When a person starts college, perhaps one of the most difficult transitions to make is moving from a house to communal living with a ton of other residents. It means sharing showers, dealing with noise at night, and having much less privacy than you're used to. But surprisingly, none of those things were that much of an adjustment for me. The real struggle?
The laundry.
So for everyone making this transition, here are seven general guidelines to follow when you're using communal laundry machines so that you don't instill murderous urges in the average college student.
1. Learn what you're doing!
To all of you that haven't left for home yet and have never had to do your own laundry, please, please, learn how to do it before you leave. And even if you're at college and have no idea, Google is your friend. At least learn the difference between a washer and a dryer (this is for you, guys in my dorm who moved wet clothes from one washer to another). And learn not to overload the machines, please, so that one of the three washers in our dorm doesn't break and create a disaster for the rest of the dorm.
2. Clean the dryer lint!
If I had a dollar for every random person's dryer lint I've cleaned out in my time at college, I might actually be able to buy a textbook without stress. And it's absolutely disgusting. Pragmatically I know that the clothes are clean since they've just been through a washer, but that doesn't mean that I like grabbing fuzzy lint from who knows how many people's clothes out of the dryer. On top of that, dryer fires are pretty common. Like, we have enough dorm fire drills, I don't need one that actually is warranted. Few things make me more frustrated than having to clean out the dryer lint that looks like it hasn't been cleaned out for millennia.
3. Don't leave your clothes in the washing machine!
Few things make me feel more awkward than having laundry to do and watching a full washing machine remain unattended for a solid thirty minutes, trying to figure out if I should take the clothes out or not. On one hand, I need to do laundry, but on the other hand, it feels weird to touch a stranger's clothes and I really don't like the thought of someone touching MINE. So save all of us the trouble. I know sitting in the laundry room isn't always fun, but at least set a timer so you don't leave your clothes to sit there and make horribly awkward people like me struggle.
4. Clean the dryer lint!
I've said it once and I'll say it again. Clean. The. Dryer. Lint. For the love of all things holy, please don't destroy the dorm.
5. Don't take clothes out while they're washing!
The other day, I put my clothes in the washing machine, like normal, and set a timer for twenty minutes and went to my room. To give perspective, the washer had a 35 minute timer. And when I got back, twenty minutes later, my soapy, wet clothes were sitting on a table.
I don't consider myself a vengeful person, but I was feeling quite petty in that moment.
I didn't end up doing anything petty, but I know many who would have, and it pretty much ruined my day. So, in the interest of your hallmate's sanity and your clothing, please don't mess with people's clothes.
6. Dryer. Lint.
Please clean it out. Please.
7. Don't be a dick.
In the immortal words of Wil Wheaton, "Don't be a dick." Everyone hates laundry. Make it a pleasant experience for everyone.