Modern laundry, or how to wash in the US
'20.07.2017'
Since we moved to another, just built residential complex, therefore, we have updated and laundry on the new and modern.
Now, in our new laundree, payment for washing and drying is done by means of a plastic card, which is much more convenient than carrying a lot of quarters each time, which are heavy on the pocket of shorts right up to the knees (one washing or drying cost $ 1.25, which means 5 coins for 25 cents , and we washed them en masse once a week, as a result, we had to take coins on 10), so the machine does not always accept them, and it is very easy to lose them on the way, their hands are busy with laundry baskets.
Now our laundry is located on the lowest floor (basement), where the auto-parking. We get there by elevator. In the old apartment, the laundry was located in the neighboring house - a separate one.
Next to the laundry there are all the amenities for waiting for the end of the wash: a sofa with pads, a TV set and a toilet! What else is necessary for happiness? You can not even go home. 🙂 The corner was made very cute and with designer pieces (a stone table for a TV, an original curl on the wall and a coffee table in the form of a hemp with a glass table top), although there are few people who want to sit there, embarrassed, and the camera is on the ceiling.
Our new laundree has only two minuses. The first minus is she is small. Total 5 washing machines and 6 dryers. Therefore, on weekends you do not always break through to wash, all the cars are busy. Yes, and I often like to organize subbotniks with large-scale washcloths of blankets and rugs, eventually filling almost all the cars with their own rags. I hope in the future (when there will be more residents), we will have more laundry. But now you can put the powder into the washing machine and pour the conditioner on it, and not add it in the middle of the wash. Why do I say put powder? 🙂 Because I have such a big can with pads of washing powder:
Very comfortably. It is enough to grab a few cubes in your pocket and go to wash, than to carry with you a whole canister of liquid laundry detergent. Although this is no longer a “powder”, well, if it is liquid ... 🙂 But it’s exactly the powder in the boxes or in the bags that everyone in Russia is used to, we (in Los Angeles) do not. For some reason, the Americans are not fashionable.
And the second minus - washing now costs $ 2.75, and drying costs $ 2. Expensive. Well, what can you do ... something to wash.
The washing time usually takes 40 minutes (a slight difference in the washing modes, there are 35 minutes or 38 minutes), as well as drying clothes. That is, it is necessary to go down three times: load, after 40 minutes, put into the dryer and after 40 minutes, take everything clean.
Payment for washing and drying in our laundry is very simple. There is an automatic machine in the corner with which you can transfer the necessary amount of money from your bank card to a “washing card” (we were given it by the managers upon arrival).
It is enough just to shove two cards into the machine and follow the instructions on the screen, indicating the required amount of transfer.
Then we insert the “washing card” into a typewriter (like in an ATM) and click on the button with the name of the wash “Color”, “White” or “Delicate wash”. All is ready! The balance on the card can be checked in the machine, as well as washing machines when entering the card show how much money you have on it.
And we somehow managed to lose our “washing card”. They searched, searched, and decided that they had forgotten her in the laundry, when they last went to do laundry. A panic began (for me, for sure), I collected two huge baskets for washing and was already mentally prepared to carry it all down. My husband guessed in time that in the laundry machine you could make yourself a brand new “washing card”. All the fun of $ 5. A couple of days later, I found our old card in the pocket of my jeans, in which I went to wash the last time (shame, shame ... :-)) In general ... now we have two of them.
