Washing laundry sans car

April 1, 2017 7:34 PM

For the first time, I'm likely moving into an apartment without laundry in the building but at one community laundry center. I also don't drive. How should I carry my laundry, as it'll be a 5ish minute walk regardless and I'm used to using a laundry bag and awkwardly walking down stairs but there's gotta be a better solution.
posted by Aranquis to Home & Garden (24 answers total)

The affectionately named granny cart available on Amazon.
posted by bilabial at 7:44 PM on April 1, 2017 [22 favorites]

Do you have to go down stairs? If not, a laundry hamper on wheels is your best bet. I have this one. It's great even for pushing down the hall and in the elevator to the building room; I imagine it will be fine for a 5 min walk too (though the wheels may wear out faster).
posted by redlines at 7:44 PM on April 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Backpack maybe?
posted by Jubey at 7:46 PM on April 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

The best solution I found was a Navy Sea Bag, not saying its a great solution, just make sure you get the one with two shoulder straps.
posted by ridgerunner at 7:47 PM on April 1, 2017 [5 favorites]

IKEA bags work well.
posted by alexei at 7:53 PM on April 1, 2017 [8 favorites]

A duffel bag on wheels, with retractable handle, works really well for me.
posted by eggs at 7:54 PM on April 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

My laundromat is 2 blocks away and I use one of these duffels to carry my laundry there. It carries 2-3 loads of laundry and has backpack straps. Pricey for just doing laundry (I bought mine to carry camping/climbing gear), but you get the idea. I think the important part is the backpack straps. It's tons less awkward than holding a bag off to your side.
posted by strangecargo at 7:55 PM on April 1, 2017

I have a Rolser granny cart that I use for groceries every day. Would be perfect for laundry (and if you don't have a car you'll find many uses!). I know it's kind of pricy but it's soooo worth it - the fabric protects stuff from the rain and is lighter and easier to navigate that the cheapo versions.
posted by The Toad at 8:07 PM on April 1, 2017

VersaCart
posted by aramaic at 8:14 PM on April 1, 2017

6 blocks, no stairs but a stoop. I either pack my clothes in a rolling duffle and lift/kick/roll it, or I use IKEA bags and a granny cart. I prefer the rolling luggage but the clearance of the wheels is very low, which makes it hard to deal with streets with no curb cuts or puddles. I used to have a 30-minute walk to laundry and I used a backpack and rolling luggage combo, plus made it so that laundry correlated with ice cream. You do what you got to do.

You could price out pickup/delivery laundry services. Sometimes it's worth it-- you don't say how many stairs you have to do.
posted by blnkfrnk at 8:17 PM on April 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

I find granny fabric-sided granny carts quite difficult to load with clean clothes in a manner that keeps them from getting crumpled. It works to move them, but it's not optimal. The optimal way to move clothing on wheels is, imho, something designed to move clothing on wheels: luggage.

Since you're not planning on subjecting it to the nightmarish hell that is airline treatment of luggage, a large, relatively inexpensive suitcase can move an awful lot of laundry in one crack. And when you fold stuff into it for the return journey, it'll arrive relatively unscathed.

This gets less optimal if you have more than a handful of stairs to confront, but if you don't, luggage tends to work really well.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:21 PM on April 1, 2017 [5 favorites]

The surplus laundry bag (Navy Sea Bag, Army duffel, whatever you call it) is an incredible Urbanite Lifestyle Upgrade. Carries more than a load of laundry, wears like a backpack, closes securely.
posted by so fucking future at 10:03 PM on April 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Mod note: The question is about how to carry the laundry, try to stick to that!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:11 PM on April 1, 2017

When I lived in an apartment complex with no onsite machines, those Ikea bags were what I used to carry my laundry to the laundromat ~10 minutes away. I only had one flight of stairs to deal with, so YMMV, but a bag on each shoulder worked perfectly for me. (I also made myself a small laundry kit in a Ziploc bag so I didn't have to lug a massive thing of detergent around.)
posted by Tamanna at 11:06 PM on April 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

