way too efficient

I thought about including this in the smaller posts, but I think I need to explain in more depths.

Basically, last week I made a decision to start washing my own clothes. One of the big problems of my flat is, due to the size, I don't have a washing machine. Even if I did have a washing machine, I don't have any space to hang wet clothes up and a tumble dryer would be even less practical than a washing machine.

You can actually get washing machines that do dry as well, but that's beside the point - there's not the room to put it in and it's a rented places so it's not really my decision.

Now there is actually a laundrette at the end of the road, but the problem I had when I first moved in was find the combination of time and quietness of the laundrette to be able to use it. As with most laundrettes, the problem is available drying space.

A cycle in the medium sized washing machine takes about twenty minutes, but drying those clothes takes at least half an hour. This means clothes are finished quicker, but there are also lots more washing machines than there are dryers - by my reckoning 12 washing machines of varying capacity and 6 tumble dryers.

That obviously creates a bottle neck, which, as I say makes finding the ideal slot difficult - you can turn up and while it doesn't appear there are that many people, all the tumble dryers are in use and there's clearly a queue of people waiting to use them. A queue which is exacerbated by the fact people will have left the tumble dryers going while they go and do stuff, so their clothes may have dried, but you're hardly in a position to take some else's clothes out of the dryer.

I therefore started using the laundrette in the town where I work and getting them to do a service wash for me.

This would only cost me a couple of extra quid on top of the machine cost and had the obvious advantage that I wouldn't have to spend the time doing it myself or worrying about finding a slot, etc.

However, just recently I've noticed that the charges seemed to be creeping ever upwards.

When I first started using it I seem to recall it was only about £6 for a load, but recently I've been charged nearly £10 for a load. Clearly a part of this reflects thing like inflation - the charges for the use of the washing machine and dryer have gone up. Also, the service charge has obviously gone up - it started out as being £2 but is now more like £3.50.

Fundamentally I wouldn't have minded these, my real problem is they seem to operate the process in a way that maximises the cost.

As I mentioned above, most laundrettes have differently sized washing machines. The ones that are broadly equivalent to your machine at home are the smallest and cheapest, then the next largest, which tend to hold the equivalent of those upright machines you used to get are a little more expensive, then there's the huge ones that are quite expensive, but do take a huge load.

Basically I always give them my washing in a black bin bag and they clearly use the medium machine irrespective of how much I put in there. They also do exactly the same amount of drying, irrespective of load size.

I can tell this because if I give them two bags then the price only goes up by a relatively small amount and it's always the same amount - an amount that corresponds to switching to the big machine instead of the medium sized one.

Now while I wouldn't say they're ripping me off, clearly using a medium sized machine for a small load represents an un-necessary cost. Also, as I say, with all the prices going up, it's now regularly costing me about £10 and with the occasional double load I must spend the best part f £50 on washing a month!

Which is way too much, so I've decided to start to try to use the laundrette at the end of the road. My plan is to use it on alternate weeks (well, fitting in with the Grand Prix's), which means I'll probably always be using the big washing machines and spending a lot on drying as I'll always be doing big loads, but there is a hidden advantage.

Using the service wash it effectively means my clothes have a two week cycle, since they sit at the laundrette for a week. Well, now I'll get them instantly, so I may be able to cope with a smaller wardrobe, which is useful as I loose weight.

Also, because I now get up at stupid times in the morning, which I didn't used to do back then, I can go when the laundrette has only just opened, meaning I should be pretty much guaranteed access to the dryers.

You know I've just realised that this whole huge post has nothing to do with the title. What I was going to say was that I did the whole washing and drying thing and was therefore trying out my new schedule (it was also a flat cleaning weekend) and it got to mid afternoon and I realised I'd done everything on my to do list and was at a bit of a loss for something to do - I'd been way too efficient, where I'd been allowing plenty of time to get things done.

It's like with the washing from leaving my flat to getting back it was only 1h15mins where I'd been worried it might take the best part of two hours.