First time at a laundromat: how it works
A laundromat is a simple place, but almost nothing about it is explained anywhere, and the things that catch people out are never the ones you would expect. This is what actually happens, start to finish, so a first visit is uneventful.
Before you go
Two minutes at home saves twenty at the store. Sort your laundry into whites, darks and anything that needs washing separately — new colours, heavily soiled work clothes. You do not need more piles than that.
Check pockets. This is the single most common cause of a ruined load, and a tissue or a pen distributed through a wash is worse at a laundromat than at home because you cannot simply re-run it for free.
Zip zips and fasten hooks so they do not catch on other things. Turn dark jeans and printed shirts inside out. If something is stained, treat it before you leave rather than hoping the cycle deals with it.
What to bring
- Your laundry, in something you can carry it home in. A bag, a basket, or a wheeled cart if you have a walk. It will be heavier wet if anything does not dry fully.
- Detergent, unless the store sells it. Pods travel best.
- A way to pay. Card, app, coins or a store card depending on the place — worth checking before you set out.
- Something to do. A wash and dry together is an hour and a half.
- Hangers, for anything you would rather not fold.
- A phone charger, if you are staying. Most stores have outlets.
The machines, and which is which
Walking in, the washers are usually along the walls and the dryers stacked above or opposite. Washers come in several sizes and the size is the main decision you make.
| Type | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Small front-loader | The standard machine, roughly a home load | A basket of everyday clothes |
| Mid-size | Two or three home loads | A week for a couple, plus towels |
| Large | Several home loads | A family week, or a queen comforter |
| Extra large | The biggest on the floor | Rugs, sleeping bags, king comforters |
| Stack dryers | Two dryers in one cabinet | Ordinary loads |
| Large dryers | Single big drum | Bulky items, or two washer loads at once |
Sizes are given in pounds, which is not much use until you translate it — which is why our machines are listed on the pricing page with what each one actually holds rather than only a number.
Picking a size
The rule that matters more than the number is that the load needs room to move. A washing machine cleans by tumbling, and a drum filled to the top cannot tumble — the water and detergent never get through the middle. Two thirds full when dry is about right.
If you are between sizes, go up. A bigger machine costs more per wash but holds several ordinary loads, so one large wash replaces three small ones and finishes in a single cycle rather than three. Every price is posted on the wall.
Loading it
Put clothes in loosely rather than pressing them down. Distribute them around the drum rather than dropping everything in one spot, which helps the machine balance during the spin. Close the door firmly — a front-loader will not start if the latch has not engaged, and a door that looks shut sometimes is not.
Do not put a single heavy item in on its own if you can avoid it. One wet rug or one pair of jeans on their own will throw the drum off balance and the machine will either refuse to spin or thump alarmingly.
If the machine does go off balance mid-spin, it will usually stop and either retry or sit there. Open it once it unlocks, redistribute the load around the drum by hand, and start the spin again. It is not a fault and it does not mean anything is broken.
Detergent: how much and what kind
Less than you think. The measurements on the cap assume a full, heavily soiled load in hard water. For a normal load, half is usually plenty, and using more does not make anything cleaner — it leaves residue in the fabric, which is what makes clothes feel stiff and towels smell.
If there is a dispenser drawer, detergent goes in there. If there is not, put it into the empty drum before the clothes rather than on top of them. A pod goes into the drum first, never in the drawer.
Commercial machines are high-efficiency, so use an HE detergent if you can — regular detergent creates more foam than the machine is designed to handle. Most modern detergent is HE by default, but the cheapest ones are not always.
Choosing a cycle
Warm and normal handles the great majority of what people wash. Cold is for anything you are worried about shrinking or fading, and for dark colours you want to keep dark. Hot is genuinely necessary less often than people assume.
Delicate or gentle uses a slower tumble and a lower spin — use it for anything knitted, anything with structure, and anything the label asks for. A heavy or bulky cycle runs longer with more water and is the right choice for towels, bedding and work clothes.
If the machine offers an extra rinse, it is worth taking for towels and for anything belonging to someone with sensitive skin.
On temperature specifically: the water in a commercial machine is heated centrally rather than by the machine itself, so cold at a laundromat is genuinely cold and hot is genuinely hot — often hotter than a domestic machine reaches. That is useful for towels and bedding and a good reason to be careful with anything you would normally wash warm at home.
Paying, and why every store is different
This is the part that varies most and the part first-time visitors ask about. There are four systems in common use and a store may run more than one.
| System | How it works |
|---|---|
| Card reader on the machine | Tap or insert a debit or credit card at the machine itself |
| App | Download the store’s app, add a card, start the machine from your phone |
| Store card | Load money onto a reloadable card at a kiosk, then tap the machine |
| Coins | Still common. A change machine will be on the wall; bring notes |
Whichever it is, the sequence is the same: choose the cycle, pay, and the machine starts. If nothing happens after paying, check the door is properly latched before assuming the machine has taken your money.
Dryers work differently, and this is what confuses people
Washers are priced per wash. Dryers are usually priced by time — you pay for a block of minutes, and if the load is not dry when they run out you add more. That catches almost everyone on a first visit, because the number on the dryer is not the cost of drying your load; it is the cost of a block of time.
Budget more time than seems reasonable, particularly for towels, jeans and anything bulky. Splitting a big wash across two dryers finishes sooner and often costs less overall than forcing it into one, because an overloaded dryer tumbles nothing and the middle stays damp.
Clean the lint filter before you start if the last person did not. It makes a genuine difference to drying speed and it takes five seconds.
