Adventures in Laundering!

We've now made it through a full week without our washer and dryer. Last week, Anthony took some laundry to the laundromat to get us through the week, so this week I decided to do it. Anthony insisted on going too, so we packed up our laundry baskets and headed for the local laundromat. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of a laundromat, I highly recommend that you try it at least once. It was definitely an experience that made me truly appreciate having my own washer and dryer. The laundromat we chose is called BJ's and is a short 2 or 3 minute drive from our house. It sits on the corner of two busy streets, next to a gas station/convenient store/liquor store. Why is it that all laundromats are next to liquor stores? Does someone assume that the only people who need laundromats are alcoholics? When we first arrived there were no other patrons in the building. The first thing I noticed was the sign that read: 24 hour video surveillance. Which I promptly spent the next 3 hours trying to locate to no avail. Time to start washing. We got some change and began to work on the task at hand. Anthony brought in the baskets and I started the stain treating the kids' clothing and separating them into 3 individual machines: lights, darks, & whites. Anthony filled a 3 load machine with towels and then 3 more machines with dirty laundry. While we were putting our clothes in the washing machines and shifty looking young man came in and set down. No laundry, no soap, no apparent reason for being there. After a few short minutes of looking and watching he asked if we had met a man on a bike earlier. My dear husband told him no and that there had been no one around to which the young man replied, "are you sure?" Yes, we're sure...why would we lie about something like that to a complete stranger anyway? Why is it that there are so many bizarre people that hang out in laundromats? I really thought this one would be different than some of the ones that you see in the not-so nice areas of town. We're talking about a main street, lots of traffic, lots of normal people. Not to mention the fact that there were no restrooms or anything that might encourage less than desirable behaviors. Oh well, I guess I was wrong and now I completely understood why Anthony did not want me to come by myself. Anyway, back to the laundry. Now came the waiting. Thirty minutes of pure hell! Honestly, it wasn't really that bad. A couple of people came in with their laundry. The shifty little man left. We talked and paced and waited. We watched a very interesting interaction between two men that strongly resembled a drug deal that you would see in a movie, though I don't really know what was going on as I averted my eyes, afraid I might see more than I bargained for. As our clothing finished their wash cycles we put them in the dryer. When they finished drying we folded them and put them into baskets. After not quite three hours, we were ready to go home with nice, clean laundry. After all was said and done and despite the creepy people, expensive washers and dryers, and having to share the facilities with other people, I must say there are some serious advantages to washing clothes at the laundromat. 1) Getting to use someone else's PG&E. Of course because of the pricey washers and dryers that cost 25 cents for 9 minutes, it might even itself out. 2) No wear and tear on your home washer and dryer. Of course, who knows what has been in the public appliances, so not a real big pro after all. 3) If I had done the amount of laundry I did today at home, it would have taken me days! Instead I did about 10 loads in 3 hours. So what I learned is, if you want to save a little time, make that a lot of time, and you can deal with crazies, vagrants, and who knows what else, go to the laundromat. As for me, I can't wait to get my washer and dryer fixed because I'd much rather spend a week doing laundry than dealing with that mess.