Doing your laundry can be an extremely time consuming and tedious task that most people absolutely dread. This is especially true for those with many people in one household. Fortunately, there is one great way to get around spending hours each day attending to this task. You can utilize the great business that is known as a commercial laundromat.
When doing your laundry at home you typically can only do so much at one time, and a great deal of time is wasted in between each load. Of course you can attend to other tasks during that time, but if you have a lot of laundry to get done it can easily take you all day to get it done, if not multiple days. Also, if you have a load in the dryer and forget about it or have to leave the house you will then have to start the dryer again so that the clothes are not wrinkled.
The biggest benefit of taking your laundry to a commercial laundromat is that you can get all of your laundry done in a matter of a few hours. In fact, you can even run errands in town while your clothes are in the wash and drying. It is a great way to get it done without spending everyday worrying about your laundry needs.
There are number of tricks to make your visit easier and go smoothly. First, just as you would do at home, you should wash like items together to ensure they they do not dye each other or shrink. Typically most clothes can be washed in warm water, but you will want to wash anything that has to be washed in cold separately. It is best to separate the items before you go there so that you have an idea of how big of washers you can use for each category. These facilities will usually a number of different sized machines. Blankets can usually be loaded into the very large machines. Clothing can also if you have a lot of the same type. You will likely want to use the smaller machines for whites or specialty items.
Be sure to not over fill the washers. They work best when there is a good amount of space for the water and agitation. You will also want to use a minimal amount of soap. Less is more in these machines and over filling can lead to suds building up so much that they over flow out of the machines. It can also leave your clothes full of soap which will likely irritate the skin of those that wear them.
If you like to use fabric softener you will want to keep an eye on the machines for when it is best to add it. Depending on the machine, you may be able to add it right away and the machine will just release it when the time is right. Check the specifications to be sure what the correct technique is.
When the washers are done they typically will sound, but they usually also have a timer on them, which will tell you how long you have to run an errand if you wish. While you do not have to take the clothes out right when they are done it is the best etiquette. There are usually people waiting to get their clothes in the larger washers as they are the most economical. Also, while it is not very common, there is always the bad seed, and if someone sees something they want they might take it. Being there when they stop running is your best bet to ensure that does not happen. Some facilities do not have staff on the premises at all times, and even if they do, they don’t keep track of whose clothing is whose.
When it comes to drying the clothing you again want to make sure that you are following the specifications for the item. If you have items that must be dried on low heat you should put all of them in one dryer. You will also want one dryer or more for your heavy blankets and comforters. They dry best with two in each at most.
Jeans should also be dried separately. Try to eye out how many should go in each dryer so that they can dry in a timely manner. They will take longer than most other items as it is. Finally sweaters, t-shirts or other light clothing items and undergarments should also each be dried separately.
Doing it in this fashion will enable you to save money on your drying costs as well as give you time to fold and sort the items as they dry. It can be very overwhelming to have everything finish at the same time. It is also best to only put a minimal amount of money in initially so that you can be sure that the dryer is working well and it gives you the opportunity to gauge just how long the clothes should take to try so that you are not over drying them or wasting money.
Commercial laundromats are a great way to save time on how long you invest in doing laundry each week. Clearly they are more expensive than doing it at home, but if time is at a premium for you it is well worth it. Give it a try, chances are you will enjoy the time it frees up during the week.