apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Never load a neighbor's things into the dryer!!!!!! I have things that must hang dry. It would be so unfortunate to be caught up in something and forget about my load, only to find favorite items shrunken. I say if your neighbor is neglectful for hours, put the wet clothes on the machine. And if you take theirs out of the dryer, lay them out nicely. The neglectful neighbor is the one breaking the etiquette rules (and that person is often me!)

I think it is totally okay to remove clothes if they are holding up the line. In my apt building's shared laundry, everyone knows that it's the law of the land when it comes to cycling quickly from washer to dryer. If you snooze, your stuff will be waiting for you in a pile on a table or in a dryer. No one takes offense.

I have absolutely no problem unloading the machines. I've always lived in buildings with too few machines for the number of tenants, and you could wait all day for an open machine if you don't unload. I set a timer for the length of each cycle so I can be sure to unload my laundry immediately. I don't expect my neighbors to be as OCD, but I do expect them to be timely. If clothes are sitting in the machine I want for longer than 10-15 minutes, I'm unloading. Do I like it? No, not at all. But I value my time more than my dislike of touching others' clothes.

That's my biggest issue with shared laundry rooms in apartments. Yes, it's convenient (and I kinda miss having laundry at my new place), but it's SO incredibly annoying when people don't keep on top of it. I understand if you got busy or you forgot, that happens, but you should feel lucky if your clothes are still in the machine when you go to check on them.
In my old place, if I went down to the laundry room and found that the two washers were off and filled with wet clothes, I'd wait. The wash cycle usually takes about 30 minutes, so I'd come back in another 30 minutes. If they were still there when I came back the second time, OH WELL! My turn! Out go their clothes and in go mine. If the dryers are empty, I'll put the clothes in there. If not, then they go on top of the dryer.
There have been many many times where I'd get through 4 loads, washed and dried, and still have someone else's laundry in piles on top of the machines. Is it rude to just toss someone else laundry aside? Yeah it is. Is it rude to hog the laundry room with all of your clothes because you're either too lazy or have poor time-management skills? Yeah, it is.

I remember doing laundry in college was brutal so I always ended up being super punctual about getting back to the machine or I would bring an assignment to read as I waited for my clothes to wash and dry. My rule was take it out if in the dryer, but never take out someone's wet clothes. Other people however would take your wet clothes and some people would remove your clothes and steal your time!

yeah don't try and do the "nice thing" by drying them. If you ruin an expensive piece of clothing, i don't think the $1.25 in quarters will be what they're worried about.

Plus the folding and all that, sorry to say but I don't want other people touching my clothes. I mean it seems like a nice gesture but i don't know if you're a clean person or if you just scratched your a** with your hand and then proceeded to fluff my towels...

My basement neighbour has taken a load of mine from the washer and put it in the dryer. Usually, if this was in an apartment building, I wouldn't have an issue with it. but we share a house and I am her only neighour! Why couldn't she have just come and knocked on my door and said "Hey, your washer load is done. Mind if I put it in the dryer?"
I agree that it's a scary thing to happen if you weren't planning on drying the clothes in the dryer!

I just have issues all around with my neighbour, but mostly because she is so shy and won't just talk to us upstairs.

She also doesn't keep the laundry room tidy. She rarely empties the lint trap, and the waste basket has been filling up and filling up for ages. It's her responsibility to maintain that room and it's aggrivating to watch it get dirtier and dirtier!

Grrrr...

I just want her to move out!

this is why i do laundry on the weekdays... we only have 2 sets of washers and dryers per floor and sunday always seems to be laundry day.

I always leave a basket in the laundry room in case anyone does this. I will usually wait on a neighbor about 15 minutes for a washer. I have never had to take wet things out of the washer, because they always show up. People line up their baskets to come back later if no washers are currently free and may not return for days, however. I just keep doing wash (if necessary) until they show up or I'm done. I'm not above hogging the washers since chances are nobody will come and I will get done faster.

