The Best Ways to Use a Laundromat

Doing the laundry regularly is an ever-present part of life especially if you’re expected to do everything from start to finish.

Sadly, not everyone can afford to have regular professional laundry services wash, dry, and press clothes and beddings. And not everyone can have their own washer and dryer at home for financial or spatial reasons.

Good thing there are laundromats to the rescue. And there are practical ways to use a laundromat as this post will try to explain.

Sort your laundry before heading out

To save you time and effort (and laundry detergent), sort your laundry items even before heading out to the laundromat. This way, you’ll be able to organise which clothes or bed sheets need to be washed first and which can spend a bit more time in your laundry basket until the next trip.

Sort the white items from the dark ones and the coloured clothing or beddings for a different load. This will allow you to occupy less space in the laundromat and have an idea of how much you’ll be paying, too.

You can also use clothes racks to separate items that need handwashing or dry cleaning so they won’t get mixed up in the others.

Bring your preferred detergent and fabric softener

There are many practical reasons for bringing your own laundry detergent and fabric conditioner to the laundromat.

For starters, you can rest assured that you won’t be allergic to the ingredients of laundromat-bought supplies. For another, you’ll know just how much to use per load and what the cost is.

You can use small sealed containers to scoop enough detergent or pour just the right amount of fabric softener so you won’t have to lug around large bottles or packs. And if you use laundry or dryer sheets, bring just enough to keep creases and wrinkles at bay so you won’t have to rely on your ironing board for them.

Make sure the washer and dryer are clean before using

You won’t be the only person (nor your laundry the only ones) to use a particular washer and dryer at the laundromat. In a single week, there could be hundreds of customers washing thousands of clothing items and beddings in one machine.

So while washing machine repairs and plumbing fixes are the laundromat’s responsibility, yours is to ensure that a machine is clean and lint-free inside and out. Before putting in your laundry, make sure there’s no bleach or detergent residue left inside that could potentially ruin your stuff.

Bring some clean rags or paper towels to wipe the washing machine inside and out so you won’t have to deal with yucky lint, sticky residue, or stains left behind by a previous user.

Use a front-loading washer for lesser water consumption

According to research published in our water consumption statistics in Singapore guide, we are currently fifth in the World Resources Institute’s Water Stress Rankings. This means we have to be more mindful about how we use water with every chore we do.

That’s why it’s a good idea to use laundromats that have front-load washers instead of top-load ones. Front-load washing machines use up significantly less water (around 50% less!), so that’s an environmentally-friendly way to do laundry.

Another way to reduce your laundry carbon footprint is to skip the dryer altogether. If you opt to air dry your clothes, you might find that you won’t have to decide between a steamer or an iron to take out creases or wrinkles.