Rent Apartment Without Washing Machine: Would You?

November 2, 2024 3:05 AM

I've found a really nice apartment to rent in an area that's difficult to find a nice place at a decent price, but it doesn't have a washing machine. On one hand, every apartment has some sort of shortcoming - and I like to think I'm adaptable/ can problem solve - but on the other, I wash clothes and towels and sheets like most folks (no kids) so going to the laundromat - not my favorite place to spend time - every time/ weekly could get old real fast. Would you?

I know there are portable washing machine options, only I'm not sure how long I'll be at the apartment and I'm not sure how easy it will be to get rid of when I decide to move on.

posted by 7 Minutes of Madness to Home & Garden (34 answers total)

I adore the convenience of stripping off gross clothes right into the washer. If I can at all afford it, I would not go back to a laundromat-dependent lifestyle.

However:
* If this was in NYC and I could drop my clothes off at a wash-and-fold on the way to the subway ... I've done that, and it was fine. If you have the option for something like this wherever you are, maybe the luxury of paying somebody else to deal with your clothes would be cheaper than finding a place with an in-unit washer/dryer?
* If the building/complex had an on-site laundromat ... maybe. I've done that a few times, and it sucks, but was manageable since I could hang out at home while waiting for the cycle to finish.
* If the place has hookups, I'd look into getting a used washer+dryer on Craigslist. I did that at one place, and it worked out great.
posted by Metasyntactic at 3:15 AM on November 2 [4 favorites]

How annoying this is depends on a few things: do you have a car? If so, are there decent laundromats with easy parking nearby?

I have rarely had to go to laundromats weekly, buying some extra towels and an extra set of sheets and more socks and underwear is not that expensive and works OK as long as you have enough room to store them. I also let my work shirts air out and wear them twice (I have an office job--when I was a barista I just bought more cheap work polos.) And you can do multiple loads at once--I am a single person but I usually do three (sorted) loads at the laundromat. I put on headphones and a podcast and try to go in the early morning when it's not busy.
posted by needs more cowbell at 3:15 AM on November 2 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Ah - good point @needs more cowbell: I've just returned from overseas so I don't currently have a vehicle, although that should come in time. For now, the nearest laundromat is a 12 minute walk/ 0.6 miles away: I travel with a carry-on roller bag, so I guess I'd use that to roller on down until I got a ride (maybe not so great in snowier months though!).
posted by 7 Minutes of Madness at 3:26 AM on November 2

If you do decide to stick around for a bit, I had a portable washing machine for years and it was perfect for me.
posted by phunniemee at 3:33 AM on November 2 [2 favorites]

Is there a laundry service somewhere? I rented for a while without a washer, and essentially used a laundry service at the laundry rather than doing it myself. I did not mind the walk, but I resented the time waiting.
posted by frumiousb at 3:37 AM on November 2 [8 favorites]

I've never had a washing machine in any of my apartments (NYC). In all cases, I was either a couple short blocks from a laundromat, or in the same neighborhood as a laundry service (that saved my ass - they pick up and drop off).

I wouldn't hesitate to rent a place without a washer. I admit this is a place of privilege having that many laundry options, though, and not all communities have that many laundromats.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:09 AM on November 2 [4 favorites]

Renting an apartment without a washing machine was literally the best decision in all my years of apartment hunting! I, too, was hesitant but it was a great place. BUT there was a dry cleaner almost next door that did quick turnaround wash and dry, etc. It changed my life not ever doing laundry, and it was folded so neatly. We still mourn that convenience. If there is at all a place that will do it for you and you can afford it (for us, the apartment was fairly cheap probably because of the no washing machine which made up for it) 100 percent do it.

Agree a diy laundromat is not a great solution.
posted by caoimhe at 4:18 AM on November 2 [3 favorites]

I had a place with a laundromat 2 flights of stairs and 2 blocks away in a sometimes-snowy city. Very close and I had a rolling cart that carried one load at a time… BUT I’m anemic and found it exhausting to lug laundry on the stairs. I did like being able to do multiple loads at the same time. But Laundry day meant a lot of up and down, and maybe struggling through snowbanks, and it really sapped my energy for the day.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:45 AM on November 2

In graduate school I lived for several years in an apartment building with a small number of shared washers & dryers. That was a bit of a hassle, because other folks would tie up the machines by leaving their clothes in the washer/dryer for long periods, and the number of machines was small enough that this would limit my options.

I also lived in an apartment for one year without any laundry options at all. Going to the laundromat was a hassle but not a tremendous one; it was just one of those things I needed to do once a week, like going to buying groceries. I was working my first academic teaching job at the time so I would just sit and grade assignments while the cycles ran. So If I was looking for a new place to live, a lack of laundry machines would be a negative but it wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me. Importantly, though, I did (and do) have a car.

