The Laundry Machine Trick

Maybe you have got a pile of laundry to do today and it's just sitting in the corner of your room waiting for you to tackle. And, maybe you have finally got a spare minute to do something about it, so you get up out of your chair. But before you start gathering the dirty linens, you need to make sure you've got enough liquid detergent at your disposal. There’s no sense in undertaking such a tedious task without it, right?

At any rate, you've checked it. And you've got plenty. So you're all set now… Or are you missing something?

Just before you head out the door and down to the laundromat, you suddenly remember that you'll need to grab some coins. Why? Because you won't be using the fancy new card-reader machines, where you top-up your card online, you’ll instead find the old-school coin-op machines, like the picture I have below. It’s the Wild West.

Of course, you're fine with paying the required coinage, but you still don't have the exact change you'll need in your purse to get this archaic contraption to work. However, you can count yourself lucky, because you've got plenty of coffee straws in your pocket that you've collected from the coffee shop around the corner. Coffee straws? Yeah, that's right -- coffee straws! So, don’t throw away those plastic sticks, you'll need them!

The good news is that you’ve been a clever cowgirl, and, together with the purchase of your dark roast coffee, on a fine morning commute to work, you’ve been collecting coffee straws: here is why.

But hold on again, lest we forget that the laundromat isn't always void of rule-abiding citizens. So for the sake of having covered all our bases, let’s just say that you’re heading down to the laundromat at an off-hour and you don’t expect to run into any laundry police. So turn down the music blasting through your headphones, and face off with the laundromat like you’re about to draw guns. In fact, a hay bale or two drifts down a byway as you reach your destination. And (upon entering the laundromat), the fresh scent of lint fills your nostrils like the sweet smell of huckleberry; and, it nearly makes you weep with feelings of profound joy. But please don't. You still have to stare down a laundry machine, with laser-like focus, and you can't do that with tears in your eyes. So, with no one in sight, and with this important and final hurdle cleared -- it’s a gravy train from here!

From among the series of coin-op machines, lined up one adjacent to another, go ahead and find a nice ‘vertical coin chute’ (That’s just a fancy name for the sliding metal piece that holds the coins in place). But make sure it’s not jammed, it'll save you time and frustration. You wouldn’t want your gun jamming during a cowboy showdown, would you? You gunslinger you.

So you’ve got your eye on the prize and you’re staring down at the coin inserts within the vertical chute -- but don’t reach for any coins in your pocket. Go ahead and bring out those coffee straws from your holster -- with lightning speed! Make sure they’re not too bent up, from carrying them around, for, then the strength of the straw may fail and the ‘trick’ won’t work at all. Next, you place the straws into each of the inserts (that require coinage) at less than 45 degrees. The tricky part, truly, is to push the straws forward into the coin chute at the same time as the sliding mechanism. You have to feel the straws being ‘taken in’ to the chute. But, if it just so happens that one particular coin slot doesn’t seem to want to eat straw, you might be forced to give up your hand and insert a coin or move to another machine altogether. But, if and when the metal chute finally slides all way back and accepts the straws, all you have to do from here is simply yank the straws back out from the mechanism. You’re all set. Select the water level and temperature and throw your linens in. Don’t forget that detergent, you sly dog.

As most laundromats have switched over to the card-swipe readers, you’ll still find the coin-op ones on rare occasions, in the Wild West. If I’m saving you some coins regularly, don’t forget to leave a cowboy a tip. Until our next showdown, you gunslinger! You outlaw! You bandit! Away you go!