using a public laundry for the first time.

i am lucky because even when we lived in an apartment, we used to take our laundry over to my parents and do it there. my daughter is at college and having to do her own laundry now which is a big change for her, plus, for the course she is in, she has to have a uniform and blankets (she is taking massage therapy) so that is a big change for her. apparently, there is a dryer, that for a toonie, it dries the clothes super fast. i imagine that dryer would be pretty hard on the clothes though.

What an experience. I probably would have done what you did. I haven't used public laundry facilities since 1988 when I lived in a townhouse apartment. I had to walk across the parking lot to the laundry building. That was okay except in the winter when it was bad out. The apartments were large but because everything was included in the rent (heat & electric) it was against the rules to have your own washer & dryer. A neighbor was at work one day and a pipe burst. Maintenance had to go in and get to a pipe that was in the back of a large closet. When they opened the closet door they discovered an apartment washer/dryer combo. She had to get rid of it or move. I bought an apartment sized dryer and put it upstairs in my spare room. It was very light, not heavy at all. It came on a little skid with a large cardboard box over it. So I left it on the skid with the box over it and took a roll of wrapping paper and wrapped it around the box and over the top. I put a big bow and a tag saying "Happy Birthday Mom" on the top. When I needed to use the dryer it was very easy to lift the box off, plug it in and dry my clothes. Maintenance came several times for repairs and painting, etc. and never knew what was in the box in the 11 years I lived there. That's my laundry story. And I hope the fix they dryer on your floor soon so you don't have to go all over the building to do your laundry.

It has been a long time since I had to do laundry at a public laundry. When I did I tended to lock myself out of my duplex. It was owned by the man who owned the apartments and we shared laundry. I could break in so easily it was scary. I do not like public laundry as they seem to be hard on the clothes. When my daughter was in an apartment she dried most of her stuff in the apartment, not in dryers, except for the bedding, just to save money. They get really expensive. I can understand your confusion as to which floor and how the dryers worked.

In your situation where you didn't know I probably would have paid the money too because I would have felt bad for stopping their laundry from drying. I hated using the washer and dryer when I lived in an apartment when we first got married, actually I hated everything about that apartment building, we gave up our security deposit and moved out about 7 months after we moved in. We ended up buying a town house just to get out of there, we were saving for a bigger house but we hated the apartment building so much we had to get out. I am getting off topic, but my husband traveled a lot at that time which means I was left there alone a lot. We wanted to save money to buy a house so we rented the cheapest apartment we could find so the element there was not great. The guy above us beat his girlfriend almost every night, the next door neighbor started an actual physical fight with my husband. I didn't feel safe in the laundry room and if you didn't sit there the whole time someone else would pull your clothes out of the dryer and place them on top of it, even if you drying cycle was not even done yet, they would actually steal your drying time. I tried to avoid going there as much as possible, I would wash my panty hose, my husband's socks and both of our underwear in the sink and hang it over the shower curtain. I would wash everything in the sink that I could without ruining it, sometimes I would wash things in the sink and then put them in the dryer, but I really tried to avoid going down there, it just didn't seem safe. If I had a lot of laundry to do I would pack it up and take it to my mom's house, and then she would insist on doing it and I would feel bad so I tried to avoid doing it there. My washer and dryer here at this house have broke a couple times in the 15 years that I have lived here and I have had to take everything to a laundry mat. Other than all the hauling I didn't mind that all that much. I take me a couple of days to get all of our laundry, washed, dried, hung, folded, and put away now. When I go to the laundry mat everything is washed, folded, or hung in about 2 hours. It is of course pretty costly though. I am sure things will be better for you now that you know how to use the machines in the apartment complex now.

Well I used to wash my own clothes to lessen the chores that my mom doing at home and the fact that I am old enough to do it on my own. Never had a chance to go into public laundry to wash clothes. I used to wash it at home and so far our dryer and washer is in good running condition.