If you're in the habit of having a "laundry day" where you wash several loads for the coming week(s), there's a certain advantage to getting it all done in an hour or two at a laundromat. A single machine takes hours to get it all done, and you're "tied" to being at home to keep things moving along. How much of an issue this is depends on how many clothes you wash at a time and how much you like being at home, I guess.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:01 AM on November 2 [2 favorites]

Wash and fold service is awesome, as others have said. But 0.6mi is imo painfully far to lug your clothes, even in a roller bag, on a regular basis. My old NYC Laundromat offered free pickup/delivery on as part of their wash and fold service. I'd ask whether your local laundry has delivery service.
posted by hovey at 6:06 AM on November 2 [3 favorites]

Half a mile is a long way to carry laundry, even in a roller. It's not impossible! I've done it, even in winter! But it is for sure a pain in the ass. If you go this route may want to have an extra set of sheets, an extra week of underwear, etc.

I had a great experience with a portable washing machine that hooked up to the kitchen sink (1.6 cubic feet capacity top-loader, if I recall correctly). I resisted getting one for YEARS because I thought it would be more trouble than it was worth. My then-boyfriend finally wore me down and it was a GAME CHANGER. Totally regret not getting it sooner. It was a little tricky to figure out how to hook it up to our sink, which had one of those pull-down faucets, but we got there with help from the guys at the hardware store.

When we moved to a place with laundry, we listed it on Craigslist (this was a few years ago, I'd probably use FB marketplace now) and we sold it within a week for $50-100 less than we bought it for (we were able to deliver which helped make the sale). Cost-wise, it definitely saved us money vs. using the laundromat, and it was way easier than going to the laundromat (and our laundromat was only a couple short blocks away).

Things that made the portable machine even more of a slam dunk for us: we lived on the first floor, so only a few steps to move it into (and eventually out of) the apartment (but really it wasn't any worse than moving a dresser); we also plenty of indoor and outdoor space in which to hang out laundry. Drawbacks: our towels were a little crunchy for our USian tastes, especially in winter when we dried indoors, but we got used to it (if we had really cared, I suppose we could have just brought the towels to the laundromat).
posted by mskyle at 6:07 AM on November 2

I didn't mind returning to a laundromat lifestyle in my 30s - I used it as an excuse to take a weekly long walk in my very pretty neighborhood. (Theft didn't seem to be a big problem at this laundromat, and it was 2020 so there was no way in hell I was waiting inside the laundromat.)

But yeah, I had a car and I lived on the ground floor. If I'd had to physically lug my laundry, I would have had to find money in my budget for wash and fold.
posted by toastedcheese at 6:10 AM on November 2

I would do the sums on the cost of laundromat vs other options, too, btw.
posted by lokta at 6:29 AM on November 2

N-thing portable washing machine and pickup/delivery wash and fold service.

Even if it’s a bit more expensive than the price of another place that includes a washer dryer, if everything else about this place is ideal, I would go for it.
posted by seemoorglass at 6:32 AM on November 2 [2 favorites]

For a while, I lived in an absolutely adorable cottage that had a lemon tree just outside the window. It had no washing machine. I found going to the laundromat to be so inconvenient that I will never again choose to live somewhere that has no washing machine inside the unit. And, worse, were some of the patrons at the laundromat with whom I was, how shall I say ... "incompatible" ... who could not take the hint that I was not interested in conversing.

I won't live again somewhere that does not have a washing machine inside the unit, no matter what. Portable washer and/or pick up and delivery might be a good solution for you, though.
posted by SageTrail at 7:05 AM on November 2

nthing wash'n' fold. Get a cart with larger wheels.

Un-unthing portable washing machines. I had one for about 5 years and it was in need of constant repair and did not do a good job washing.
posted by falsedmitri at 7:19 AM on November 2

I would if I had access to a wash-dry-fold service with pickup and delivery.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:20 AM on November 2 [1 favorite]

No way. I've lived in a flat without a washing machine and even going to the communal washing machine (which was downstairs) was a pain. When that broke, going to a laundromat that was a 10min walk away was worse.

The only way I would do it would be if there was a wash-dry-fold service that picked up and delivered. And even then, that would be annoying, because I'd have to arrange pickup and delivery for a time I'm home.

Plus, no matter how you slice it, you end up being unable to easily do emergency laundry.
posted by sailoreagle at 7:24 AM on November 2

I lived for 20-ish years without my own washing machine and I hope to never go back. For several years in NYC I had the nicest people doing my laundry at a wash-and-fold that was on my way to the subway station -- and they'd even pick laundry up if I wanted -- but now that I've seen how nice it is to be able to immediately wash something that's unusually gross, or to not have to wait a week for my favorite hoodie to be clean, and to have more privacy, it would be really difficult to go back to that.

