Laundry!
Jess Knachel '27 talks about how laundry works at Carleton.
Jess Knachel '27 talks about how laundry works at Carleton.
Fun fact: 100% of Carleton students wear clothes! Luckily, the college provides us with options to wash them.
The most notable thing about laundry at Carleton is that it’s FREE. Well, it’s included in the price of your tuition. No fiddling around with quarters! Each residential hall and house is equipped with washers and dryers that all students can use, usually on the first or basement floor.
Equipment
To do laundry at Carleton, you’re going to need to bring a few things. The bare minimum laundry materials are, of course, a hamper and detergent. I recommend bringing a hamper with handles so you can transport it easily up and down the stairs. As for detergent, I recommend the refill shop in Northfield that sells environmentally friendly soap and cleaning products! You can bring your own reusable bottle (or pick one from their selection) and refill your laundry detergent as often as you like. A few other nice-to-have laundry items are drying racks, dryer balls/sheets, and extra hangers.
Competition
Laundry day can get competitive in certain dorms, especially at peak hours. Saturday and Sunday are the days when most people do their laundry, so it’s sometimes tricky to find an open washer and dryer. Doing laundry during the week was usually my preferred tactic when I lived in a dorm. Especially because, as a freshman, I had a bad habit of forgetting my clothes in the Myers dryer. People might put your dry clothes on the tables in the laundry room (or even the floor) if you hog the machines. Set a timer!
House Laundry
This week was a little stressful for me, and I got very backed up on laundry. Yesterday, I did three loads in a row, forgot my last load in the dryer for an hour, and didn’t get my clothes removed from the machine once! This was made possible by the fact that I live in a townhouse. A 4:1 housemate to machine ratio makes the laundry situation a little more relaxed than in the dorms. It is so nice to have our own, private space to do laundry! I do miss the easy access to vending machines that the dorm laundry rooms offer, however.
Alright, that’s all I have to say about laundry. Except, don’t be nervous! I know I was a little wary when I came to college about having to share a laundry room with a whole dorm of people I didn’t know, but it didn’t end up being a big deal at all. Your clothes will get washed and dried, I promise.