College is a time of gaining more independence, and for some, that may mean doing their own laundry for the first time in a shared laundry room. So if you need help with your course load, this blog isn’t for you, but it will help you with some tips on your laundry loads and if all else fails, call home, but let’s try these tips first!
Fast forward to the first semester of freshman year, you are sitting in your dorm room when you see your laundry piled over its basket, the moment you’ve been putting off has arrived. You have to venture down to the laundry room and do your laundry so don’t forget to strip your bed, pack up a pile of quarters and follow these steps.
Step one: Find an open washer, or two. Start to separate your laundry. As you separate your clothes into a light pile and a dark pile, check the pockets.
Step two: Fill the washer with one of your piles, but don’t overload it! Fill it about 3/4 of the way full.
Step three: Add your detergent. Measure the amount of the detergent using the convenient lines on the cap depending on how much clothes you have in the washer. Push start!
Step four: Grab some homework, study material or a book! It’s going to be about 45 minutes to an hour!
Step five: When the buzzer goes off, it is time to transfer to the dryer! As you put the wet clothes in the dryer, shake them out a bit to decrease wrinkles! Add some quarters and push start.
Step six: Continue homework or studying.
Step seven: When the dryer is finished, check your clothes, fold them and you’re done!
Now that you know the basic steps to do your laundry, let’s dive in a little more about some tips when sharing a laundry room. Whether you’ve done laundry before you left for college or not, sharing a laundry room with the rest of your dorm is a bit different than sharing it with your siblings so follow these steps to conquer Freshman Laundry 101:
- Start to learn the busy times in the laundry room (like Sundays) and try to do your laundry when it isn’t going to be as busy.
- Either set a timer on your phone to come back down before your load is done or stay near the laundry room doing homework. Others will take your clothes out of the washer or dryer if the machine is done.
- Don’t leave your detergent or dryer sheets in the laundry room. People will use them, so when you’re at Target buying a shower caddy, buy two, and use one to transport your laundry necessities.
- Have laundry etiquette. Be on time for your clothes and be respectful on the amount of washers or dryers you are using!
- Double check the machines before and after use, you never know if a loose sock got stuck to the side!
Hope some of these tips have been helpful as you tackle learning new things inside and outside of the classroom! Do your laundry and do it often, don’t wait until you run out of clean clothes!