College Dorm Essentials - Bath and Laundry
College Dorm Essentials - Bath and Laundry
The Communal Bathroom
College students living on a campus need to adjust to a new life mostly spent in dorms, lecture halls, the library and more. This also includes one of the biggest fears of any dorm -- the dreaded communal bathroom. Sharing a bathroom with your family was difficult to begin with; now imagine a bathroom with 30 other people. Like everyone else; you'll adapt your morning routine and learn how to survive the communal bathrooms.
Here's a list of adjustments that'll aid you on conquering the communal bathrooms.
Buy a shower caddy. Bring your normal list of toiletries is the biggest hassle plus you can't just leave them sitting in the shower like you do at home. Life would be a lot easier if you had a giant plastic basket to carry your stuff in.
Cover your feet. Flip flops are your greatest ally. No one wants to walk on a floor covered in gunk people just washed off.
Clean up after yourself. This is one the biggest unwritten rules of bathroom etiquette. This is a biggie for the ladies out there. Nothing is grosser then walking into a disgusting shower and seeing a giant clump of hair clogging the drain. Everyone has to their part to keep the bathroom somewhat sanitary; from keeping debris, lotions, puddles of water you've left behind, and hair cleaned up.
Flush. This happens more often than you'd think. Maybe you were distracted and just forgot or you're scared of the sound. Whatever it is, flushing is mandatory. No one wants to walk into a stall and see leftovers of the previous visitor. Please flush.
Rush hour. Every bathroom dorm has a specific time frame where everyone needs to use it. Try to avoid these times because no one wants to wait an hour before they use the toilet or shower. Get jewelry, makeup organizers and an extra mirror so don't need to use the bathroom for these things.
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Laundry Day
You have to go to classes, grocery shop, cook food, and have a social life. The last thing students want to think about is laundry. Doing laundry is a hassle; but well worth it if you want to take care of your clothes and boost your confidence around campus.
We've got the tips to take a load off your shoulders.
Buy your laundry supplies. If you want to start doing laundry at school the first things you'll need is the equipment:
Separate your laundry; one of the most basic rules. Sort your loads into groups: lights and darks. Once they're in groups split them even further: separate jeans, towels, and bedding.
Pick the right time. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Choose a time when everyone's sleeping to get your laundry done the quickest. You can finish two or three loads in the time it'd take you to finish one during rush hour.
Choose the correct laundry settings.
- hot for whites, linens and towels
- cold for anything you don't want to shrink or fade
- warm for anything else
When in doubt, use cold water. It won't clean your clothes as well as hot water, but it won't ruin them (plus it's better for the energy bill.)
Make sure to read to labels beforehand to see if they need to be hand washed or hung dried.
Collect those quarters. This step really depends if the machines need coins or not (check your dorm beforehand).
Fold your laundry. A good way to keep organized and one of the best ways to keep your clothes from being wrinkled beyond repair.
Iron and ironing board. If you didn't follow the the previous step; this is a must.
Laundry Etiquette. Your whole dorm shares one laundry room that has a limited number of machines. Do not lounge your clothes in the machines. Set an alarm so on your phone; otherwise you might find your clothes sitting on top of machines. Even worse you might lose a few clothes (clothes get stolen often).
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We hope you're ready for college in a couple of weeks. Here's a list of items featured in this blog: