Laundry is one of those things in university life that has to be done, yet will find itself on the bottom of your list of priorities. Here are 3 essential tips to surviving laundry and being able to wear your favourite outfit looking its best (and not stinking like mold, or spattered with unidentifiable dining-hall stains).

1. Set aside one day a week for laundry
This sounds fairly simple, but unless you do it, you will never find the time to do your washing until it is the day before you need to impress that certain someone and you don’t have a thing to wear. Choose a day where you have the least lectures, and preferably one in the beginning of the week. By the time Friday comes around, laundry will be the last thing you want to do.

2. Have a laundry partner
This is not essential, some people like to schlep alone up and down 3 flights of stairs during the course of washing. For me, it helps to have someone to laugh with when the washing-machine chows a hole in your jersey, or rant to when the fabric softener doesn’t rinse out. Having a friend to do laundry with is also more environmentally friendly, as the washing machines will be fuller. A friend will also reminds you that it’s ‘laundry day’ and make sure you don’t go weeks and weeks without clean clothes. Hippies are cool, and so is the ‘I don’t put any effort into what I wear’ look, but smelling or stained clothes are just a turn-off in any sub-culture.

3. Avoid the tumble drier
Yes, so we all get lazy and end up tossing everything in the tumble-drier, but it does and will shrink your clothes. It might not be a problem to have slightly tighter clothes, but combine tumble-drier shrinkage with first-year spread and you might have a little problem. (Very little in the case of your clothes, and very large in the amount of skin poking out). It also saves electricity (and the environment) if you use natures own drying mechanisms- fresh air, sun and wind. Alternatively, if you are looking for tumble-drier friendly clothes, buy boys clothes from Woolworths (their hoodies are great, too).