Laundry & Privilege
What about laundry can tell you about your upbringing and privilege?
What in life has prepared you to to buy a washing machine and dryer?
Growing up in South Florida, it was common (in my circle) to have a washer and dryer in the home. I was in a typical middle class home and neighborhood where my neighbors and classmates did laundry at home. I didn’t even know what a laundromat was! I knew about the dry cleaners but that was it. That is a privilege I was born into.
Now I would be remiss if I did not remind you, reader, that my household was Jamaican. 100% Jamaican and out of 5 siblings only the last 4 were born in the U.S. My mom was and still is a big believer in raising her kids as if we are in Jamaica so that we came to understand just how “good” we had it in America. So as a pre-teen when I started learning how to work the washer and dryer, I was also taught how to wash my clothes by hand in the laundry room sink. I didn’t think I could love my washing machine more at the time when I learned this chore! But learning this has saved me from wasting a load of laundry on one shirt I really want or unwanted stains occurring mid-vacation.
Fast-forward to college dorm living experiences I was grateful for my upbringing and experience with laundry machines so young. I met so many students who had never touched a machine before and couldn’t work it. Not because they did not have a washer and dryer in their home, but because their mom or in-house help did the laundry for them…
Fast-forward again to my 2nd year in college and 1st time living off-campus, of course I got a place with an in-unit washer and dryer cause it was what I was used to and something I knew to be normal. What I didn’t know and would soon learn is that, this in-unit washer in rentals apartments was a LUXURY and particularly a luxury of the south-east and one that I would soon miss when I moved up north.
In Fall of 2016 I moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan (outside of Ann Arbor) with Phillip to start my graduate program. I searched for weeks and weeks before picking an apartment. Of course I wanted an in-unit laundry like my previous abodes. What Michigan quickly taught me is that in-unit laundry was reserved for luxury apartment buildings and high rises that were way above my financial constraints living on a graduate student stipend. I learned that it was a selling point for the apartment complexes to have shared community laundry units usually in the basement level of the units. I was bummed but Phillip was so nonchalant about it so I didn’t sweat it. At least I tried not to.
I’m a germophobe, sorry not sorry. Our apartment complex laundry area was not very clean and looked to be not tended to very frequently. Phillip suggested we look for a laundromat instead and I felt some way about it. In full transparency I felt some type of shame for not being able to afford a place with a washer and dryer of my own. I soon realized that laundromats were not a scary place and that I needed to make peace with where I was and what was “normal” in this new community and new current state of mine.
Thankfully, just 4 mins from our apartment was a 24 hr laundromat that had a large variety of machines and was super clean. It felt good to see staff actively making sure things were clean and in order too. I felt like a child as Phillip graciously walked me through the whole process. He changed the cash money to quarters, showed me what the buttons did and oh yea how to work a front loading machine since I only had experience with top loaders. The 2 loads of laundry began and I sat in front of the machines watching them go and snapped the photo above. In Michigan it was about $4.25 for a large capacity load. I thought that was expensive.
When I called my mom to tell her where I was she asked, “How are you going to manage?” I tried to play tough and said it wasn’t a big deal and Phillip was a pro. Which wasn’t a lie, Phillip grew up going to the laundromat on the regular with his mom and helped, he didn’t just sit there and watch her do it all. My mom replied, “I’m so glad Phillip is there to help you. First the snow now the laundromat, I’m glad you aren’t there alone.” My independent woman self rolled her eyes at the thought of mothers satisfaction that a man could be there to save me. But my honest self knew I was lucky and grateful.
Phillip’s upbringing in New York really came through for our years living in Michigan. He taught me how to drive in snow. He taught me my way around a laundromat. I think it was a humbling experience to have what we need and let that be enough. We were not sweating the details of where our appliances were or what brand they were. We were just excited to be out in the world together on our own making a way.
The following summer of 2017, I found myself in Mexico for 4 weeks and Ghana for 6 weeks. In Mexico, the residency invested in a washing machine for the house and we line dried our clothes in the summer sun.
In Nungua, Ghana, a small fishing village outside of Accra, I washed my clothes outside with the other female staff who worked in the residency house. They even offered to wash my clothes for me and when I said no I got it, she giggled and said okay. When I had enough clothes to wash, they were watching me wash my clothes. One of the women praised my technique and asked where did I learn that since I’m an American girl. I told her that I’m Jamaican and my mom taught me when I was little. I was so proud to have that answer and extremely grateful for a lesson my mom taught me to come in handy and create an opportunity to commune with these other women washing clothes in the summer sun.
The end of my time in Ghana, I lived with a large family of a university professor in Kumasi, central Ghana. This was my first experience with people in Ghana who had dispensable income. They had a lovely home and lived a slightly upgraded lifestyle from the ones I experienced in Accra and Nungua earlier in my stay. To my surprise they had a washing machine and then a spinner which pretty much helped wring out the water from your clothes like a spin cycle would and then I could hang dry the clothes. You can imagine it was so hot in Ghana that clothes dried quickly. But my experiences with laundry machines and techniques was expanding.
I’m not making any correlations between laundry machines and poverty or class in particular. Rather I’m sharing my observations with this luxury innovation of the washing machine and what it suggests about our varying levels of privilege and adaptability. Electricity is unstable and can get expensive in countries like Mexico and Ghana so it doesn’t make sense to have a dryer especially when hang drying is so accessible with their climates. But if you listen to how people refer to laundry it can tell you a lot about their upbringing, their level of independence, responsibility, adaptability, and humility.
Present day Stephanie and Phillip are preparing to buy a house, even though we thought we’d be renting for much longer in life. Atlanta is one of those cities where it is literally more affordable to buy (when you are ready for a bigger space) then to rent, especially if you want to stay within the perimeter. I’m a researcher and a planner so embarking on the “big scary and serious process” of buying your first home I wanted to calculate some major expenses that would follow and guess what that brought up? — Laundry machines!
By this point in my life I find myself talking about them differently. Of course I want my first home to have a washer and dryer, I’m even praying for a laundry room over a closet, but that’s a different conversation. So much in life has prepared me to do laundry but nothing has prepared me to buy a machine to facilitate in the act! There are so many options out there its crazy.
To desire to elevate your laundry experience in life with an in-home set almost feels like a right of passage and a fruit of your labor. You got job, you are seeking a savings, and financial stability and you want to treat yourself. It’s normal to want to treat yourself especially when you know what the latter is, you have respect for the latter because you have been there and it served you for a time but now you can afford to have the want and you should have it if it makes financial sense for you. Why do adult-ish desires tend to be appliances?
Our dream washer and dryer is front loading (thanks to my Michigan experience). It’s eco-friendly and water conscious (thanks to my hand washing experiences). Its tech friendly because I’m that person that likes to control things from my phone and why not embrace the innovation. Its family friendly and can be gentle on shoes, lingerie, and stuff animals. And all those things will be added unto us on God’s time. But I’m grateful for my laundry experiences that really just made me respect the process and community around the activity as well.
What’s your history with laundry machines? Did you grow up with the privilege of an in-unit washing machine and/or dryer? Do you know how to wash your clothes by hand? What are your laundry goals? What does your relationship with laundry say about you?
I encourage you to think about what laundry means for you and listen to what you may glean about a person based on how they describe their relationship with laundry.
