[lorend]

Off-Campus Housing Series Two: Your New Place (And What to Bring)
Part Three: The Laundry Room

DANIELLE LORENZ, MACINSIDERS

Unlike my previous article on the kitchen, this one is going to be short. Why? Because there isn’t a lot of stuff you will need to bring to outfit the laundry room.

There is the obvious stuff you will need, such as fabric softener and dryer sheets. There it is. Done, right? Wrong! I'm a sneaky little bugger.

How many time were you in residence with something you needed to hang dry, and nowhere to dry it? Maybe this didn’t happen to you all that often, but if it did you can lament on how much of a pain in the ass it was to find somewhere in your room to hang up your stuff. OR how you ruined said clothing item by putting it in the dryer. Thus, you will need something to hang dry your clothes on. This happened to me a lot...I hate sticking jeans in the dryer because they shrink and then they’re too short...and I look terrible in cut-offs.

A clothes horse works well for a few items, but once you start piling them on they can topple over. Have a lot of stuff you need to hang dry? You can buy some rope and string it from the rafters in your ceiling, effectively making a small clothesline. Buy some clothespins (also called clothes pegs [apparently my dictionary in Word has no idea what I’m talking about]) from the dollar store, and you are set. You can also have an outdoor clothesline if you would prefer. But keep your underoos off of those, as Hamilton is notorious for underwear thieves. Seriously.

Hang drying your clothes is better in three ways. First of all, it saves you money on your hydro bill. The average dryer uses 5000 watts of electricity to dry your clothes. 5000 watts for each and every second, minute and hour it is on. The longer you leave the dryer on, the more wattage is used, and the more money you need to pay. In comparison, an incandescent light bulb uses only sixty watts. The dollars really add up when you use your dryer. Second, in the winter months when it is dry, the liquid from the clothing adds moisture into the air you breathe in. This is helpful because it makes breathing easier, and also helps if you are prone to nosebleeds. Lastly, hanging clothes to dry saves energy. This is linked closely to the first...but we’re university students. We’re tight on cash and tend to think about that first.

Now, I’m not saying you need to hang dry each and every item that goes into the washer. But if you can decrease the amount of things that go in the dryer (for example only drying your bedding, towels, and items you need to shrink), you can save some dough, as well as help yourself and the environment.

See, you only really need five items for this room. I told you this was going to be pretty short.

Did you miss the previous articles in the series? No fear, they are below:

• Off-Campus Housing Series Two: Your New Place (And What to Bring) Part Two: The Kitchen
• Off-Campus Housing Series Two: Your New Place (And What to Bring) Part One: The Bathroom