Re: shared laundry facilities
From: Stuart Staniford-Chen (staniforcs.ucdavis.edu)
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 18:26 CDT
Bob Morrison wrote:

>   It's a common practice for people in condo and apartment complexes to use 
> two or three machines at the same time. It saves them time, but it's an 
> inconvenience for others who need to use the machines. In some places I have 
> lived, I have had to bring the laundry to the laundry room, leave it there, 
> and come back several times before I could use a machine. I think this 
> problem is due in part to the alienation that exists in most complexes and 
> would be less of an issue in cohousing.
 
We have several communally used machines, but sometimes they are all full 
(particularly on Saturday mornings).  We have a system of printed laminated 
signs.  If the machine is full you leave your basket with a sign on it 
indicating which setting you want (warm/cold-medium etc), and then the 
person who has their laundry in the machine will put yours in when they 
take there's out.  (You have to put a charge of soap into the clothes 
before you leave them there).  On an occasional bad day, several baskets 
will get queued up but it still isn't necessary to keep checking back to 
put your laundry in.

Similarly, you leave your basket by the machine, so that if someone else 
comes between the time that your laundry finishes and you come to pick it 
up, they can take it out of the machine and put it into the basket before 
putting their own in the washer.

It works fairly well for us.

Stuart.

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Stuart Staniford-Chen
stanifor [at] cs.ucdavis.edu
N Street Cohousing, Davis, CA
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