# Do You Need Quarters for Laundry? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111 "2016-03-06T14:22:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/21 "2016-03-06T20:00:48Z")
In general I’ve had the washing machine in-house. The Swedish rentals had laundry rooms that you had to book, but no payment needed. I’ve needed money only when I was in college housing in the UK and the US, and in one of my US apartments (last one in Miami). Most of the time, my dryer has been the big fusion-powered one in the sky. My pinkies do not get extended when drinking tea, as that would make grabbing the mug properly kind’a difficult. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/22 "2016-03-06T20:07:28Z")
I’ve spent plenty of time in laundromats in my day. I’ve never been in one that didn’t have a bill changer. The last time I had to use a laundromat (after my basement flooded and ruined my washer and dryer) the changer took 20 dollar bills. That’s a lotta quarters! Still had the same thing happen that used to drive me nuts. Just as my stuff was finishing up in the washers some clown shows up with a carload of washed, wet laundry and takes every dryer. Weird how often that happened over the years. I always kind of enjoyed going to the laundromat. I took stuff to read, my Walkman and it was nice to get it all done at once. Now I have one washer and dryer hooked up and one washer and dryer for backup. Super fancy! ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/23 "2016-03-06T20:37:59Z")
I used to need quarters for laundry. But when I bought my condo last summer, the w/d came with (and since it had hookups, I would totally have been buying them if they hadn’t remained in the unit when the previous folks moved out). Before then, I was at the laundrymat pretty much weekly, and the one I went to takes quarters. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/24 "2016-03-06T20:44:52Z")
I have no idea how the clothes get clean. The maids take the clothes, then they’re clean. I think they utilize the manicured hands of French Polynesian virgins to launder my things. Perhaps they give them quarters for their time. I’ll have the butler ask. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/25 "2016-03-06T23:46:17Z")
About 30 years ago I lived in an apartment building that used these whacky little pay cards. Then I moved to a place that had laundry in the basement, but it also had rats, homeless people, etc. and most of the time I went to a laundromat. Almost 20 years ago I moved to my current location. The upside is I get a lot of room cheap. The downside is that well and septic system can’t really handle washing machines or dishwashers. Fortunately, we have a nice laundromat nearby. Unfortunately, last Friday a blanket in a dryer caught fire (not mine! I was just arriving when the smoke started pouring out of the building), which briefly had me thinking I’d need a new place to take my clothes, but it was rapidly brought under control, cleaned up, and they were back in business about two hours later. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/26 "2016-03-07T00:38:50Z")
I can wash everything except the comforter. However, that only comes out if we have an extended cold spell. This year it was used one night, on top of a blanket so it got put away being washed. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/27 "2016-03-07T01:31:20Z")
Quarters even though I’m in a condo. Condo board several years ago sold the multi-year right to run the machines and pocket the quarters, less a modest rental fee to the association but NOT the cost of electricity & water, to “Family Pride, a Hughes Enterprise” as the labels say.\* :smack: At least there’s two washers & two dryers per floor, so no basement treks. (Also, my building has no basement.) My big bad national bank has no problem “selling” me a $10 roll of quarters for $10. 😕 \*I presume this is some remnant of the Howard Hughes companies, reaching out from beyond the grave for my 12 quarters (3 quarters per run, 2 loads of wash, then same of drying) each laundry day. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/28 "2016-03-07T01:51:34Z")
I live in a three flat apartment with one coin op washer and one coin op dryer in the basement. Every payday (every other Friday), when I deposit my paycheck, I get two rolls of quarters from the bank. The only time we routinely use laundromats is the time of year we’re camping for about 6 weeks. I make a trip into town to do laundry once a week or so, and on our way home, we do one final laundry run at a laundromat, because at that point we’re washing everything, including big comforters and sleeping bags. It’s much faster to wash everything at once in several machines, plus we usually enjoy a break from driving at that point anyhow. We’ve got it down to a science: laundry in, kiddo feeds the machines, go grab some lunch, come back and put stuff in the dryers, spend some time checking email and Facebook, fold, and everything/one back in the car. Getting home with clean laundry is a gift. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/29 "2016-03-07T02:14:40Z")
