laundromat diaries – Rainy Saturday Creative

Laundromat Diaries September 2nd 2022

Posted on September 2, 2022 by jsunrain

I have been lazy about going to the bank and getting a roll of quarters and often I can get the one cheap machine so having $3 is no problem. Today was a woman and her two sons and a single man and the cheap machine was of course taken. Meant I went to CVS next door, bought a Diet Pepsi with my debit card so I could get cash back and ask for $1 of quarters be a part of it. I will be better off prepared next week.

I brought my dinner in. A delicious poke bowl from Aloha Poke. A bit spendy, so a once in a blue moon treat. I should make some version at home.

The people that were here when I came have left.I suspect their laundry isn’t done. Friday man came this week just now. Unfortunately I am still eating in the booth he normally sits at. He just stepped out, but I am assuming just to the CVS. Some red lady just came. I better finish my food.

I am moved to the easy chair now. Now red head lady out the door after moving her stuff to the dryers. I am the only one here for a second, but this place is busy. Hope I get a dryer I want but I suspect I will need one of those carts to tote my clothes further down.

I was able to get a decent dryer but still had to wait for my wash to be done a bit. 31 minutes really means 36 minutes. 😔 The one lady that works here is now vacuuming. That is good, this place is much more a mess than usual. She seems to know Friday guy.

Now someone has entered with a ton of clothes. So glad mine are in the dryer now, but I still have 50 minutes to be here and the place is crowded again and I feel like going home until my clothes are dried, but I will probably stay here. Then at home put my stuff away and likely take a late nap to start my four day weekend.

Busy enough now I am losing track of the comings and goings. Just a half hour more! If it were cloudy and cooler outside, I might sit outside. Some people sit in their cars. Doesn’t seem like a horrible idea, but if I get in my car I am driving home and coming back when the laundry is done! Almost thinking next week I will go to a different laundromat, but last week was dead quiet. Most weeks are in between this week and last week. Can’t wait to leave now!

Things got quiet again, but I was so happy to get out of there! Until next week!

Laundromat Diaries August 26th 2022

Posted on August 26, 2022 by jsunrain

I continue to do laundry every week but haven’t hung out at the laundromat. Either I was busy with errands or I was tired and cranky and rather stayed at home during the wash and dry cycles.

Today my energy was just right for hanging out here. Bonus, it is dead quiet right now. I got dinner at one of the restaurants in the strip mall the laundromat is in. My appetite has been tepid lately, I am on a new medication, appetite suppression is a side effect. Not mad. It is unlikely I will finish those potatoes. The gravy is different and not as good this time anyway. When I am done eating I will move to the easy chair. I know the Friday night guy likes the booth and I only need it for eating. In fact, I’m done eating now. Don’t worry, zero chance I will ever be anorexic. This is probably how I should have always been eating.

The back door is open. Nice to have fresh air. There are a couple of seats back there, but I have no desire to sit back there.

I have switched the clothes to the dryer and still no one else here. Not mad! For all the crappy music they play here ELO is on right now. Might be crappy to some of you but I love them! I am also collecting weird candy corn and since Halloween started late June this year and CVS is next door, I went to check it out. I couldn’t believe they had Nerds Candy Corn! I hate CVS, but they have a special place in my heart for that! Wonder what is up with Friday guy. Hope he is okay! Maybe he was able to come earlier.

It has been over an hour and I am still the only one here! This never happens no matter when I come! I am enjoying it, but there isn’t much to report!

8 minutes before my clothes are done, another woman comes into the laundromat. The woman had never been here before so I was telling her about the one machine that is $1 whereas all the other ones are $2. Before I could show her the machine a man comes and grabs it. He must have known about it already. Oh well.

The woman and the man didn’t stick around. I got my clothes out of the dryer and left being the only one there, then leaving it as empty as when I came.

Laundromat Diaries July 29th 2022

Posted on July 29, 2022 by jsunrain

When I entered the laundromat, it was dead quiet. Though I noticed someone’s clothes in the wash machine that is done. I imagine they will come along at some point and put it in the dryer.

While I was putting my clothes in the wash and feeding it quarters I heard the door open. In the other aisle I saw a hat moving to the back of the laundromat. Then the bathroom door closed. After I got settled in the easy chair I saw an old man that belongs to the hat, walking around pressing all the coin returns to see if he could get change. I don’t think he had any luck.

Just after the old man left the person whose clothes were in the wash came in. In a whirl he was gone again while his clothes dry. I sometimes go home or run errands while my clothes are here too. Most of the time I am content to stick around.

I decided to eat at home after I am done with the laundry, so I didn’t sit at the booth this week. I sat in the one easy chair. Before COVID there was another easy chair. It was big and green and leather or faux leather, all beat up with duct tape patches. I LOVED that chair. They got rid of it because they felt they couldn’t keep it sanitized well enough. Makes sense, but I was sad. The laundromat remained open because we still need clean clothes. Most of us wore masks. There is always an outlier. A few months ago they got a new easy chair. Not as big and comfy as the old one, but the most comfortable seat in the place. On the left is the old one and on the right is the new one. Nice place to sit and read.

