Do A Practice Run

If you've never done your laundry before, believe me, college is not the place to start. You don't want to start your second week of classes in pink underwear and bleach-stained jeans. Read up or ask someone to show you how to do different types of laundry - underwear, color clothes, jeans, bed linens and towels.

Learn When To Do Laundry

The correct answer to "When should I do laundry", is not when the underwear drawer is empty.

Actually, you should do a load of laundry then but you may not need to wash other things. Certain items - like underwear - should be washed after every wearing. Other items can be worn several times before washing; saving you time and money and wear and tear on your clothes. Here is a suggested schedule for when to wash guy and girl clothes.

Skip The White Stuff

Opt for darker colors or prints for bed linens and towels. They don't show stains or soil as quickly and they don't turn dingy. This doesn't mean that you don't have to wash them, it just means they'll look better longer between trips to the laundry room.

Opt For Wash And Wear

For bedspreads, blankets, futon covers and decorative pillows, choose items that don't require dry cleaning and can be washed. Again, go for darker colors and slipcovers and pillow covers that can be removed and tossed in a washer. Even if you only clean this stuff at the end of each semester, your pocketbook will thank you. And, you might get more than one year out of each item!

Thin Is In

The luxurious towels that Mom and Dad furnished at home should be left there. Select less expensive, thinner towels. Not only do you save money, they dry faster and you'll avoid mildew problems between washings.

Most less expensive towels are small and may not give some big guys the drying surface (or coverage) they need. Look for end-of-the-season beach towels at discount stores. They are large, thinner and on sale!

Get A Handle or Wheels

You'll save space with a soft-sided laundry bag or hamper (and you can cram more dirty clothes into one). But always look for a bag or hamper with shoulder straps or wheels. All those dirty clothes can get heavy as you head to the laundry room. (Just look at the guy in the picture trying to carry that huge bag of dirty laundry!)

Spend a Bit More for Convenience

Those huge bottles of laundry detergent and fabric softener are a good buy. But think of carrying those things down a couple of floors to the laundry room and back up to your dorm room. And, don't even think you can leave them in the laundry room...well, you can, but you'll only get to use them one time before they disappear.

Instead, opt for single dose laundry products like Tide Pods, Arm & Hammer Crystal Burst, Wisk Deep Clean Power Blasts, all mighty pacs, Dropps or Purex Ultrapacks. You can even find single dose fabric softener like Dropps.

Timing Is Everything

Almost all colleges and universities now offer apps to let you know when laundry room washers and dryers are available. You can also get alerts when each load is finished so you can avoid having your clothes tossed on the floor by another student. After about a month, you'll also discover the best times to do laundry - like early morning on the weekends or Tuesday afternoons.

Need Some Extra Bucks?

If you become proficient at laundry, you can make some extra bucks by setting up a laundry service for others in your dorm. Do a little math, look at your schedule and you can offer pick-up and delivery service and clear a tidy profit.