I have a washer dryer, but i don’t drink tea. But I DO extend my pinkie when I drink beer n bourbon. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/30 "2016-03-07T02:57:42Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I think they utilize the manicured hands of French Polynesian virgins to launder my things. Or maybe Tide. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/31 "2016-03-07T03:02:46Z")
Yes I need quarters otherwise where else would the clothes washer sleep? Fortunately she also cooks and cleans, otherwise it would be quite expensive. Lucky me I got that and more for a gold band and piece of paper signed by a judge. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/32 "2016-03-07T10:22:38Z")
My condo has a laundry room on each of the three floors. $0.75 per wash; $0.25 for twenty minutes of dryer time. I usually get by with forty minutes worth of drying time but towels get one hour. I buy two rolls of quarters every two months or so. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/33 "2016-03-07T10:41:38Z")
If I had to use a laundromat, I’d need $1 and $2 coins. In other countries, I’ve needed £1 coins, or €1 and €2 coins. I’ve never understood the American attachment to $1 notes. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/34 "2016-03-07T10:43:31Z")
I’ve used laundromats for exactly four months in my live. Once for two two months in the missionary training center in Provo, Utah when I was learning Japanese and the other was a two month stay in the States for training. All my Japanese and Taiwanese apartments or houses had at least a cheap mashing machine with clotheslines. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/35 "2016-03-07T13:57:34Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > If I had to use a laundromat, I’d need $1 and $2 coins. In other countries, I’ve needed £1 coins, or €1 and €2 coins. I’ve never understood the American attachment to $1 notes. My apartment building’s laundry takes $1.75 for wash and $1.50 for dry (with the option to add more for more time). So, even with dollar coins I’d still need quarters (I believe your currency’s equivalent would be Koalarters, correct?). ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/36 "2016-03-07T15:10:34Z")
After 20+ years of needing quarters, I am in a home with a washer/dryer. It’s been six years and I still revel in the joy of it and how I am not taking this for granted. Thank you for the reminder, especially for when that voice says “I have to go all the way downstairs to do laundry?!” The worst was carrying a wet load from the car into the house in below-zero weather with a thick coat of ice between the car and the gate which of course you had to have a hand free to operate. I do not miss that. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/37 "2016-03-07T15:12:57Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Koalarters Hee. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/38 "2016-03-07T16:11:17Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > If I had to use a laundromat, I’d need $1 and $2 coins. In other countries, I’ve needed £1 coins, or €1 and €2 coins. I’ve never understood the American attachment to $1 notes. I don’t think we as a people are particularly _attached_ to them; though people in general can be resistant to change. it’s that the damn gov’t will release a new series of $1 coins _yet not take the dollar bill out of circulation._ Then they’ll grouse about how “nobody likes” dollar coins. you want people to use dollar coins? Stop printing dollar bills. plus there are plausible theories on how the dollar bill stays around thanks to lobbying by the Crane & Co. who is the sole source for the paper used for US bank notes. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/39 "2016-03-07T17:19:06Z")
When the Laundromat closed its doors about seven years ago we finally bought a washer and dryer and frankly I’ve never looked back it’s so wonderful. You can pry it from my cold dead hands. It’s really worth the investment. I don’t just save on the quarters but on the time going to the Laundromat, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111/40 "2016-03-07T17:29:19Z")
Up until I moved a couple of months ago, I did laundry in my apartment’s laundry room, and yes, I needed quarters (four for each washer load, three for each dryer load, which sometimes needed to be repeated). There’s no change machine on the premises, so I saved my quarters, and got a bunch extra whenever I was anywhere else with a change machine (like the self-serve car wash up the road). Now I have a house with my own washer and dryer, and it’s quite the luxury. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-quarters-for-laundry/748111.md?page=3)