Laundry Service at college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, it's called give your kid a jar of quarters and a big bottle of TIDE.

(actually, at my kids college the machines have a card swipe and are free for all students to use.)

Is there some reason your kid can't wash their own clothes? part of college life is learning to fend for yourself while still under the protective wing of parents & school.

NP here.

Of all the household chores, there is no learning curve in doing laundry and loading the dishwasher. It takes all of 2 minutes to figure it out. When kids do not do these things it is because they could not be bothered with it, or they have other options or they are too busy.

My kid is a high achieving student and a good kid. I am not going to stress if they do not want to do laundry, as long as there is some way that their laundry gets done. If they can outsource it, then it is great. Being able to outsource efficiently and delegate work is a more useful skill because it teaches you to be resourceful.

Right, except everything you wrote is about your feelings about the situation, and nothing at all about your kid figuring that out. AKA...helicoptering.

[Anonymous]

Mom - Time to let DS grow up...... Brains are not everything ...... learning to interact with his roommate(s) who may or may not have his personal living code will be just as important as getting up and to class on time, figuring out how to use food services. If the roommate(s) do not complain, then maybe the GG or rommmate's GF who may be in the space will pull no punches. Got cut the apron strings some time. Best thing you can do for him is to bring up these scenarios with him now...... and see if she will learn to separate whites/darks and run like two tupbs of wash every so often. Sheets and towels would also be nice to include every so often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, it's called give your kid a jar of quarters and a big bottle of TIDE.

(actually, at my kids college the machines have a card swipe and are free for all students to use.)

Is there some reason your kid can't wash their own clothes? part of college life is learning to fend for yourself while still under the protective wing of parents & school.

NP here.

Of all the household chores, there is no learning curve in doing laundry and loading the dishwasher. It takes all of 2 minutes to figure it out. When kids do not do these things it is because they could not be bothered with it, or they have other options or they are too busy.

My kid is a high achieving student and a good kid. I am not going to stress if they do not want to do laundry, as long as there is some way that their laundry gets done. If they can outsource it, then it is great. Being able to outsource efficiently and delegate work is a more useful skill because it teaches you to be resourceful.

It is not the kid outsourcing it is the parent. While I agree that outsourcing can be useful and learning to be resourceful is a good thing, in this case, it is just laziness. It is hard tobe a goodoutsourcer if you don't know what is good or bad about the service you are outsourcing.

and to the OP - Mom stop helicoptering. He will learn quickly that people don't want to be around smelly sloppy people especially girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, it's called give your kid a jar of quarters and a big bottle of TIDE.

(actually, at my kids college the machines have a card swipe and are free for all students to use.)

Is there some reason your kid can't wash their own clothes? part of college life is learning to fend for yourself while still under the protective wing of parents & school.

NP here.

Of all the household chores, there is no learning curve in doing laundry and loading the dishwasher. It takes all of 2 minutes to figure it out. When kids do not do these things it is because they could not be bothered with it, or they have other options or they are too busy.

My kid is a high achieving student and a good kid. I am not going to stress if they do not want to do laundry, as long as there is some way that their laundry gets done. If they can outsource it, then it is great. Being able to outsource efficiently and delegate work is a more useful skill because it teaches you to be resourceful.

It is not the kid outsourcing it is the parent. While I agree that outsourcing can be useful and learning to be resourceful is a good thing, in this case, it is just laziness. It is hard tobe a goodoutsourcer if you don't know what is good or bad about the service you are outsourcing.

and to the OP - Mom stop helicoptering. He will learn quickly that people don't want to be around smelly sloppy people especially girls.

...or boys, if that's how he rolls.

[Anonymous]

Oh my god OP. Your kid isn't a slob, he's been babies by yoU his entire life. This is insane. At what point do you expect him to start doing his own laundry?

[Anonymous]

A laundry service will only wash and dry his clothes. They will not get the clothes from the floor to the laundry bag, get the bag to and from the room, or put the clothes away in his drawers. You may find he is still a slob in swim trunks, even with the service.

[Anonymous]

It is the rest of you, not OP who have issues. I am the PP who mentioned that I had it my first year of college.

Even though I was 18 the first time I did my own laundry I grew up to be a fully functioning adult. And as I mentioned to this day I really like doing laundry.

OP asked an innocent question.

Also many of us here on DCUM outsource our cleaning so I don't see what the big deal is. I was personally against it b/c in my experience the services do a crappy job.

OP's son will not be a damaged adult if he doesn't do his own laundry in college. Geez people.

[Anonymous]

OP,

Hope this helps. These businesses exist because obviously there is a demand.

http://www.campussuds.com/

https://www.dormmom.com/

https://www.allcollegelaundry.com/

Give it a try.

[Anonymous]

I had my sons start doing their own laundry when they started high school; it took a huge burden off of me.

We are doing our kids a disservice if we don't teach them basic things, like how to do laundry, clean, cook, etc.

[Anonymous]

What your son needs is a girlfriend (and not for her to do the laundry). Once he cares about girls, he'll care about what he wears and not looking like a slob. The problem will fix itself.

But truthfully, laundry isn't much of a life skill. I've done my DH's laundry since we first started dating. I enjoy it and his life is crazy hectic. He's been mighty appreciative!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is your child disabled?

No, he's a slob. (Yes, I tried to teach him to be neat, but his bedroom is a disaster and he wore his swim trunks around the house last weekend because he was too lazy to do his laundry). But he is a good student on a full scholarship, which I am thrilled about, so I'm thinking about doing it for the first year. Plus, I pity his roommate.

I was a slob too. When I got to college I got organized. Every few days I'd wind up with a (very) small pile of clothes thrown on my beanbag chair, but I consistently had to clean them up because friends were coming over. Honestly, going away to college helped me get neat. Let him flounder on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh my god OP. Your kid isn't a slob, he's been babies by yoU his entire life. This is insane. At what point do you expect him to start doing his own laundry?

I'm the OP, and I haven't done his laundry in 3 years. He's hardly babied.

[Anonymous]

My DC got a laundry service in college after a few weeks. He knows how to do laundry and has all the supplies, but chose to spend some of his money on a laundry service. We had no involvement in the decision.

[Anonymous]

Mama, you could always visit him every weekend, with your gallon of Tide and laundry basket in hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mama, you could always visit him every weekend, with your gallon of Tide and laundry basket in hand.

Why do you people insist on being douches?