Apartment Laundry: Stay Positive

hands placing laundry into a washing machineYou’ve officially run out of clean socks. It’s that time again— apartment laundry day. To many apartment dwellers, this is a dreaded affair. It generally involves lugging your overflowing basket of dirty clothes and linens down to the laundry room. You may have to wait your turn to access the washer or dryer. You may discover that a unit is broken and have to tape up the “out of order” sign. You may, to your horror, run out of quarters. Let’s take any negative associations with laundry at apartments, and turn them around. With proper planning and preparedness, laundry day doesn’t have to be a nightmare.

For starters, if you are lucky enough to live in a community with on-site apartment laundry facilities, take a deep breath and be grateful. Laundromats can be a hassle— they often require driving or walking longer distances with heavy bags, and you probably wouldn’t feel as comfortable leaving your clothes unattended there as at your complex. Having a washer and dryer hooked up inside your own apartment is very convenient, but that can lead to its own share of stresses, including higher rent, higher electricity and water bills. Then there’s the annoyance of having maintenance come in to fix broken units.

Now that you can appreciate what you have, approach the apartment laundry situation head-on. Instead of getting quarters on an as-needed basis, stock up. The next time you stop to get gas, go in and ask the attendant to cash out $10 in quarters for you. Keep your quarters all together in one change purse or small container, and add to it every time you find a quarter in your pocket or on the sidewalk. Pick up a generously sized bottle of laundry detergent and box of dryer sheets at the grocery store, buying in advance so you’ll always have replacement supplies when you run out.

Next week, we’ll move on to discuss tips and tricks for apartment laundry room etiquette and more. Hoping to find an apartment with better facilities? You’ve come to the right place. ApartmentSearch.com can help you locate Dallas apartmentsPhoenix apartmentsAustin apartments, and Seattle apartments in these exciting cities and so many more nationwide.