No human likes doing laundry. It’s cumbersome, time-consuming, and annoying but, once in a while, we must. To do laundry at Conn, Camels make the trek down to the laundry room in their residence hall. Doing laundry can sometimes be a struggle in a shared space. But there are a few ways we can make it smoother.

Here are some laundry hacks I have learned that have made my weekly laundry day less troubling:

• Get a durable laundry basket. You would be surprised how useful a laundry basket is when you need to carry your clothes (washed or dirty) over three flights of stairs.
• Invest in a couple of mesh bags. Mesh bags are useful for smaller clothes you don’t want to lose, like socks and masks. I have also noticed that they prevent the dryer from shrinking my masks! And if you need to put in bigger clothes (like jeans) to protect them from shrinkage, put them in a pillowcase! It works similarly to a mesh bag.
• Do laundry early in the morning or very late at night. I hate sharing the laundry room with people. So the best way to avoid any and all human interaction is by finding a time when either everyone in your residence hall is asleep or in class. For me, I usually do my laundry at 8:30 a.m.
• Treat stains before you wash it. Stains are stubborn! Deal with them with baking soda or a stain remover pen before putting the cloth in the washing machine.
• Always use the cold water option. Not only does this use less electricity (making it more environmentally friendly) but it also minimizes the chances of colors running and ruining your white clothes.
• Clean the lint trap! I know it’s gross. But a clean lint trap stops your clothes from getting linty and your clothes dry faster. Additionally, a full lint trap is a fire hazard.
• Fold your clothes straight out of the dryer. This hack prevents your clothes from getting wrinkled!
• Use Conn’s laundry tracker to keep a track of time because no one actually sets a timer.
• Do your homework while doing laundry. Doing laundry means you’re stuck in your residence hall for two hours. So use that time to do that long reading you have been procrastinating on for the past week.
• Be considerate about your laundry habits as you live in a shared place. Don’t hog the laundry machines! Make sure you take your laundry out on time as there is probably someone waiting for a machine. Living on a floor with 25 other people is hard and it’s small things like this that make a difference.