The Laundromat

The Caveat to this story is that when my family used to live in the apartments back in the late 80's/early 90's we had to go to the laundromat every week. I'm used to the laundromat. I like the laundromat. I like going and getting EVERYTHING done at once. I like sitting and waiting for it all to be done- people watching, reading your book, the peace of the laundromat... I used to get to talk to my mom and sister. I used to LOVE the laundromat. Quiet place, good company, clean laundry. Nice laundromat. Good laundromat...
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So, basically we hadn't had a working washing maching for about 6 weeks... We'd done some hand washing. YUCK! And we'd bought new underwear... And we'd bemoaned the poor dead washer... We just can't afford to get a repairman in right now.

So, to the laundromat we go. My mom stayed home and watched the girls, and we took all the laundry. ALL the laundry... 23 loads of laundry. Good grief. We had no idea there was so much til we got there and started stuffing it all in. I guess six people make a LOT of laundry. Babies and toddlers wear smaller clothes but they often wear 2 or 3 outfits in one day 'cuz of drippy popsicles and spilled juice and mashed peanut butter...

Our laundry trip cost a little over $100. I'm not exaggerating. I have NEVER seen washers as expensive as these were. $3.50 for a regular laundromat washer. 23 loads at 3.50 a load...

It was INSANE. By the time we got all the laundry in washers the first couple loads were done washing. And we're trying to keep up with the washers as they get finished... And then they start getting done in the dryer before everything comes out of the washer... Except the clothes aren't dry! We had to keep feeding quarters in the dryers 'cuz they were PATHETIC.

And we're folding and matching. And folding and matching... And folding and matching... And I'm getting sick walking along the wall of dryers trying to figure out which loads are ours and which aren't... And the clothes are spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning... We had about 20 loads of laundry in the dryers...

And Jake starts carrying out loads of laundry as we get them folded and matched... And there are still loads to go...

About 4 hours after we arrived we started packing up to go... Maybe we should have spent the money on paying a repair man... But NONE of us had any clue the whole mess would cost so much.

We have clean clothes, though... That's nice. Replacing all of our clothes would cost more than the laundromat trip....

Oh, well. It's done, now. Money spent. Laundry clean. But we are NOT doing this again in six or so weeks. No way.