Laundromat vs. Laundry on the lot: Which do you prefer? «123...Next Go

thuggishsplicer

I've been playing with a family that has been doing their laundry at the laundromat. It's the very first time I do that, generally, I don't add the lot to my worlds and I buy them washing machines and slave myself dragging their clothes around or adding baskets in every room they mess up. Not to mention, that I kind of set up a laundry schedule and I try to find the best spot to make my sim do the laundry on the whole lot.

I've read some old topics and I wondered: how are people dealing with laundry nowadays? Do you skip it? Do you use the community lot? If you do, which lots do you prefer/suggest?

I hope the options are good enough for everyone.
Thank you! :-)

thuggishsplicer

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

I googled to check out whether there was a similar poll around. I hope I'm not repeating something.

LunBeauty

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

I tend to like my sims to have a washer and dryer (sometimes I get the clothesline if I want to be a bit more old fashioned) to add a bit more realism to my households. I've actually never had a laundromat in any of my worlds. It wasn't something I ever thought about.

bekkasan

It depends on the family; I like and use both.

It really depends on the family and the story. I don't even have washers in my current stories or a laundry mat. I've used the laundry mat as a way to meet new sims when I had a single sim move to a town in a past story. With a farming family they had a very old washer and a clothes line rather than a dryer. I will use them as part of the challenge for a sim who wants 5 kids to raise.

king_of_simcity7

I only have my sims do laundry at home.

My Sims can wash their own clothes!

You get good moodlets though

cwaddell

I ignore the laundry system completely.

I tend to ignore laundry completely. In the past (I don't know if this still works) I would place washers and dryers on my home lot and get a butler. Then I would fire the butler and remove the washers and dryers - and still get the positive moodlets.

igazor

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

Wait a minute, my sims are living and sleeping in cardboard boxes and eating out of garbage cans and you want them to have their own laundry machines? Yeah sure, I'll get right on that...

But seriously, I find that Nona's Superhampers, one per lot is sufficient, add a lot more orderliness to the entire laundry system. I found long ago that trying to do laundry the EA way on a super-sized lot that sleeps 50 (long story, but sort of a resort that I designed way before IP) was not a recipe for sanity, but since then most all of my residential lots except maybe very tiny ones use this system. I also find them essential in not actively played Dorms and other multi-unit living facilities where I want them to have laundry but prefer not to find the lots filled with floor to ceiling piles of dirty clothes from back to front, blocking everyone from actually doing anything or getting in and out of the front door, when I look inside or send someone over to visit.

Rflong7

It depends on the family; I like and use both.

I like them both.

thuggishsplicer

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

@igazor That was a very hot tip! Leave a super hamper in the laundry room and let the clothes find their own way to it. Downloading right away!
Now, for the laundry system to get closer to perfection, the options to "do laundry in this room" and "do laundry on this lot" should be selectable.

@cwaddell I've never tried that approach! I find maids and butlers a little disorganized when they do laundry. There's always a hamper that they forget to clean and they often forget to put the clothes in the drier.

@LunBeauty @bekkasan @king_of_simcity7 @Rflong7 Thanks for the comments!
I may change my way of playing with the laundry system. I think it's cool to see them busy with housework.

AlexaKry

I ignore the laundry system completely.

I don´t like it in real life, so why should my Sims do it in my game?

lowpolygal

It depends on the family; I like and use both.

Well, in my case it totally depends in the family but also my mood. Rich households should have the washers in the lot while single sims should go to the laundromat, I use those oportunities to socialize as well. Poor, eco friendly or living of the land sims may have a cheap washer and the clothes line. As for my mood, right now my legacy family doesn't have washers, all because I was so done with building their home I just wanted to play already, I'm avoiding finishing their home like the plague, so no washers yet also I don't remember putting a laundromat in the world... hmm

So, sometimes I do ignore the system

igazor

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

The thing about laundromats is that they don't have to be boring. Of course they require washers and dryers, but how about adding a decent stereo system, a staffed LN bar or two, some video games or maybe table tennis or skee-ball, perhaps set up an Internet cafe type of structure? Or shelves of books to read and some tea tables or maybe a coffee barista if that's your thing? A karaoke machine, perhaps? Dance floors, hot tubs, and bubble machines might be a bit over the top for laundry day, but whatever it is that you think your town's sims might like would do.

By the way, it has been my experience that in real life there are two kinds of people. Those who say they enjoy doing laundry, and those who are telling the truth.

TreyNutz

I ignore the laundry system completely.

My vote isn't entirely accurate, but it's the closest. I rarely use the laundry system in my games. Every once in a while I'll place one of Nona's Superhampers on a home lot and buy a washer and dryer and incorporate laundry for the moodlets. But mostly I don't because I find the whole thing bothersome.

I've never sent a sim to the laundry mat and only once use the clothesline to dry clothes and I don't think I stuck with that for very long.

Kynan

I ignore the laundry system completely.