I would also be furious if someone put my laundry in the dryer. I hang a good portion of my clothing on a rack. I come back within a few minutes of the wash cycle ending - the timers are wrong and I'm usually early, in fact. I have only ever run into anyone about to take my things out, this is when I thought 6am on a Sunday was a great time to sneak in some laundry. An older neighbor with no patience for the fact that she had a similar idea and had to keep on task went ahead to take my stuff out without even a minute's lapse. I am very mindful not to flake out on things where this is concerned. We only have 3 each washers and dryers for about 40 units, and quite a few people have great ideas for doing laundry when they think nobody else would be. Strangely, Sunday afternoon is often unspoken for.

I usually leave it in the washer if it's still there. I wouldn't want someone throwing my stuff in the dryer for me, as sometimes I want to air dry clothing.

If it's left in the dryer for too long though, I have no problem taking it out and folding it for them. I think I wouldn't want others to fold my laundry for me, though, which is why I make sure I'll be around to get it when I start laundry.

I have had the unfortunate (and aggravating) displeasure of coming home to my wet laundry sitting on top of the washer, or my dry laundry sitting crumpled, when I have for the person that did that to my laundry folded theirs neatly if they weren't there to take it out.

I think that if you leave your laundry unattended, it's fair game to be taken out.

I live in a building that has 1 washer and dryer on every other floor - so there are about 12 apartments for every laundry room.

I have no problem with taking the laundry out of the washer and putting it in the dryer if it's done (tho I don't start the dryer) - and if it's sitting in the dryer when I'm ready to dry, it comes out - wet or dry.

my building has over 60 apartments and 3 washing machines/2 dryers. so...it's inevitable that people are going to remove your stuff. i keep a stopwatch with me so i don't forget, because the one time i DID forget, someone took all my clean clothes out of the dryer and just tossed them onto the most filthy surface imaginable - even though my laundry bag was sitting right there.

and, the laundry CART was sitting right there - we have two metal laundry carts for the transferring from wash to dry. why wouldn't they have put my stuff in there??

people suck. period.

i positively hate taking people's stuff out, but sometimes ya just have to. i just make a point to not let their underthings sit on the top of the pile for everyone to see. i will drape a larger article over everything. i think that's a nice thing to do considering i'm handling their stuff. i HATE thinking someone is touching my stuff.

last weekend i had to take my neighbor's stuff out because she was late, and she walked in as i was doing it! oh man, i said to her how i HATE doing that, but that i was just in such a rush...she understood, but now i feel sheepish every time i see her!

In college, we just left our basket on top of the machine in question - if someone needed the machine and you weren't there to collect your stuff, they just put it in your basket and set it aside.

Of course, this system depends on respectful people.

I've lived in many apartment buildings, and never even considered either folding someone's laundry or paying to dry it.

If it's left in the washer, it gets thrown in their basket or inside/on top of a dryer (if the top is clean). Same deal if it's left in the dryer- throw it in the basket or on top of the dryer. In my opinion, if you're too careless to come back when the machines are done, you're probably not someone who's obsessive about their clothes never being in a pile or being touched by someone else. I would fully expect that if I left my laundry it would get moved, and that's why I always leave my basket(s) in the laundry room. It is ridiculous to wait (possibly all day) for someone to come take care of their laundry. I once had a roommate who would forget her laundry in the washer or dryer for days at a time. Bad news....

...bear in mind that I spent 5 years in active duty USAF and had to deal with extremely limited laundry facilities there - in basic training we even designated certain guys in the flight to do the laundry for everyone else.

...so I've had to push other guy's laundry through the dryers or their wet clothes would probably still be sitting there - after a while, you don't really care who sees or touches your old jockstrap.

I was just thinking of the random panties occasionally hanging up in the laundry room in my building. Someone, and I think it might have been the same woman, occasionally left behind the skimpiest pretty/sexy panties, so whoever found them next would hang them on a nail sticking out of the wall. They would stay there for weeks on end.

I wanted to add a "no" to the folding - please don't think you had to fold my laundry if I'm not there. I think it's not as neighborly as passive-aggressive. I could be overthinking it, but you have time to do my chores for me, you think you're more considerate than me because I wasn't down here promptly... I've never had that happen to me, but I know what I think of it. Don't think I'll fold your laundry either. I just wouldn't expect anyone to go above and beyond on this task, and sorry I'm such a grouch as to appreciate it even less than leaving things in the basket at most. Also, each person who uses a dryer should look after their own lint and not the person who was there before them. Should.

