours to dry, and even then, it wasn't *really* dry. Another service call is in the works to get it fixed.

In the meantime, I think I'll hit up the local laundromat to do a couple loads of laundry to catch up til the dryer is fixed. I guess I can wash the loads at home, then haul them over and just use the dryers there. A temporary fix til things get resolved. I *could* take them to a friend's house, but.. then I wouldn't get to go to the laundromat.

I have always loved the laundromat. I know we used to go sometimes when I was a kid, because I remember getting pushed around in the clothes carts they have by either siblings or parent. I love everything about the laundromat. I love the weird plastic chairs that all laundromats seem to have bought from the same store. I love the smell; that hot, dry clothes smell the dryers generate. I love the variety of machines, and figuring out how to use each type. I love fitting the quarters into the slots and jamming the mechanism in so that it eats the quarters with a satisfying KACHUNK! If you wait long enough, and have enough dirty clothes, you can become the Laundromat Czar by taking up ALL the washing machines with your running loads, and sit back and smugly watch people come in only to have their hopes dashed in searching for an empty machine. Then it's the transferring of loads from washers to dryers, trying to snag sequential ones so your loads are all grouped. And then it's fun to watch all the dryers going, and try to desperately keep up as they stop one by one, in folding as fast as you can on the handy table, and emptying out enough carts to hold all the loads ready to fold. It's also fun to watch the other people in the laundromat.. see what they're folding, help an overloaded mother with kids bring stuff in or out. There's also the joy of just having EVERYTHING washed and done all at once, and it will be folded when you get home (no, I don't bag up dried clothes, they get folded and put in baskets to bring home) so they're easy to put away and then you're just DONE with laundry and caught up.

I'm not particularly happy that my dryer isn't working right now. I'd much rather be able to just throw a load in and do other stuff around the house and just keep cycling laundry through. It's a lot cheaper than pumping quarters into laundromat machines, and hauling stuff in and out of the house and up/down stairs. But I can't deny a part of me is looking forward to going to the laundromat.

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