We bought our washer and dryer yesterday, and I can’t wait for our new front loader stackable washer and dryer to arrive. Unfortunately, it won’t be in until Wednesday, which leaves us three more days with no way to do laundry. It’s possible we could have lasted, but we were scraping the bottom on some of our clothes. Drew was going to drop it all off at a wash dry fold place, but since I had President’s Day off, I decided it was silly for him to do that while trying to get to work. I bagged it all up and headed for the laundromat.

I am a spoiled brat. I have never used a laundromat in my life. I have hand-washed clothes in a bucket in the mud in Uganda, but have never set foot in a laundromat. Since I lived at home for college, I have never lived more than 20 feet from a washer and dryer. I figured now was as good as time as any to have my laundry adventure.

Okay, not the most exciting adventure, but I figured I should make the most of it. Drew informed me of proper laundromat etiquette; if there’s lots of people, don’t use too many washers or dryers. But, if the place is empty, make use of the many washers. That’s what I did. There were about 7 – 8 empty washers and not many people, so I made use of five. I threw all my loads into different washers and was good to go. I took the few minutes I had to walk to the Dollar Tree and buy a bottle of water, then saw a friend on the way back and chatted for a minute. When I returned, I had maybe 10 minutes left on the first load. The rest were done within about 10 minutes after that. Fantastic!

Drying took longer, as it seemed more people showed up. I tried not to hog five dryers, so it took me a bit longer to get it all dry. Even when things were “dry” they still seemed a little damp. But I was tired of waiting and figured I could hang it all up to finish drying once I got home.

I am glad that I haven’t had to use laundromats in the past. Lugging it all out to the car, saving quarters, and sitting on cold folding chairs waiting on it to finish isn’t great fun. Finishing five loads of laundry in an hour and a half was quite nice. Doing that much at home would take all afternoon. But in that afternoon I could be cleaning the rest of the house.

Drew had mentioned that most laundromats probably have wi fi now. I thought about taking my laptop with me, but decided against it when I had to lug five trash bags of dirty clothes, detergent, and bleach with me. Good thing I didn’t. The laundromat I chose wasn’t the most “upscale.” I listened to the Chinese spoken by the employees while staring at the chipped tile floor. The only seating was cheap plastic lawn chairs and metal folding chairs.

I did speak briefly with one of the other customers. A cheap T.V. sat on top of the front loading washers, blaring news from CNN. The black woman folding laundry near me spoke about the bad news happening in Africa and I discovered she had an African accent. She spoke about how all the countries were fighting, including her own. I wish I had thought to say more, like how I love Africa, but all I could think to say was how sad it was. She agreed, then continued with her laundry.

So, even though it was an adventure, I’m thankful that my new washer/dryer set will be here soon.