Laundry...

 I always thought it the best thing to have the washer and dryer in my home, wherever it was. I felt like I had reached a point that it was important to be able to start a load of laundry at a moment’s notice, and that it was a convenience that I really just did not want to live without. I was nervous about the prospect of laundering while living on a boat, me and my family of 4. Turns out, it may be better to not have the washer and dryer at my immediate disposal. 

    When I had laundry in my home, it was a never-ending cycle. The laundry always need to be done. Every day, there was the consideration: do I do a load or two today, or let it be a little longer? Inevitably, when I let it go a little longer, there was more to do. With just one washer and one dryer at my disposal, there was only so much laundry I could do at once, and thus it would just drag on. I never did decide whether it was better to do a little each day, or let it pile up and spend an entire day loading, unloading, folding, loading, repeat, all the while, trying to either have fun or be productive during the waiting time (if ever I were to develop attention deficit tendencies, this could be a reason). Either way, it was always on my mind.

                Now: doing laundry every day is not an option. In fact, just doing one load at a time is a very inefficient use of time, so we generally make sure everything is dirty before we decide to wash anything. In preparation, we pull out all of the dirties, sort, and bag everything. Then we are ready to take the bags to the local laundromat, everyone carrying their part, including the detergent, etc. and the all-important quarters. Once there, we begin loading as many machines necessary (weekday mornings are great for this), get them going, and if the Laundromat is in a neat place (like here in Annapolis), one person stays with the laundry, and we disperse, perhaps to the bookshop down the street, to the coffee shop, a nearby museum, antique store, whatever is around. We return periodically to switch up the launderer, and in a couple of hours, all of our laundry is clean and dried, and folded, ready to be carried back to the dinghy, then to the boat, and put away.

Sure, it takes half the day to accomplish this, but there is a lot of exploring we can do at the same time, and once it is done, I know I am not doing it again for at least another week, I don’t even think about it. I have a small hand washer I can use on the boat, and hang things to dry, that is good for when we are in a pinch, and can bridge the gap from one laundry day to the next.

                When it is done, it is done, and I don’t even think about it for at least the next 4-5 days. That’s when I start considering where we are, and when we will next be in a place to do the laundry. I have found that having no laundry machines in my home, equals no constant thoughts about laundry. I like that! The hardest part about doing it this way, is all the carrying to and from, but with all four of us, we get it done with minimal pain, or complaining, and maybe the added bonus of an ice cream treat.

Sorted, and ready to go!