The apartment thing makes it a lot tougher. We used to lay ours outside to dry. These days we use a smaller size bathmat that doesn’t have the rubber bottom dealio, it’s more of a super thick towel type thing. Goes in the wash easy and doesn’t unbalance anything because it’s not so heavy.
I agree that doing anything other than washing them at home seems not worth the effort, so my suggestion is to lose the rugs.
I have had this problem. I got in the habit of washing them with the towels, which helped immensely. I still had to catch it at the beginning of the spin cycle though, and gently wind the rug around the agitator. That way it stays at the center until the drum is spinning super fast, at which point it won’t bang around that way.
Ooh. I will try this if washing them both at once as ZenBeam suggested doesn’t work.
Thanks.
vac the rug. take it outside and beat it. spray it with a hose. let it dry.
I’ve done the wash two items of the same weight at the same time thing - but it only works when I’m keeping an eye on it and can jump in before the spin cycle to make sure that they’re evenly balanced. If you aren’t able to baby sit the washer, then I’d either get them laundered when you do the husband’s shirts, or lose them.
Or, in hindsight, what TruCelt said. 
For the next couple of months, I’ll be able to babysit them. After that, maybe they will already have disintegrated so much they won’t be good for anything anyway. There are a LOT of blue fibers on the inside of both my washer and dryer today.
Return them. Why waste all this effort?
Ah, yet another person who refuses to believe something because it is outside of is experience.
I have one that a different style but is nearly as bad. It survives the spin cycle as long as it’s in with a load of other heavy things. I don’t even try to dry it all the way in the dryer. One cycle, then hung…for days. I don’t use it much.
When you say that you tried to wring it out, was that by hand or with a laundry wringer?
It may be the $160 solution for your $20 rug problem.
I haven’t seen a wringer in years.
Also, draping one over a clothes-drying rack set up in the tub or shower allows more air circulation. Turn on a fan or forced-air heat (bonus if it blows under the draped rug). Works pretty well. (I have chenille area rugs by the cat box and wash them every other week.)
The OP implied that if the mat was too heavy for spinning when it first came out of the wash cycle, then it must be too heavy for the spin cycle forever.
Thats not correct.
How about reducing the weight of the mats before putting them back into spin cycle ?
Well OP says she tried to squash the water out… work smart not hard, let gravity do the work.
Just let them to drip dry… The water drains off faster at first, so just 15 minutes of dripping should be draining off a lot of water…
Hang it up on the side of the washing machine at first? A lot of water will drop into the bottom of the machine.
So then they are manageable and you might hang it over the shower screen or something to let the water drain out more effectively.
So with it quite a lot lighter, it may then work in the spin cycle. Especially if you balance the machine with some other weight, such as towels or something.
Get enough different absorbent materials (rugs, towels, blankets) so you have options as to weight distribution.
The trick it to wait until they are all completely wet - THEN distribute the weight equally.
The agitator will move the stuff around, so time the load and learn when to return and re-adjust just after the final drain; before spin.
Then throw them out and get “throws” - essentially super-heavy towels in the size and shape of a bath mat. I have one from 1985 - it never got used much, and it snagged on something and has a small tear. These came out of high-end department stores - have never seen anything as heavy in a discount store.
On some things, cheap works; not so much on other things.
I had this problem with an Ikea pillow one time. One of the four pillows I bought (same style, same day) became a massive sponge that unbalanced the washer…and yes, I was running a full load…and then resisted wringing out by hand when I dragged its four thousand pound weight into the utility sink. I even considered dragging it outside and laying a board on top of it and driving over it to squeeze the water out! The filling was so saturated and the fabric of the pillow form looked identical to the other three pillows but acted like it was waterproof…I considered poking holes in it. After three days of intermittently squeezing it out and letting it drain I considered it capable of being put through the dryer, but it took about six cycles to dry it out. Ikea is four hours away and their customer service person thought I must just not have followed the washing directions…idiot! And it is a lovely pillow. And I forgot to mark it, and it is back in the rotation of pillows somewhere. Fortunately the cat who pee’d on them has gone to her reward so I don’t have to wash pillows as frequently, but one of these days it’ll get washed again, and this time I think I may bag it up and drive to Ikea with it.
I own 3 of these Target bath mats that have a latex backing and they do fine in the dryer, on both low heat and medium heat. The three together dry in about 45 minutes or less. I only pay $10 for them so I replace them every 4 years or so when the backing starts to crack a little.
What about the old fashioned method of beating them?
I once bought a spa-style thick fluffy cotton bath rug from Costco, and I had the same problem. It was incredibly heavy when sopping wet, and I had nothing heavy enough to counterbalance it in the washing machine during the spin cycle. Even a bunch of towels or a pillow didn’t do the trick. Leaving it out to drip-dry for a couple of days to lighten it up only resulted in mold growing down deep in the fibers. I gave up and threw it out eventually. I don’t really like the shiny nylon ones with rubber backing; the backing disintegrates after a few washings and crumbles up. But at least I can wash them.
When we have throw rugs, horse blankets, saddle pads, sleeping bags, etc that need launderd I get the job of going to the laundromat. See weird shit there. Once saw a guy load a washer, then add the shirt and socks he was wearing. Fun times.
That’s to remove dirt and dust from a rug not used in wet area. Bathroom mats need to be laundered.
If I were you I’d just hand wash it in the bathtub. Step on it to squish out some water, leave it to sit and drain in there for a couple hours, than throw it over top of my drying rack. It will probably take a couple days to dry fully, though.