After a while the usual Friday night man comes in, quickly followed by mother and her older teenage daughter. They have never been here before. The mother firsts notes that there are booths. Then realizes they forgot laundry detergent so bought some out of the old machine. The daughter is quiet, perhaps bored. Mom is a spitfire here to get things done! My wash will be done in a few minutes.

When I got to the washer, it said one minute left. That one minute lasted two minutes. I counted to 60 twice. The washing machines have always lied. You need to add at least five minutes to the time it gives you. The dryers at least tell the truth. I know like clockwork the dryer will be done in 64 minutes. I like my clothes bone dry, I don’t want to chance any wetness. With that 64 minutes I can truly relax with my book as bad 80s music plays. Someone remind me to bring headphones next time. I should just keep them in the car. Another mother and her adult daughter just walked in. These two are easily talking to each other.

At some point reading makes me sleepy, I still have over a half hour before clothes dryer is done. I play games on my phone. Go for a tiny walk see the barely there park next to the strip mall, check out what the back of the building looks like. I recently bought a near perfect purse at Goodwill. Decent amount of pockets and large enough to carry a notebook and reading book with me. So at CVS, which is next to the laundromat, I bought a notebook and gel pens I totally didn’t need, but one was the prettiest teal color! By then my clothes were finally ready to take out of the dryer and go home!

Laundromat Diaries July 15th 2022

Posted on July 15, 2022 by jsunrain

Left work early so I got to the laundromat early. Place is busy! They have two booths: one is occupied but the second one is misshaped now so I can’t sit there. Change guy is here. So overall busy and slightly noisy. Annoying day at work, semi annoying laundromat. And yet I don’t want to go home during the wash and dry cycles. I didn’t bring a magazine or book, and again, I don’t want to go home, so I got one of those variety puzzle books next door at CVS, but it will be a trip to do sitting in the small easy chair. Maybe I will stand at one of the folding tables instead. I don’t want to be on my phone the whole time, that gets boring.

Just before I threw my clothes in the dryer, the lady in the booth left, so now I am more comfortable. The two ladies talking non stop went outside to continue talking. Not sure why, no one said anything, but they did. Now it is me, one other lady and the change guy. Starting off with an easy word search, a nice pleasant way to clear the head, and my head needs plenty of clearing!

Some really nice lady walked in and we talked for a couple of seconds. I always forget how horrible the music is here and that I should bring headphones, but I suppose that would make small talk not possible.

Suddenly something good sounding is on, though I don’t recognize it. Wonder if the change guy has something to do with it. Not mad!

Think he does. His music is playing louder than the laundromat’s music. I hope he stays here until I leave. His music choices are so much better.

Dang it! I still have over a half hour and he left.

Moving onto Codeword! Always loved this one. Also love cryptograms and logic puzzles even though I am not as good at logic puzzles as I used to be.

When I left I was the only one in there and ready to go home. There were still washers and dryers going for other people, but it was nice to be done for myself!

Laundromat Diaries June 17th 2022 (episode 2)

Posted on June 17, 2022 by jsunrain

Older woman in easy chair here before me reading a magazine. I put my laundry in the washer. I take a couple photos around the laundromat. There is a new tattoo machine. I post the photos to Instagram.

I settle down at one of the booth tables as I like to do. Before I can get too settled a flurry of new people come in. There is a lot of conversation by the washers on the other side of the laundromat. I don’t know who is talking to who. In the background is the worst of the 80s music. I am more Bauhaus and Siouxsie and less Billy Joel and Phil Collins. I always forget to bring headphones with me.

Tonight I finally decided to tackle a project I have been meaning to do for a while, fountain pen art. I am horrible at art but I keep trying. I have some blank spaces in my commonplace journal, time to fill them in. If you get a hand written letter from me you will always get that sun in the end.

The man I see every Friday, who comes slightly after me must have snuck past me. I just put my clothes in the dryer and all the commotion of earlier is gone. Just that guy and I minding our own business.

Now some new people for a bit. Some of my fountain pens won’t start so I squeeze the ink a bit out with the piston. I best be careful or I will have ink on my fingers and then my clean clothes. I think all my pens need a good cleaning!

Oops!

At some point I am done though the page is not near filled. Thankfully I am not too princess precious about my commonplace journal. I am sure throughout the years I will look back and laugh, and that has a lot of value too!

I go and wash my hands. Seems the new family is sticking around while their clothes get washed. I have about 45 minutes to play games on my phone while I wait for my clothes to dry.

I decided to get some of those tattoos. The one machine wasn’t working so I got three from the other side! They are hilarious but you won’t see me wearing them. 🙂

The one man that comes after me leaves before me, but I like my clothes bone dry, I leave them to dry for over an hour. Finally a song I like comes on. Joan Jett “I love Rock n Roll”! I take my backpack with my notebooks and pens out to the car and come back in and wait for my clothes to dry. I am finally by myself. But there are plenty of washers and dryers going waiting for their people to return to them!