The Cambridge Student's Guide to Laundry (Without Wasting Your Afternoon)
If you're studying at MIT, BU, or anywhere else in Cambridge, laundry is the chore that always seems to fall at the worst possible time - right before a deadline, right after a long week, right when you have approximately zero desire to sit in a laundromat for two hours.
Here's how to make it as painless as possible.
Pick the right time
The busiest times at any laundromat are Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. If you can shift your wash to a weekday evening or early Saturday before 10am, you'll almost always get a machine straight away. Less waiting, faster turnaround.
Size your load properly
Overstuffing a washer is the most common mistake. A 20lb machine handles a standard week's worth of clothing comfortably - jeans, shirts, socks, underwear. If you're adding bedding or towels, go for a 30lb machine. Clothes need room to move to actually get clean.
Use less detergent than you think
Modern front-load machines are high-efficiency. Most people use two to three times more detergent than they need to. One tablespoon is enough for a standard load - more than that creates excess suds that the machine has to rinse out with extra cycles, and it can actually leave residue on your clothes.
Dry properly or pay twice
A full dryer cycle on a standard load is around 40 minutes. Don't pull your clothes out early to save a dollar and then spend the rest of the day with damp denim. If you've got a mixed load with heavier items, consider separating them - thicker fabrics need longer than a t-shirt does.
Consider wash and fold for the big weeks
Exam period, end of semester, moving week - these are the times laundry piles up fastest and your time is worth the most. Wash and fold drop-off at $2.00/lb means a week's worth of laundry handled for roughly the cost of a couple of coffees. You drop it off, come back to it clean and folded, and spend that time on something that actually matters.
Or just skip the trip entirely
Pickup and delivery exists for a reason. Schedule through the Cents app, we collect, wash, fold, and return. No trip required. Useful if you're car-free, on a deadline, or just want to get that task off the list permanently.
Cambridge Laundromat is on Brookline Street, open seven days. Free parking - which we know matters here.