If you have left your laundry unattended in the washer or drier, you are the one being rude and forcing someone else to either wait for you (will it be minutes, hours ,or days before you retrieve your stuff?) or making them do what no one feels comfortable doing - removing your stuff for you. I feel bad if I get delayed and cause someone else to have to deal with my laundry.

I would NEVER dry someone else's clothes because you could ruin something, but I do always wipe down the tops of the driers to make sure they are clean before putting someone else's clothes on top of them. My building only has 2 washers 2 driers, and 20 apts, so there isn't much leeway in using another machine.

And folding someone else's clothes is just getting invasive in my opinion. They were going to be just as wrinkled laying in the machine as on top of the machine.

I usually wait about 5 minutes before shuffling someone's laundry to the dryer or on top of a (clean!) machine. My apartment building only has one washer and one dryer, so I think it's ridiculous to wait much longer.

I would have to say "no" to having someone fold my clothes, too. They're my private items, and for some reason it just creeps me out to have a (possible) stranger folding my underwear. If I wasn't there one time, I fully understand the need for my pile of clothes to be set carefully aside.

That said, I think the most annoying laundry room lack of etiquette is people not cleaning out the lint traps. I swear no one else does it but me in public facilities. Oh, and people using bleach.

The worst lack of etiquette? I've found various unmentionables in apartment laundry machines, and one time the neighbors got drunk enough to actually get sick in one of the machines. Not cool!

I JUST returned from picking up my laundry they did for me at the laundromat down the street. Washed, dried, fluffed and folded. It's the only way to live. And only $5 for the first 8 lbs of laundry!

After years and years of dealing with the crap you have to go through in communal laundry rooms, I swore off doing my own laundry if I can help it. I paid my dues!

I maintain the laundry room in my house, the downstairs apartment has access to the laundry, but it is part of our apartment.

Generally I have little problem with the guys downstairs. I would never dry stuff for them and the one time they did mine I told them not to, just to throw it either on top of the dryer (which I keep clean) or in one of our basket. They are single guys so I often have to clean the lint trap for them. My biggest problem has been 1) them using my laundry soap (I have to hide it pretty much, because one just said 'o I've been using your laundry soap for the past 4 months, is that ok?')
and them filling the room with their garbage (him: 'the trash was getting smelly so I put it in here' me: 'you realize this is my apartment' him: 'oh so I cant put it in here?')

If clothes are left in the wash and haven't been moved in an hour, I put it in a dryer, without turning the dryer on. If they're in the dryer and haven't been picked up in an hour, they go on top of the folding table. Everyone knows the rules of the game. You snooze...you get wrinkled laundry.

I have no problem taking stuff out of the dryer. If there is a basket, I put it in the basket. If not, I just set it on top of the dryer. Folding someone else's laundry is kind of creepy, especially it there is underwear and stuff like that.

I only take stuff out of the washer if it has been there for more than, say, a day. If it is still there when my load is done, then I just put it back in the washer.

If the person has not returned to retrieve their items (wet or dry) in a reasonable amount of time, then yes I will remove. I set a kitchen timer so I'm there right when it's finished and not holding up others. We're all in the same boat with laundry. No one likes doing it, so make it as pleasant as possible.

peahen,

what laundramat?!?! I'm going there! $5? Awesome!

i live in a smaller complex with one washer and dryer -
i definitely follow the "leave it on top of the dryer" rule.
there's no harm done.
i would never dry a load for someone... because i wouldn't want most of my things dry..
and i would NEVER fold someone's stuff - that's just overkill and weird.

i always leave my basket behind just in case someone else comes down. i think its obvious they can put my things in the basket.

as long as you don't throw it on the floor or something - who cares!

13 people live in my building with one washer and one dryer. Yes, it is ok to remove the clothes from the washer or dryer. No one would manage to get laundry done otherwise. I always return the clothes to the machine where I found them when I am done.