How long the whole thing takes
| Stage | Roughly |
|---|---|
| Wash | 30 to 35 minutes |
| Dry | 30 to 60 minutes; longer for towels or bulky items |
| Folding | Ten minutes if you do it there |
| A whole visit | Allow an hour and a half |
Weekend mornings are the busiest time almost everywhere. A weekday evening or early morning is quieter and you will have your pick of machines.
What a visit will cost
It depends on the store and the size of machine, but the shape of it is predictable. A single ordinary load costs one wash plus enough dryer time to finish it — and the dryer is the part people underestimate, because it is bought in blocks of minutes rather than as one price.
A useful way to think about it: work out the wash price for the machine size you need, then assume the dry will cost somewhere between half and the whole of that again depending on what is in the load. Towels and jeans sit at the top of that range; shirts and light cottons at the bottom.
Using one larger machine rather than three small ones usually works out better on both time and total cost, which is the main reason to size up if you are between machines. All our prices are posted on the pricing page if you want to work out a visit before you come.
Common first-visit mistakes
| Mistake | What happens | Avoid it by |
|---|---|---|
| Overloading the washer | Clothes come out still soapy or not clean | Two thirds full, no more |
| Too much detergent | Stiff clothes, towels that smell later | Half the cap measurement |
| Overloading the dryer | Outside dry, middle damp | Split across two |
| Underestimating dry time | Damp laundry taken home | Check the thickest item before leaving |
| Leaving a load unattended | Someone moves it, or you lose your slot | Set a timer for the cycle |
| Washing a new red item with whites | A pink load | Wash new colours separately the first time |
| Not checking the door latch | Paid, nothing started | Push until it clicks |
What to expect when you walk in
If you have never been in one, the main thing to know is that nobody is paying attention to you. A laundromat on a weekday afternoon is a quiet room with a few people reading or on their phones while machines run. It is not a place where you need to know what you are doing to be left alone.
Physically: a row of washers, dryers stacked opposite or above, a long folding table down the middle or along a wall, some seating, carts for moving wet laundry, and usually a change machine and a vending machine for detergent. There will be prices posted on the wall or on each machine. If the store is attended there will be somebody at a counter, and asking them which machine to use is a completely normal thing to do.
You do not need to arrive with everything sorted into neat piles, you do not need special detergent, and you will not be the only person there who is unsure which button to press.
If the place is busy
Weekend mornings are the peak almost everywhere, and a busy laundromat runs on a few informal conventions. Take the machines you need and no more. If every washer is running, look at the timers on the doors — they show how long is left, so you can see what will free up soonest rather than hovering.
If you are waiting and a finished load has been left, it is normal to move it into a cart so you can use the machine. Do it carefully and put the cart somewhere obvious. Most people would rather that than come back to find their laundry still occupying a drum an hour later.
If it looks impossible, a weekday evening is usually empty and you will have your choice of machines. It is worth one wasted trip to learn when your local store is quiet.
Can you leave while it runs?
Yes, and most regulars do — but time it properly. Set a timer on your phone for the cycle length plus a couple of minutes and come back for it. Leaving laundry unattended past the end of a cycle is the one thing that reliably irritates other customers, and in a busy store it means somebody will move it.
If you are staying, most places have seating and outlets. A wash and dry together is about an hour and a half, which is enough for a book, some work, or a walk to get a coffee and come back. If you are going out, go during the wash rather than the dry — wet laundry sitting in a stopped washer starts to smell within the hour, whereas dry laundry sitting in a stopped dryer merely creases.
The unwritten rules
- Come back when your cycle ends. Machines are shared and a finished load sitting in a washer is the one thing that genuinely annoys everybody.
- If a machine has finished and nobody has come for it, it is normal to move the load into a cart. Do not put it on the floor.
- Do not take more machines than you need when the place is busy.
- Fold at the tables, not on top of a machine somebody is waiting for.
- Take your lint out when you are done.
- Keep an eye on your things. Most places are perfectly safe and it is still your laundry.
If something goes wrong
Machines occasionally take payment and do not start, or stop mid-cycle. In an attended store this is a thirty-second conversation — find whoever is working and they will restart it, move your load, or refund you. In an unattended one there will be a number on the wall.
If a machine stops with your laundry locked inside, do not force the door. Front-loaders lock while there is water in the drum and will release once it drains. Tell the attendant rather than pulling at it.
If something comes out damaged or a colour has run, say so before you leave. It is much easier to sort out at the counter than by phone the next day.
The other thing worth knowing is that a machine occasionally finishes a cycle without having drained properly, which leaves the load sitting in water. It will look like the cycle ran normally. If your laundry comes out unusually heavy and dripping rather than damp, do not put it in a dryer — tell somebody, and run it through a spin on a different machine first.
If you would rather not do it yourself
There is a middle option people often do not realise exists. You can drop laundry off, leave, and collect it washed, dried and folded — it is priced by the pound rather than by the machine, and it takes two short visits instead of an hour and a half sitting there. For a first-time visitor who is not sure about any of the above, it is a reasonable way to start.
It also removes every decision in this article. You do not choose a machine size, a cycle or a temperature, you do not judge when something is dry, and you do not need to be there while it runs. Plenty of people use drop-off for towels and bedding and do their own clothes on the machines — there is no rule that says it has to be one or the other.
If you are on Chicago’s Northwest Side, our self-service page lists every machine we have and what each one costs, and there is someone on the floor during opening hours if you want a hand with any of this. The wash and fold page covers the drop-off option.
Come try it
6043 W Addison St, open 6:30am–10pm daily. There is an attendant on the floor if you need a hand.