Collective laundry practice

Anouk

https://wiki.lowtechlab.org/wiki/Collective_laundry_practice

Dernière modification le 13/01/2023

Difficulté

Medium Moyen

Durée

1 month(s) mois

Coût

0 EUR (€)

Description

How to open dialogues on collective laundry practices in shared houses? This tutorial suggests a methodology for shared houses, to shift the individual use of their washing machine to a collective one.

Sommaire

---

Introduction

We are two housemates and a few month ago we asked ourselves: how to share our laundry, how to sift our individual practice to a collective practice? Indeed, we have one washing machine in the house, but we used to use it in an individual way.

After two months of experimentation, we have discovered that sustainability doesn’t rely only on energy saving but it can be by bringing social interactions in our individuals lives.

We want to share here the methodology we got from it, if other housemates feel inspired!

To know about the tutorial:

• The different steps are propositions to open dialogue and help defining the conversation
• They can work independently or together
• They need commitments, time and energy on long-term
• The final goal is to get an autonomous practice, each duo could to build their own practice

Étape 1 - Finding your match in the house: the discussion 1/2

The individual reflection:

Take a pen and a paper, and try to answer to these questions. The goal is to define the habits and needs of each laundry practice.

1. How often do you do the laundry?

2. Do you sort your clothes?

3. If yes, how?

4. Which machine programs do you use?

5. What do you like about your practice?

6. What would you change in your practice?  

Étape 2 - Finding your match in the house: the discussion 2/2

The duo reflection:

Now, meet and try to compare your individual reflections. You can see the pints following to define your contract and schedule together.

• The laundry:
  • How will you split the clothes?
  • Which programs will be used?
  • Which laundry product will you use?
  • Where will you hang the clothes?
  • Who will hand the clothes?
  • How will you differentiate the clothes?
  • Will you be both present to do the laundry? Or will you split the work?
  • Do you agree on your clothes to be ruined? What decision can you take from that?
• The frame of the experience
  • Compare your individual reflections
  • Establish the house limits/ requirements ex: size of the machine drum, is the machine making noise if you run it at night?
  • Decide the time of the experimentation (1 month)
  • When will you meet to discuss what went good or wrong every week
  • Compare your schedules, when can it be done?
  • Write down all the answers
  • What can you take from the tools examples that could help you? Could you bring new ideas?
  • Commit to the contract

Étape 3 - The Tools library

It can be necessary in the process to be creative for some solutions. You could need to materialise for problem solving. It will depend on your needs.

Here examples we arrived to during our own experimentation.

The collective dirty laundry basket :

We realised that our main laundry were a colored clothes, 40degrees Eco mode. We created a basket to put directly the clothes that could be washed on this mode. It helped us gaining time when sharing the clothes.

• a plastic crate (what we had in the house"
• a fabric, to cover it
• clips, to fix the fabric on the crate

The Excel document:

We needed to realise our water and energy consumption. An Excel sheet that could be shared and modified by the both of us was a great solution. It is a nice way to archive the number of machines you do per month, and the programs you do the most. I will share here a screenshot on what ours looked like.

The hand-made washing wood plank:

Étape 4 -

en none 0 Draft