If you live close to home or you own an enormous supply of underwear–and some students do–you’re among the few who can probably get away with never having to do laundry while at college. (I hear it’s a fabulous way to save quarters!) However, the rest of us find ourselves having to do laundry at least a few times a semester. Here are some tips to help the process of cleaning your clothes go as soon as possible.
1. Keep track of how much clean underwear you have left!
And plan around it! Believe it or not, this is probably the single most important piece of laundry advice I can give any college student. It’s never fun to run out of clean underwear–especially when you have two meetings, a paper due, and an exam to study for all within a period of 24 to 48 hours. So as your clean undie supply begins to dwindle, take note and figure out when would be a convenient time to do some laundry. And if you’re really in a pinch, hand-washing a few pairs of underwear in the sink won’t hurt–just don’t make a habit of it!
2. Save your quarters or bring your 1Card
McDaniel students need to pay for their own laundry, and there’s two easy ways to do that. If you happen to have a lot of change, use quarters to pay for your loads. Toward the end of the school year, I tend to pay for my laundry using quarters so I can cut down on the loose change I have to lug back home. Paying with quarters is also a good option if you like
to use your 1Card to pay for food and coffee the Pub, the Green & Go, and Caseys’ Corner and even off-campus locations.
However, if you don’t use the funds on your 1Card that much, you might want to pay for laundry using that. Whatever you choose to buy with your 1Card, which is also your student ID card, your tuition pays for $50 a semester to go on it, so spent wisely–but worry not, because you can always add more funds.
3. Keep an eye on the time
Washers and dryers are a limited resource on campus. Most of the time, you won’t have to wait to do laundry, but sometimes, things get busy.
As a courtesy to others, only do your laundry when you actually have time to do laundry–don’t be the kid who leaves his clothes in the washer for three hours, regardless of whether or not other people are waiting to use it.
My biggest tip for making sure you don’t forget about your clothes: bring a cellphone with you to the laundry room and set a timer for how long it will take your clothes to be finished washing or drying.
4. Know what 
colors you’re washing
You’ve probably seen it in cartoons: an absent-minded, often male character hasn’t done laundry very much, so he washes a bunch of white shirts with a bunch of red shirts–and turns the white shirts pink. Your wardrobe probably consists of more than just white clothes and red clothes–hopefully, it will consist of lots of McDaniel green!–but it’s still worth being mindful of what colors your clothes are. Sometimes, you can separate loads between lights and darks, but other times, it will be easier to just do all your laundry together.
Since I have a lot of darker clothing, when I do laundry, I like to use Shout Color Catchers. I use half a sheet in the washer for every load I do. Also, I’ve never tried it before, but I found this handy tutorial for how to make your own color-catching laundry sheets.
5. Clean the lint traps!
Not everyone comes to college knowing how to do laundry. That’s okay. I won’t judge you. But regardless of whether you’ve been doing laundry since age five or you’ve never done laundry and don’t plan on doing so until five weeks into the semester, it’s important to remember to always clean the dryer lint traps.
When you open the dryer, you’ll see a white handle of sorts at the bottom of the opening into the dryer. It’s called a lint trap and its job is to collect lint that’s stuck to your clothes. Pull the lint trap out by the handle before you turn the dryer on and walk away, because the person who did laundry before you might have forgotten or might not have known to clean it. Scrape any lint off into a trashcan and then put the lint trap back in its slot. Now, dry your clothes as normal, remembering to remove any items prone to shrinkage, such as sweaters, so they can air dry and remembering to set a timer for one hour so you can claim your clothes.
Remember: Doing your own laundry is not scary. (I promise!)
McDaniel washers and dryers don’t have a lot of different settings, so unless you do try to wash reds and whites together or decide to stick a newly tie-dyed shirt in with the rest of your clothes, it’s pretty hard to screw up a load of laundry. Just remember to have all the supplies you need (detergent, color catchers, optional fabric softener) ahead of time and remember to be courteous to others trying to do laundry and it will be easy.
If you need any other laundry help, the internet is a super useful tool–try YouTube and About.com–and your parents or parental-figures are only a phone call away.
Image sources:
Washing machine–http://demenglog.com/kitchen/how-to-ensure-your-washing-machine-smells-as-fresh-as-the-day-it.html
Shout Color Catchers–http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/06/free-shout-color-catcher-sample-new-link.html
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