So, if you're used to using a laundromat already: eh, maybe not a big deal. But if you're used to having your own washer, be prepared for an unpleasant adjustment.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:45 AM on November 2

I've found a really nice apartment to rent in an area that's difficult to find a nice place at a decent price

For this, I'd put up with having to walk .6 mi to a laundromat. Like others have said, if you are strategic (plenty of underwear, two sets of towels, etc.) this can just happen just twice a month. And you could always take a ride share if the weather was really bad, and perhaps you'll eventually befriend someone local with a car who doesn't mind if you borrow it. Will it be a bit annoying? Yes. But pretty much any really nice apartment that's well priced in a high-demand location is going to have some slightly annoying downside. I'd try to see the positive: it will force you to spend time outside year-round, develop more of a relationship with your neighborhood, and it will be an excuse to listen to podcasts or explore new music.
posted by coffeecat at 8:06 AM on November 2 [1 favorite]

Portable washing and a drying rack is a good investment, I’d say, if you plan on being in the apartment for at least a year. The hassle and expense of lugging your clothes .6 miles to a laundromat far out weighs a few hundred dollars in purchasing a small machine. I purchase a Danby model that lasted me well over five years of heavy use by 4 adults. Chucked it when I moved somewhere with a machine and it was still running really well. The downsides are storing the washing machine when it’s not in use and also still having to visit the laundromat or send out laundry for bulky items.
posted by flamk at 8:33 AM on November 2

Wash and fold is amazing... IF you don't have bras or other items that need to hang dry. Lots of people rely on it, but I've never been able to square that circle. Also I perceive a significant difference between a nice NYC laundromat on your way home from work that you can just stop and grab your clothes at, and some fussy service requiring an app and arranging logistics for pickup. My current city seems to only have the latter. So if you're considering this route, research to make sure it's actually feasible for your lifestyle.

Anyway I've never had in-unit, but I would not be happy about .6 mi walk to the laundromat. I'd keep looking.
posted by umwelt at 8:39 AM on November 2

I lived the first 20 years of my adult life in apartments without a washing machine--and without a car. This was in Minneapolis, not NYC, so slightly different environment and urban infrastructure.

Most of the places I lived in at the time had coin-operated washers and dryers in the basement or a dedicated laundry room. This meant having a supply of quarters. That might be more challenging today, since it's not as easy as it used to be to go to a bank and get a roll of coins from a human teller.

In one case, it meant having to deal with building management to buy stupid little weirdly-shaped plastic tokens for the washers, because management didn't like shucking bags of change around.

The one time I lived in a place with no laundry at all, I had to take a city bus to a laundromat every week or so, while carrying a plastic laundry hamper. At that time in my life, it was tolerable. It got me out of the house to a communal activity spot. And, in the winter, the laundromat was usually steamy and smelled like fresh laundry, which was oddly comforting.

Biggest burden would be that it took time to get to the laundromat and back. Buses on that route ran every half hour, at best. There was even one time when a big snowstorm blew in while I was at the laundromat, buses stopped running, and I had to haul my laundry back home by hand through foot and a half snowdrifts, took an extra hour to slog back. It's a happy memory today, but a bit stressful at the time.

I've been a homeowner for many years now, but I have had a couple of times when my dryer has been broken, and I've had to load up the car with wet laundry to a laundromat about a 10-minute drive away. This place has a plastic card system, you charge up the card like a transit pass to pay for the machines--rolls of quarters are in the past. It's not a bad experience, lots of young families from a first ring suburb go there, but again, the time consideration is the biggest factor.

Thanks for listening, anyway. Laundromats are interesting places with a lot of sensory triggers that can attach to memories.
posted by gimonca at 8:46 AM on November 2

Between 2004 and 2021, I had a washing machine for a total of four years. I spent 17 years (!!!) schlepping to and from a laundromat. Sometimes this was awful (like when I lived at the bottom of a hill, and the nearest laundromat was seven blocks away... at the top of the hill). Most of the time, though, it was simply a mild inconvenience. The last decade allowed me to have a pretty lovely laundry routine as I enjoyed my time in an equally desirable, hard-to-get neighborhood as what you're talking about: I was one block from the laundromat, which was right next door to both a bar and a coffee shop. I could take my pick, depending on time of day and mood, but I really got into the groove of a weekly wash accompanied by my dog and either a coffee or two or a cocktail or two. I'd say there were even more nice surprises that I wouldn't realize until I had a washing machine again (I got very accustomed to never having to live with the noise of a wash or spin cycle, so now those things feel like the costs or downsides of in-home washing). I also got much more familiar with washing elsewhere and drying on a rack at home when I had the time.

