Our new house has no laundry facilities, so last week, for the first time in about a decade, I went to the laundromat. I previously did not enjoy the whole “laundromat experience,” but that was before I had two kids. Now the whole thing is just disastrous.
First of all, there is no laundromat in our town. In fact, there is not a laundromat in the next town over, in any direction. This means that any time I need to do laundry, it becomes a car trip with the kids in addition to just cleaning the clothes.
Second of all, we have way too many clothes. How can one little baby produce so much dirty laundry?! I filled up the trunk and the passenger seat and I can tell you, my clothes were a very small percentage of the pile. It had only been two weeks! Stupid house with no laundry facilities, grumble grumble, snarl, grumble…
Anyway, we get to the laundromat, only to find out that laundry prices have risen at rates comparable to gasoline prices, which I was not prepared for. I also discover that there is no ATM on site and no way to get more cash. I discover this, of course, after all my clothes are loaded and ready to go. So I start the loads I can, and then bundle the kids back up and head out in search of a bank, or something similar.
We found a supermarket, where I was able to get cash back from buying the Coke I desperately needed at this point, and headed back to the laundromat. Now I was able to start the last bit of laundry, putting that load about 30 minutes behind the rest of the clothes. This meant that I got to sit on the floor of the laundromat with two small children for a long, long time. Let me tell you, laundromats are not made for small children.
I was able to keep them mildly entertained, under the stares of everyone else in the place, until the first load was out of the drier. Now it was folding time, and so my children were let loose upon an unsuspecting gathering of exactly who you might expect to find at a laundromat at 11 am on a Wednesday.
Some highlights of that next hour included: Edward crawling around stealing other peoples socks, Ruby skipping around loudly singing a song she just made up about pooping, and both children constantly trying to escape from the facility.
We did finally manage to get the laundry done, and it did cost a little less than filling up my car’s gas tank, so I guess it was an overall success, but that doesn’t take away my horror at the fact that this is now a regular activity. There must be another option! I guess we could all become nudists. Yes, great idea! Well, ok, I’m not saying if we are nudists or not, but if you’re coming over, knock first.
I continue to be astonished that a house for rent in Richmond, VT didn’t have laundry facilities. My condolences. But thoughts on options: how late is the laundromat open? Could you do mid-night laundry sans toddlers?
Maybe you could pay the people at the laundry mat to do it, and then pick it up later? I think it’s like a dollar a pound or something.
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