I always end up ignoring the laundry system. It's a tedious chore that I don't enjoy in the game, or out of for that matter!

Nikkei_Simmer

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

If I'm playing a family, then I'll get the laundry washers and dryers. But if not, then I sometimes ignore the whole thing. Laundry can be a real drag.

lisasc360

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

I went with "It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers" because I have a save where I placed 2 Sims on an empty lot and I have them digging through the trash dumpsters and raiding the junkyard for things that they can either keep for themselves or sell. So if I want them to have clean clothes, they get sent to the laundromat if I remembered to place one in the world that they're living in...

Then I have saves where I might place them in a small house such as the one in Bridgeport that's across the river from the city and place a cheap washer in the house and clothesline outside. Or like my save where I built a log cabin farmstead and have a washer in the house while they have a clothesline outside...

And then there are saves where I will buy both, a washer and dryer and maybe a clothesline to use doing the spring/summer days...

So it just depends on what kind of story that I'm doing at the time that makes me decide whether I want washer/dryers/clothesline or use the laundromat...

I once made my own laundromat where I placed a claw machine and an arcade machine in there as well as a counter with a coffee/drink machine on it. And then I made a gas station/mechanic garage on the same lot with it...

JoAnne65

I ignore the laundry system completely.

Only when my sims go to university they have to deal with laundry I did have washers and dryers when they were introduced to the game, but they’re a nuisance for me more than anything else.

IreneSwift

Sorry, @igazor, but you are wrong. I actually do enjoy doing laundry. It's my favorite of all the household chores I have to do. After all, I'm not using a washboard - the machine does the hard part. And I love getting the clean clothes out of the dryer, all clean and fresh smelling, then folding them and putting them in nice, neat piles. I suppose I like that so much because I love making things clean, neat and tidy. I also love washing the glass doors on my china cabinet, or the chimneys of my oil lamps, which I used to collect, and then admiring how shiny and spotless they look. Some people think I'm strange for liking to do laundry, but so what? I don't care.

As for my sims, I did send them to the laundromat once, long ago when I first began playing with Ambitions. But I didn't have them do any laundry there, because they couldn't afford it. By the time they can afford to throw away that much money a couple times a week, they can afford to have their own washing machine and clothesline. I do use the clotheslines, but my sims who have them usually get a dryer too, when they can afford it, for when the weather doesn't permit hanging clothes outside - not that it actually makes a difference in the game, but that's one of the things I insist on doing realistically. And until my sims can afford a washer, clothesline, and at least one hamper, that one being one of Nona Mena's super hampers, they don't do laundry at all.

I do put the laundromat in some of my towns, though, mostly for a potential place for my sims to meet other sims - not that I've ever sent them there to do that, but....

Waterdragon

I ignore the laundry system completely.

I more or less ignore the laundry system at home for my sims. One or two of my households have a dryer and washer, those households also have djinns (when they make the house sparkly clean the laundry piles vanish). The laundromats I ignore completly, not really by choice, I just don´t remember that they are a thing.
I do enjoy doing laundry in RL. That´s actually not a lie.
I never iron, though.

igazor

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

@IreneSwift
@Waterdragon

My assessment about those who love to do laundry IRL was of course not meant to be taken seriously. I may not understand you folks entirely, but I acknowledge your existence.

ZeeGee

I ignore the laundry system completely.

Laundry is just a pain to me. I got tired of dirty clothes piles everywhere. I haven't tried Nona's superhamper yet, I might look that up and try it out.

puzzlezaddict

I only have my sims do laundry at home.

Wait, am I the only one who's noticed that changing into clean clothes negates a sim's need for a shower? The hygiene bar goes from completely in the red to about two thirds full in one twirl into a new outfit. So yes, I use the laundry system, because it's much more efficient than having them clean themselves up every time they spend an hour in the garden or practicing martial arts.

What? Yes, of course my sims take showers sometimes... really, they do, I promise. Wait, why are all of you backing away from them?

jillbg

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

I usually forget about the laundromats... And I do laundry only to have the dripping clotheslines!

thuggishsplicer

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

@lisasc360 I'm going to steal that idea.

Has anyone set up a laundromat on a lot not marked as one? I did that once; I added an underground laundromat at Appaloosa Plains Salon and my sims paid and got the moodlets anyway. The combo Arcade + Laundromat sounds interesting, too. I might add that idea to Twinbrook.

Speaking of RL, I don't bother to do laundry, I agree when IreneSwift says that it's the machine that does the hard part. On the other hand, just like Waterdragon, I never iron, either. I don't even own an ironing board or the iron itself. XD

lisasc360

It depends on the family, but I prefer to get the washers.

Go right ahead @thuggishsplicer, I don't mind...

coco

I only have my sims do laundry at home.

I hate laundry in real life but in the game it's so satisfying when sims get the fresh clothes and clean bed sheet moodlets. I also like putting the washing out on the clothesline if it's a sunny day. I've never actually placed a laundromat down but I'm planning to sometime in the future.