Don't dry clothes for people. Half of my cold water wash needs to air dry. Just move the clothes out of your way, carry on, and return them to where you found them.

I don't have this problem anymore since I stay by my laundry at all times (shady neighbors) and do my laundry on off-peak hours.

But in the past, I've always been diligent about immediately removing my clothes, going so far as to setting timers on my phone for when the loads will be done. That way I'm there within 5 minutes. But, if I ever was late, I really wouldn't mind if people respectfully removed my laundry, and either placed it on a cleaned off top of the washer (maybe on a towel), or in the dryer. No sense ruining their day waiting for me. When I lived with 8 people and only 1 washing machine, we did this all the time, and would place the wet clothes in a clean hamper just for that purpose.

I can see why people would get upset (EEK, someone touched my things!) but when you are the lazy laundry culprit, you can't really complain, now can you?

That laundry room is so beautiful! If only mine were anything like that.

Emily

I think that would be really weird if one of my neighbors folded my laundry... and I'd be pissed if they put my expensive lacy unmentionables through the dryer!

I wish apartment buildings had centrifuges, like the swimsuit-drying ones. They take 30 seconds and your clothes are almost dry. And they take up way less energy than dryers. And they don't shrink clothes!

Thanks for the walk down (bad) memory lane!!!

Getting my own washer and dryer was one of the main reasons I bought my condo.

krpm1 aka Kelly:),
My laundromat is in Manhattan. Not sure if you live here. They're on Allen Street between Rivington & Delancey. Tian Tian Laundry is how it's spelled I think. But most places in the city have similar reasonable drop off rates.

yep:
no one owns the shared-use laundry facilities, so if one person is thoughtless/forgetful/absent, it's ok to put their stuff in a neat pile on a clean surface and proceed with your own laundry. i think that's what 'shared-use' means.

I do my best to leave my basket in the laundry room, but my building renovated it and unfortunately it is awkward to leave my basket down there.

With the transferring to a dryer issue, I will transfer the clothes to the dryer but I will not pay for their load. I can barely afford to do my own laundry. Luckily we have four dryers so I don't usually run into the problem of there being no dryers at all.

... I should do laundry tonight...

I lived in New York for over 20 years and used a commercial laundromat. In the early days, I did use a wash-and-fold, but realized how much money I was wasting. It's not really practical if you have a child. In the laundromat, if I could avoid moving someone's wet or dry laundry, I would. On the other hand, if someone's negligence was holding me up, their wet or dry laundry would go into an available hamper. People would race each other to get their laundry into the machines first, so they wouldn't have to be there all day. It helped everyone stay real. I never saw anyone upset by finding their laundry in a hamper, but I saw a lot of people upset about the unavailability of the machines.

One tip for those who use commercial machines -- be nice to the attendant. They are generally people not too happy about their jobs and their place in life. If you always speak to them pleasantly and they get to know you, they may volunteer to transfer your laundry from machine to dryer, as long as you give them the necessary coins. Don't ask them directly; it's an imposition. Just say that you have to do an errand, and you might be held up. Ask them to do you a favor and just keep an eye on your clothes until you get back. If they volunteer to transfer the clothes, that's great, and offer them a tip later if it all works out. Don't overuse the prerogative.

Now I have my very own washer and dryer, and it is a dream not to have to lug a pushcart down to the laundromat and sit in an ugly, uncomfortable room while my laundry is going through the cycles. It's so nice to have I keep most of my stuff clean, rather than let it pile up.

I am one of those terrible people who leaves their clothes too long. Rarely, but yes. I don't mind when someone takes my clothes out to do their own load.

I do hate it when my underwear goes missing, though.

just saw this at a rehab center (accidents/strokes etc)...they had a mock-up of a kitchen and laundry where patients re-learned skills. on top of the dryer/washer were a few dry-erase boards with velcro attached pens...when you put your laundry in, you wrote your room number on the board and placed it on the washer lid. if you did not return, laundry was removed and put in a basket, and a dry-erase board (with the room number) placed on top. same rules for the dryer...