There were hard times. I had surgery right in the middle of a divorce and, let me tell you, those painful, solitary trips to the 'mat were sometimes best carried out from behind dark sunglasses. But I always got by, always adapted, and I liked that message. I also have never felt the need to have a dryer again, which is something that once felt very foreign. I guess it was a foreign idea, given where I'd grown up (and where it's so intensely humid for half the year that drying on a line is a tenuous dance with the possibility of mildew). But I'm about four years into having a washing machine but no dryer and I can't imagine I'll go back on that as my ideal set-up when it's available.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 8:47 AM on November 2 [1 favorite]

I have had friends come to my apartment to hang out say on a Saturday to watch college football with a few loads of laundry in hand. Bring me a six pack and order a pizza and you can do as many loads as you like while hanging out. Maybe you have friends in the neighborhood who would be accommodating.

I also, many years ago in college had a pick up and drop off wash and fold service.

But, having an in unit washer/dryer is sweet. I iron my sheets (couple hours of labor) so if you had an in unit steam presser machine, I would pay up for that.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:59 AM on November 2

Forgive me if this is something that would be forbidden in your lease or architecturally impossible, but can you negotiate with your prospective landlord to buy a standalone washer of a reasonable size yourself and then just take it with you when you leave? Pair it with a drying rack and you have a perfectly workable setup that is the norm in most parts of the world, can get the laundry done while you sleep or are at work, and enjoy the additional benefit of everything you wash lasting longer since the heat and abrasion that dryers expose garments to won’t be happening.
posted by mdonley at 10:06 AM on November 2 [2 favorites]

I would only do it if I could use wash & fold. I lived in an apartment without machines for years, where the laundromat was miles away. I had to Uber there with tons of laundry since I would put it off so long. I waited with my laundry and someone still stole two rugs, like a magician.
posted by dianeF at 12:42 PM on November 2 [1 favorite]

I did washing my own stuff at the launderette for years and it's a pain. You have to plan around a half day out of your time each week, plus when to wear stuff and when you can next wear it. A particular hassle if you have to wear a uniform for work and plan that being clean and available. It's much better if you can afford a service wash (ie where you drop and collect at your convenience) if you can afford it.
posted by biffa at 2:19 PM on November 2

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for your answers - it's been really helpful getting different angles because I was struggling a bit with this. I just got back from viewing the apartment and it's just too nice in too good a location to pass up, so I'm going to take the plunge if they'll rent it to me. I made a point of walking past the 12-minutes/ 0.6 mile-away laundromat on the way to the viewing, and it'll definitely be a pain to go there on foot, so I'm totally on board with buying more clothes to get the frequency down, and I think the situation as a whole will be much less worse once I have a ride.
posted by 7 Minutes of Madness at 7:58 PM on November 2 [1 favorite]

I got a portable washing machine from a garage sale for a good price. Sold it a year later for the same price. Free washing machine!

Go hang out in your (potential) local laundromat to see how sketch it is or not.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:58 PM on November 2

+1 to checking out the laundromat (they can vary so much, especially in big cities). And also to what the parking situation is like - needing to scramble for parking or walk a few blocks to your car with clothes is a hassle. (I have seen some laundromats that don't have parking lots or have tiny parking lots.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:31 AM on November 3

Response by poster: @ needs more cowbell: yes! I never thought to check initially, but earlier I looked at the Google reviews for the 12-minutes/ 0.6 mile-away laundromat and they're *horrible*! So: my revised plan is to go the next closest one - which has great reviews - and just take an Uber until I get a ride, and that's that.
posted by 7 Minutes of Madness at 6:07 AM on November 3 [2 favorites]

Most of the places I lived in at the time had coin-operated washers and dryers in the basement or a dedicated laundry room. This meant having a supply of quarters. That might be more challenging today, since it's not as easy as it used to be to go to a bank and get a roll of coins from a human teller.

In one case, it meant having to deal with building management to buy stupid little weirdly-shaped plastic tokens for the washers, because management didn't like shucking bags of change around.

When I was in a similar situation in the mid-'00s, you were given a proprietary chip card that could be loaded & re-loaded in the management company's office. But that may have been a function of renting from someone (from the university itself, actually) that had a large number of buildings in the neighborhood.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:45 PM on November 3

I personally won't get an apartment without some kind of onsite laundry, whether shared or in-unit.
My boyfriend had to lug his laundry every week to his local laundromat just a couple blocks away, and ran into a whole bunch of hassle: machine eating quarters, dryer not drying, etc. Then the laundromat shut down this year and he has to do laundry at his sister's place, a 15-minute bus ride away. Needless to say, he's not happy about it.
If you could find a place with onsite laundry AND a laundromat nearby as a back-up, that would be ideal.
posted by curagea at 10:53 AM on November 4