Laundry: an inescapable duty

It's the inevitable weekend party and sleep buster: laundry. It piles into clumps in certain places of the room and sooner or later, it can begin to smell. But it must be done, and the ultimate question is when and who is going to do it?\nMost IU students who live in dorms tend to do their own laundry in the dorm-provided washers. However, others take their laundry to laundromats or other cleaners who can pick up the laundry for them and then deliver it once it is clean.\nFrom taking the laundry home to mom, doing it yourself or paying a professional cleaning service, each student chooses a personal favorite as the piles grow.\n"I don't mind doing my own laundry," said freshman Amanda Tawadros. "I'd rather do my own than have some random person touching it, and I like having (the clean laundry) when I need (it)."\nFreshman Keith Sims shares this sentiment.\n"It's my clothing; instead of paying someone else to do it for me, I'd rather wash it myself," Sims said.\nWho offers the best deal?\nA campus access card can help offset some of the pain in the wallet for students. It cuts 25 cents off washing and 50 cents off drying in the dorms. However, if students use the dorm facilities without a card, the cost can be quite hefty at nearly $1.50 per load to wash and $1.25 to dry.\n"The dorm laundry is so expensive," Sims said. "Although I've never been to a laundromat, I'd hope they offer better prices than what we have here."\nWhile waiting for their laundry at Campus Laundry East, students can easily go to Barnes and Noble, College Mall or run other errands.\n"We are relatively close to the dorms and the advantage of coming here is that we have many washers open," said David Hill, owner of Campus Laundry East. "You can get here and get it done, because normally at the dorms you have to wait and wait and wait."\nIt costs $1.50 per load to wash and 25 cents for 8 minutes of drying. The wash, fold and fluff service is 75 cents per pound, and Campus Laundry East offers drop-off services.\nFreshman Randy Gilley said he would like to see more washers open because of the time factor.\n"It takes too much time," Gilley said. "Then you get people who hog the things for hours on end."\nOther laundry services provide waiting areas and offer other courtesy comforts. \n"This laundromat is clean, there is always someone here to take questions and answers," said Marty Stevens, owner of Crosstown Laundry, 1811 E. 10th St. "We have tables to study on and TVs to watch, which give students the ability to do work while they wait."\nAt Crosstown Laundry, the wash runs $1.25 per load and drying costs 25 cents per 10 minutes. The laundromat also offers a drop-off service and 10 a.m. next-day service, which includes detergent, water softener and dryer sheets.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Ryne \nShadday at rshadday@indiana.edu.