A Different Approach to Laundry

Yesterday even my tolerance of dog hair on the comforter on our bed had run out. Shaking it outside seemed to have little effect. I didn’t want to take it to the dry cleaner’s because it would cost a lot and we would be without it for a day or two. There was no way it would fit into our washing machine at home.

So I decided to try the Latino Laudromat just a mile or so from our house. This reminded me why I am glad we have a washer and dryer in our house. It also reminded me that a lot of people are not so fortunate.

Not realizing it was multi-purpose building, I entered the front door to find a place for cashing checks, popular among Latinos who often don’t have bank accounts. To the left was a beauty salon. A customer, seeing me carrying a monster of a comforter, told me the entrance to the laundromat was on the side of the building.

It was like walking into any country in Central America. The TV featured soap operas in Spanish. The signs were in Spanish. The “out of order” signs, on about half the equipment, were in Spanish.

The washer big enough to accommodate my comforter seemed to take a card, not quarters. Switching into Spanish, I asked another customer how to get a laundry card. She pointed me to “la mujer limpiando los vidrios” (the woman cleaning the windows). For $6.25 she started up #19 with her card and I sat down to work on my husband’s scarf.


Soon a precocious 5-year-old appeared and asked if I knew how much the M&M machine behind my chair cost. It appeared to take quarters. I offered him one much to his delight and he knew exactly what to do with it. We talked about what I was making and who would wear it.

He told me his name was Natay. After we talked about his age and where he went to school, he asked how old I was and I told him to guess. He suggested 22, which seemed to be the highest number he knew. I told him I was quite a bit older than that. He went on to tell me his mother was 9. I could see she was more like 30. So Natay needs some help with his math skills.

The laundromat was full of people who were mostly Hispanic doing mounds of laundry. It made me happy I had just one large comforter, so I wouldn’t have to keep up with all those pieces.

The vidrio woman helped me find a working dryer and used her card once again to get it started. Meanwhile I continued to knit and Natay came around asking if I had any more quarters. I pretended they were all gone, not wanting to spoil his lunch.

I paid up and gave the woman a small tip for helping me navigate this strange new way of washing clothes.

As I left, Natay and his mother were still folding clothes and a lot of other people were waiting as the machines sloshed and turned and the soap opera blared overhead. I supposed it might be like that at most any hour of the day or night.