The College Laundry Experience

So, before I start off…I must tell you all…that I am indeed in college.

I know it’s a shocker (…not really.  It shouldn’t be a shocker anyways; some of my more recent blogs were all about college…and the plane ride to college…)

Anyways, I’m attending Weber State University now in Ogden, Utah.

Because I lived in Pennsylvania….and Utah is 238,343,642,556 miles away, I can’t go home every time I need to do laundry…or pick up something I forgot at the house…or cook food…

…I really miss home-cooked meals…

Anyways!  Because of this, as we speak right now, I’m down in my dorm’s basement doing laundry.

Now, this isn’t THAT big of a deal, because I’ve done laundry a lot over the course of my lifetime… from the time I was little up until the day before I left I had done laundry…now the methods and stuff changed over the years…but still, the basics remain.

So, why would I be writing a blog about doing laundry then?  Well…I just have a few complaints I would like to make evident.  I’ll make my list pretty…and might even add a picture to it!

#1: There are only 6 washing machines; 2 3 of them are out of order

(As I write this, the one machine that DID have my clothes in it now says that IT is out of order as well…so…yeah. Only two used to be out of order, but in the course of a few minutes, another one becomes inaccessible.  And actually, this little fact pissed me off.  Why? Because the clothes that were in the washer that now says Out of Order aren’t dry…they’re soaking wet…and not clean.  So what do I have to do? I have to put them in another washer and run the load again.)

#2:  The washers don’t hold very many clothing  items

(This means that if you wait to do your laundry for even like…a week…and you have a lot of clothing…you’re looking at using at LEAST 2 washers.  And, if there are 6 of them, and 3 are out of order, the chance of you being able to do all your laundry at once…well, the odds aren’t good.)

#3:  The washers are HE (High Efficiency) washers

(Okay, this doesn’t seem like THAT big of an issue…but look at it this way… I assumed that I would need regular laundry detergent to do my laundry…and the regular laundry detergent requires you more detergent for fewer loads.  If I would’ve known that the washers were HE, I could’ve invested in HE detergent, which you can get more loads out of with less…or so they advertise..  Plus…I really don’t know how well HE washers work with regular detergent…I don’t want to make it explode! Mainly the last point is my only concern..

*Honestly, I don’t know THAT much about HE products…so don’t tear me apart on this point; I’m just naïve and know what I’ve been told)

#4: It costs $1.00 per load to wash, and $1.00 per load to dry

(Let’s flash back to points number 1 and 2.  Specifically, in point number 1, the fact that while my clothes were IN the machine in the process of being washed, the machine went Out of Order.  And in the second point, let’s look at the fact that the machines don’t hold very many clothes.  These two points mean that #A: If the machine goes out of order on you in the middle of your load, you have to pay ANOTHER dollar to finish the load, and #B, If you have to use more than one machine, it means that you’ll be paying at least $2.00 just to wash them.  And then if you dry them…you have to dish out another dollar AT LEAST

*I know it sounds stupid to complain about a dollar…but a dollar here and a dollar there…plus if you do laundry weekly or even bi-weekly…you’re looking at a lot of money JUST to get your clothes clean!)

#5:  The washers are small, but the dryers are HUGE

(This isn’t really a complaint…but it doesn’t make sense!  I mean, that basically means the amount of clothing you can take up for 2 washers you can use to dry with just one dryer…which can cut down on costs.  But seriously…the washers should be bigger! That way instead of having to use 2 washers to do clothes, you only need to do one, which means you can free up a washer for another person who needs to use it…and seriously…this dorm has a lot of people who tend to want clean clothes)

#6:  Lots of people, few options

(In a building this big, there are going to be people constantly funneling in and out of the laundry room looking to wash and dry their clothes.  This is going to be really, really hard to do, especially if it takes 1 or 2 people to occupy all the available washing machines.  I mean, they’re freed up when the washing people go to dry their clothing items…but still.  It’s just..stupid.)

Okay that’s my rant.  Any opinions? Let me know.

Note: I’m glad that they do have facilities to help students get their clothes clean—I really am grateful—but the facilities they DO have need to be 5 million times more accessible to the students who paid good money to go to this school.