Where I went to college, if you were smart you didn't leave your laundry unattended at all. There was one rather ugly incident in which a student poured chocolate sauce in another student's drying laundry load while she was out of the room. But, some students did invariably forget to return promptly, and those waiting for machines would give them 10-20 minutes before removing their clothes.

As for apartments, I've only lived in buildings where everyone has their own hookups and provides their own machines (or uses the nearest laundromat). That's worked perfectly, except for the time one crabby tenant got mad at me (the resident building manager) because my roommate, who was moving out the next day and had a 1200-mile drive ahead of her, was still doing laundry at 10 p.m.

I'm so happy to have an apartment w/ my own laundry--of course, it wasn't always this way, and i concur with others that if you leave your laundry, it's fair game to be moved.

My building has 2 washer and 2 dryers for 24 units. There's a sign in the room that says if you leave your stuff for more than 10 minutes after it's done, it's fair game for removal from the machines. I got annoyed recently when one of my neighbors filled both washers- I arrived to do my load as he was turning on the second one. So when his wash was done I went out and started mine, and then went out when his drying was done and he hadn't retrieved it yet... fifteen minutes later I caught him and he said he had just started both loads on another full dry cycle because they were a bit damp. 45 more minutes waiting for a dryer! Whenever I have more than one load, I do them consecutively so other people have a chance to do their wash too.

I would be pi$$ed if someone put my stuff in the dryer! I'd much rather they leave it sitting on a table. A lot of my stuff I don't dry so it doesn't shrink.

In college, I would usually wait a few minutes in the laundry room to see if someone came to take out their clothes and if not, I had no problem taking their clothes out and setting them on the table. I always watched the clock when I did my laundry (especially since I usually had another load and I didn't want to lose my machine), but if I was late, I didn't mind if people got out my clothes as long as they didn't end up on the floor just. I understood where they were coming from.

How are you supposed to know if they're coming back. They could have left all together or fallen asleep. If I carved out several hours to sit there and do laundry, I don't want to waste time.

amazon sells a little washer made by Haier for $199. you attach it to the sink and 40 minutes later clean clothes that are so well-spun that they will dry hanging over night. the machine is quiet and small enough to store in the closet when you aren't using it.

i've had this machine for about 2 months now and can't imagine how i managed before. the wash load is small but for one person you can get everything in about 4 loads max. per week.

I made the mistake of folding someone else's laundry in college. She must have been an ultimate street mud wrestle because her clothes and sheets were covered with massive brown stains. Never again.

Also, I hate bleach. Someone in my building uses it and now several of my shirts and towels have stains. And that stuff is toxic. Focus.

OMGosh, this one really got everyone going, - funny. New york law is if you snooze you lose - your laundry gets tossed aside.. ususally I throw it in one of the dryers and let the person sort it out and turn it on. Have never had an issue and have lived in apartments for over 20 years..

I'm the Landlady at my house (actually the hubs is the landlord i like to consider myself the overlord hehehe....) since we offer free laundry to our tenants i have no problem setting the rules. as unfair as they may seem, i'm footing the bill and let me tell you, some months i swear they are taking in loads as extra income.

no one leaves the laundry unattended in a "done" machine or it gets pulled out and put on the drying table. Overlords are exempt from this rule (since we are paying the bills).

no one is to use chlorinated bleach (including overlords) since it is so messy it is almost a guarantee that i'll put my jeans in a puddle!

lint trap is to be cleaned before and after each and every load since the previous tenant sent his load up in smoke!! (really scary!) garbage can is provided within arms reach.

all cleaning supplies are to be kept neat and clean on individual shelf with names written on the bottles. believe me i check to make sure they aren't using my stuff, its annoying and rude to use someone else's. i'm paying for the water, i'm not paying for the detergent.

(we are upgrading our facilities, i dream about a LG front loader. once we upgrade i'll be supplying the HE detergent.)

overlord promises to clean the machine and dryer weekly (and i do).