I use this backpack laundry bag to schlep my laundry half a mile each way.
posted by alphanerd at 11:10 PM on April 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

I've used Ikea bags when I've had to do this. Certainly they're good enough until you've been doing it long enough to work out what annoys you about them and how you'd find something that works better.
posted by ambrosen at 12:40 AM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

For stairs, a cart with triple wheels works well, but buy a sturdy one or you'll end up buying a new cart every year.
posted by pracowity at 1:31 AM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Even within an apartment building, my solution to this is rolling suitcases (which includes wheeled duffel bags, but only ones that have extendable handles). I'm always surprised more people don't do this - even though going over curbs is up/down stairs is sorta crappy, it's less bad than pretty much every other option. If I have extra stuff to clean, I sometimes supplement with an army surplus backpack, tote bags, or another bag I can tie to the top of my rolling suitcase, meaning I can probably double my laundry carrying capacity if necessary. By comparison:

-Cheapo granny carts? Not very big, not sturdy enough, the metal ones require secondary containment to prevent socks and underwear from escaping, and they are something else you have to buy and store (while you probably already have luggage).
-Ikea bags and duffel bags and those crappy mesh laundry bags from CVS? Really awkward and heavy over longer distances. Doubly so if you bring anything wet back for line drying.
-Very large backpacks? A little less awkward, still sorta crappy for large laundry loads though (and they are somewhat space-limited) and they leave you very top-heavy (probably less of a problem if you hike and are used to this, I guess.)
-Laundromat-style laundry carts? Generally not stair compatible, generally the wheels are not rugged enough to deal with the outdoors, and they are something else you have to buy and store.
posted by ubersturm at 2:11 AM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I used to use a backpack for this. It was super easy. I lived in a place where a rolling suitcase wouldn't be great (lots of stairs + bricks/cobblestone) but that might be an option too.
posted by pintapicasso at 2:24 AM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I college I would put the laundry in large bags with zippers (I think they were Dryel dry clean bags for the dryer), carry the bags down a spiral staircase and down another normal one to the front door, then put them in the granny cart and roll down about a 10 minute walk to the laundramat. I used the granny cart for certain shopping trips that called for more than my usual backpack. I bought a basic granny cart for about $20.
posted by perrouno at 4:58 AM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

My wife works for a doctor. Part of her job is to launder the exam table sheets and pillowcases. It's a long walk from the office to the car, so she got this stylish wheeled hamper. It sits in the office until full, then she wheels to the car.
posted by The Deej at 5:47 AM on April 2, 2017

Lots of good suggestions above. I have a similar setup to what you're talking about and YMMV of course, but I've found that just carrying a regular laundry bag has been simplest. Wheelie carts/granny carts mean I have to bring it home after I drop off laundry (I don't want to leave them cluttering up space at the laundromat) so I can't just drop my laundry off on my way elsewhere. Straps tend to make my back ache. But I do keep a folding luggage cart on hand (something like this), which I use for days when I'm not up to carrying a heavy load for long. You can easily carry it down the stairs with your duffle (with or without straps, whichever you prefer) then bungee-cord the bag onto the cart and wheel away to the laundromat. They're handy to have if you live in an apartment — I use mine pretty often for other things as well.
posted by rafaella gabriela sarsaparilla at 7:27 AM on April 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I've used a metal folding granny cart, purchased at a local hardware store. It's handy for many other things, like taking trash and recycling out, or groceries in. Since the cart has structure, an unstructured cheap laundry sack can fit in easily, or even stack more than one on top if there's too much for one bag. Those sacks are themselves easily washable, so no worries about making clean laundry dirty.

I load and unload the cart at the bottom of the stairs rather than hauling it up or down while full.
posted by asperity at 7:40 AM on April 2, 2017

If I was utterly certain no one was about, I'd kick the laundry (packed in a sturdy canvas bag) down the stairs and carry the folded granny cart. Cart was opened and filled on ground floor. Later, clean laundry was folded in the washed bag, placed in cart, and hauled back upstairs.
posted by furtive_jackanapes at 4:07 PM on April 2, 2017