Public laundry was ok up until the eighties as socialising was the way to go. I remember my mum taking me to the launderette to get the washing done. By the mid-eighties we had our first washer/drier so public laundry was only for days when the washing machine failed. Then rolled in the nineties which changed everything! I did go back to using public laundry at uni not realising what the other users were upto in their "studies" _

I generally do my laundry at home in my little twin-spin apartment washer, but I had to take my comforter to the public laundromat the other day. They have regular machines and extra large machines. My comforter won't fit in a regular machine much less my little one. Two dollars for the washer and fifty cents for the dryer and I had a nice clean comforter again.

hi winterrose yes we had three wash rooms in our apt complex for 120 families whee so there were three washers and three drivers. the i nstructions were on the wall so no problem b u t I had one complaint. someone had washed something very cau stic in a washer. now t he washer was dry so I assumed it would be okay to wash m y new blue denim skirt. So I turned it on waited for it to fill added the soap and started the machine. when I went to take it out of the washer my new skirt had about seven small holes in one part of the skirt, my new skirt. I felt horrid b ut what could I do as no one w as going to admit to washing something in that washer they should not have done.

I hated going out to do the laundry. I had a laundry in my apartment complex one time. And it really depended on the other people who lived there. SOme would just leave their clothes in the washers and the dryers and never thought of anyone else. I have had experience so I would have started the machine before putting any extra money in it. Its a live and learn situation.

I used to do laundry at the laundry mat. i did for years! I have to haul my clothes down flight of stairs every week! I usually has only two laundry baskets but that was enough! I had my share of weird things happen! I had to wait for washers and dryers at times. Heard some crazy stories listening to other people at the laundry mat! Once a washer started smoking! luckily the laundry mat owner didn't charge me to use another washer! Once a kid,unsupervised,pushed my dryers buttons,so it shut off! The kid did it to other dryers,too! Had a guy try and pick me up,once! Didn't work! There was an old guy who always wanted to talk and he never had nothing good to say about anything! A few times I forget my dried laundry and when i noticed it I had to run back and get it! Then there was the time someone needed a big washer and I had run an errand while it washed. Came back to find my wet clothes where in one of those baskets on wheels! I was not happy! Some people have no paitance! Last year a freind had a washer and dryer she was not using. She gave me those them to me for free! I have a basement where I live and I am happy no more trips to the laundry mat! No more making sure I have enough money to do laundry,too! That makes me happy!

I have not lived in apartments for a long time since I've been living in houses including today. I have been fortunate to live in houses that have washer and dryer. I don't have to worry about getting coins and such. I have experienced using laundromat when I go out of town if it is really necessary for me to do laundry. It has been pretty straight forward. I either got some coins ready or sometimes I have to use the coin changer.

I remmeber in college luckily we lived down the hallway, so it wasnt far. But we did that my sister, me, and her friend luckily the person walked in and we apolgized and he showed us how it works. But I usually just washed my clothes in the bathtub, or the sink then hung them in the bathroom while in residence. The two years after that we rented in a house, and they provided the machines, and dryers but still we hung them over the deck as that what we did while growing up. Some of the older machines are very confising, I know my friend always does her in the laundry mat and its computerized, so it would tell you what to do. But I think I probably would do what you did.

I usually go to a laundry mat or landr-o-mat that has dry cleaning and video games in em. Its usually clean and the people are almost transparent. The kids are lively and run all over. Thats my laundry experience

Hi friend, i think you never forget about your first experience with public dryer, since it is little bit hard to you. I don't have this kind of experience in my life, most of the time i wash my clothes in our washing machine or by hands, i never use this kind of public machine for washing purpose

We always put money aside for laundry, and since we live in the basement, it's not that far for us to do laundry.

I'm not a great fan of public laundries although over my years I've used them a lot. I think one of the most disheartening things is to have the washing machine breakdown mid-cycle. All your clothes is just swimming there and the best you can do is hand wring it out and put it in the dryer for three hours hoping that stupid thing doesn't breakdown as well. Never much liked rounding up several pounds of change for the job. I get frustrated sometimes and don't think things through all the time. I probably would have added the money to the other persons drying time as well.