I have really changed up the laundry room since i started living there full time, added better lighting, tables and shelves, so far "the rules" haven't been an issue. i think the female tenants appreciate having a clean place to do their thing without fear of having their clothes stolen or lost, the guys maybe not so much....

don't ever put stuff in the dryer b/c you might ruin their clothes.

the other night, i was faced w/ this issue. my building has 2 washers & dryers. one of the dryers broke. oddly, the girl took her wet clothes back to her apt. mine were still washing. when i came down to put mine in the dryer, she came back with her wet clothes!!! i was nice & let her go first. that was at 8. by 11, she had still not taken her stuff out of the dryer. so, i put her dry clothes in the broken dryer. the folding table already had a pile of clothes on it. i was up till 3am walking up & down the 4 floors.

If for some reason, I didn't leave my basket on the washer, and the next person to come along put my load of wash in the dryer, I swear I would think they'd been stolen. I guess this is a common enough maneuver, but only in reading all these posts would I imagine to look there.

I wouldn't put someone's clothes in the dryer and if I ever got caught folding a female neighbor's panties, I'd be mortified!

My laundry room has a plan where you can put down your name, date and time you want to wash (and which machine, as we have more then one). This saves a lot of hassle. I can only recommend it and this way I put my name down for a few weeks and then I always (have to) do my laundry on that day.
Yes, it happens that people do not look and put laundry in even when its 'your' time, but then I do not feel bad at all to take it out.
But if someone always keeps their laundry in for hours and doesn't change it take it out. If you know who it is maybe you can ask them when they will finish?

Ps. I would not just put it in the dryer though and turn it on because I for one only put towels and bed clothes in the dryer but hang t-shirt ect. because they stay in better shape that way.

I give them 15 minutes and if they still haven't come to collect, I just put it on top of the machine. I think you need to give them a little wiggle room, but my complex only has 1 washer and 1 dryer, and so you can't wait on other people who forget. No one has complained so far.

I wouldn't put someone else's wet clothes in the dryer, but I would move them. Folding them once dry somehow seems creepy, whereas putting them in a basket, while adding wrinkles, feels better somehow.

I used to share a washer and dryer with some extremely uptight neighbors. The laundry room was adjacent to their apartment while I was on a different floor. On their more frenetic days, they would call me and yell at me that my loud of washing had been done FOR MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES and I was so inconsiderate to leave the clothes there and if I didn't get up there RIGHT NOW they were going to throw my wet laundry DOWN THE STAIRS and that would teach me once and for all, what did I think of that, HUH?!!

Stay away from meth, folks.

Now I'm in a different apartment with my own laundry machines, hooray. The walls are thin here, though, and my neighbors have a habit of running laundry in their place at midnight, or 6:00 am, which I think is rude because it is pretty noisy. I wouldn't crank my stereo at midnight.

If everyone just leaves a basket in the laundry room while their stuff is in the machine, it's not really a problem.

Oh and if there's someone who never leaves a basket, I'm into the passive-agressive note-leaving to encourage them to do so.

Luckly I don't have to share right now.

When I did, I always put the wet clothes in the dryer. I NEVER EVER turned the dryer on, never. I put the cloths in the dryer because it was usually the only clean place to put them.

Most times I had to put the wet clothes back in the washer so I could use the dryer.

I once did a site inspection of an apartment building that had fancy laundry machines that called your apartment when your cycle was finished.

But seriously? Just go to a laundromat. You'll be done much quicker and it's cheaper for us since the rip-off machines at our complex are old and can't dry a small load of laundry in under two cycles.

In the dorms at our college, you'd never get a machine at all if you waited for other students to remember to come back to get their laundry. Generally if it was still in the washer 15 minutes after the cycle ended, we'd take it out and put it in an empty dryer but not start it; the owner could start it or not when he came back. If it was the dryer that was needed, clothes went on the folding tables (there were two big ones, and maintenance kept the room clean). Everybody knew that if you weren't there when the cycle ended, the machines were fair game and you'd better expect to find your clothes in a different location when you came back. I always just set a timer in my room for 10 minutes before the end of the cycle so I'd make sure I was back in time.

You leave it, Im evicting it. Im not one to wait at all. Its nice if theres a basket otherwise its going on the bench. Its irritating because theres 12 aparments and two washers (one that breaks ALOT). I awalys leave a basket too.