Laundry at uni

[MyMagicStars]

I’ve got a slightly odd case and need some ideas! DD4 is going back to uni for her PGCE at the same place she did her undergrad. She’ll be living on campus. However, the campus laundrettes are tiny, cramped and dirty, plus she’s got multiple allergies, including detergents so has reacted after using them before. Additionally, damp, crowded communal spaces in COVID frightens her, especially if she is on placement going into schools. In second year, she was off campus with a machine, and in first and third, her partner lived off campus and let her use his machine in exchange for a Sunday roast! Portable washing machines are banned- I imagine doing knickers and socks in a sink will be OK, but with teaching and needing five full outfits a week (plus she does a LOT of sports) plus being knackered easily due to joint problems, we’re struggling for a solution. Any ideas? She’s got enough bedsheets (she and her twin are my seventh and eight students!) to not have to wash those for a whole term (nine sets) but things like jumpers, trousers, etc are causing a problem. Thank you!

Check out Scrubba wash bags, they're designed for washing while travelling and will do a few pieces at once.

The OP said there were 'laundries' so no it would not deprive everyone else.

Laundry provision in uni residences is typically done on a ratio basis; X number of machines per Y number of students (1:65, 1:70, say). It's also typical for these to be set up with multiple machines per room and in a way that relate to specific buildings, not just a free-for-all.

So yes, there will be multiplie laundry rooms, but that doesn't mean there's the capacity to just lock one of them for a year without hugely impacting large numbers of other people. Specifically the OP's daughters immediate neighbours. Absolute best-case scenario, if the residence magically has multiple laundry rooms with only one machine each (which... I highly doubt), it would make all the others an absolute scrum because of the extra 60+ people having to use them. I get what you're thinking, but the logistics of uni laundry provision are so different from home that this isn't the solution.

I can't help thinking that a private rental, with a washing machine and drying facilities shared between only a normal household-worth of people (or even a studio) would have been my first choice from the outset. However, from the OP's statement She’s living in a halls postgrad flat we had to argue a bit to get her into, I assume that this was not an option, or their DD felt that living off-campus again was not desirable.

Re the suggestions of having a laundry service - this wouldn't avoid the issues of residual powder in the washing machine. I think the most practical solution is to use the laundry facilities at the university, run a washing machine empty with no powder in, at the highest temperature possible to clean it, then use the same washing machine with her own powder to do her own washing.