Our washer broke recently. It happened two days before our house went on the market, of course. How do appliances know when the worst time to break will be? I think perhaps they listen to us, sort of like Siri and Alexa. There is plenty of evidence for it. Our dishwasher died the week we moved into this house. The refrigerator gave up just before our first Christmas here. Our hard-working coffeemaker broke right before we hosted out of town family for Thanksgiving—twice.
When the repair person told us it was a lost cause, we took three loads to the laundromat. It’s not a bad place to hang out on a spring afternoon. There’s good people-watching to be had in the laundromat, and good writing inspiration.
What brings the other people there?
Is it a regular weekly chore for that grandmother and granddaughter?
Are they friends with the other woman they are talking to, or did they just meet today over quarters and detergent?
What prompted the man to wash and dry his blue plaid comforter?
And who is he talking to on the phone while he does it?
a writing prompt
Write about doing laundry—at home, or in a laundromat.
Write from your memory or your imagination.
laundromat quotes
Is there any place on earth that smells better than a Laundromat? It’s like a rainy Sunday when you don’t have to get out from under your covers, or like lying back on the grass your father’s just mowed—comfort food for your nose.
— Jodi Picoult
It’s funny how certain objects convey a message – my washer and dryer, for example. They can’t speak, of course, but whenever I pass them they remind me that I’m doing fairly well. “No more laundromat for you,” they hum. My stove, a downer, tells me every day that I can’t cook, and before I can defend myself my scale jumps in, shouting from the bathroom, “Well, he must be doing something. My numbers are off the charts.”
— David Sedaris
Write in different places—for example, in a laundromat, and pick up on the rhythm of the washing machines. Write at bus stops, in cafés. Write what is going on around you.
— Natalie Goldberg
