My biggest worry was that something would be left behind in the commotion of transferring clothes from the washer to the dryers to the folding tables. It was two or three hours spent in a space that smelled damp-like a moldy dishwasher-trying not to let strangers see my underwear (I was fourteen I didn't want anyone to see my underwear) and making sure no one stole our detergent. Laundromats weren't just for people without the means of purchasing machines, they provided a degree of convenience.įor most of my early teen years we were renters, which meant that part of my weekend was spent helping my mom do laundry. They provide an alternative to having to own your own machines, and put clean clothes within relative reach of many people. However, the laundromat never quite disappeared. Unlike commercial enterprises, which had been around for some time, laundromats were geared specifically to individual users who were solely responsible for the operation of the machine during their rental period.įollowing the Great Depression, washing machines were once more pursued as a desirable household appliance. Users could deposit coins into the machines to purchase their use for a period of time. Hopeful entrepreneurs purchased washers and began the practice of renting them. However, it opened the door for laundromats which allegedly took hold at this time because people who could no longer count on a washing machine, could use the laundromat. In the United States, the popularity of washing machines rose steadily until the Great Depression hit which put the cost of a washing machine beyond the reach of many people. It was only when electric washers began to appear in the early 20th-century, that a more mechanically-guided process became a possibility. While washing machines have been around since the late 18th-century, they were largely hand and steam operated, and still required a fair amount of attention from the user. But this still meant hours of work-and that was before waiting for the drying to complete. It got your clothes clean without reducing them to shreds. They were basically a framed ribbed surface that you could rub wet clothes against. Before indoor plumbing, washboards were fairly common. It gets the job done, but doesn't do much to preserve the life of the fabric. The most basic means of cleaning clothing is to wet them and beat them against a rock. It places you within the boundaries of being socially acceptable. However, once you can meet those water needs, laundry becomes important because having clean clothes is a sign of social status. Given those needs, laundry drops to the bottom of the list as a priority. And if getting water for laundry is an issue, then it's also likely an issue for bathing, cooking, and drinking. In places where access to water is an issue, laundry means either bringing water into your home (maybe using buckets or pots) or traveling to a water source. That means I've had to spend some time getting reacquainted with coin-operated laundromats-and their particular social nuances. One of the outcomes of our recent move is that I went from having my own washer and dryer to having a washer that floods the basement and a landlord who isn't inclined to fixing it. Sunday afternoons should never be spent in a laundromat if you can avoid it.
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