<p>If the clothes were wet, another possibility is that somebody took them out of the washer so they could use it, and put them somewhere…and maybe they got dumped.</p>
<p>My daughter has a friend who had her nice bras taken from the washer!? All of the bras were taken, nothing else.</p>
<p>Hunt…nope, the jeans were still there, so this was not just a dump and run. That was my first guess. As someone said, this was a relatively inexpensive lesson.</p>
<p>One of the girls I went to school with had all of her underwear stolen out of laundry. I’m hoping it was a prank. That was the last time any of us did not watch our laundry as it was being laundered. ;)</p>
<p>This sort of thing used to happen to me all the time, but with a different twist-- someone would steal my dryer, dump my clothes on the floor, but some articles of clothing would be left behind in the dryer or fall back behind the ledge where they dumped my clothes, so I would end up losing things-- they were stealing the dryers, not my clothes, but I was losing clothes as a result anyway. I sat in the laundry room and did homework any time I had to do laundry eventually because it was the only way to prevent this from happening. </p>
<p>After college I went to great lengths to avoid ever having to use communal laundry again.</p>
<p>Our laundry room was in the basement with no wifi or cell phone service, so I’d find the ‘dump and steal’ was a common occurrence. I only had one thing stolen–a Packers jersey–and I wasn’t particularly surprised. Socks used to go missing, someone had designer jeans stolen, etc. etc. After that, I just made sure I was down there 3-5 minutes before my washer or dryer was said to be done. Worked like a charm!</p>
<p>The maddening thing for me was that they were taking the dryer way before the cycle was over, so they wouldn’t have to pay to use the dryer-- they just took my cycle and then I’d come down and have to pay to use the dryer again. Only the washers locked. We had six washers and four dryers, and the dryers took twice as long as the washers… not sure what made them think that arrangement would work.</p>
<p>I know this thread is almost a year old, but I’m glad I found it. Apparently, stealing other people’s laundry is a common occurrence, although no one ever stole any clothing items from S1. Granted, he was wearing XS at the time, not a popular size among guys. S2 did his laundry for the first time today, couldn’t retrieve his clothes from the dryer because the elevators had gone out and he was on the 5th floor. When he did get them after 45 minutes, he texted and asked how many tee shirts and shorts I’d sent him to school with, because it seemed like he was coming back with less items than he’d taken to be washed. I’m pretty sure he’s missing a pair of shorts and probably a tee shirt. He said it’s not a big deal, and I told him whoever took it was either desperate, destitute or delinquent. Okay, so it’s not a big deal. I’d gotten the shorts at Modells for $10 (normally $20 - they were basketball shorts) and I’d gotten most of his tee shirts on sale at Old Navy, but I’m still annoyed about it. Even though you check online when your clothes are done, I’m going to tell him to sit in the laundry room when the dryer is going. I refuse to spend money dressing someone else’s kid.</p>
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<p>What about using the stairs?</p>
<p>Lol
My daughters freshman dorm room was on the 4th floor in a building without an elevator.
Moving day was some kinda fun, but I bet she never thought to wait till they put in an elevator to do her laundry!
:D</p>
<p>SOMEONE has been sneaking into my own washer in my own home and stealing laundry. Strangely, they only steal a single sock at a time. I only discover this after I’ve sorted and folded the clothes.</p>
<p>I lived in a sixth floor walk up apartment for two years. Laundry was in the basement - seven flights. I survived. </p>
<p>Someone in my dorm discovered you could do laundry using necco wafers instead of quarters…</p>
<p>I had a 4th floor/no elevator room freshman year. The laundry, kitchen and lounge were all in the basement. The up side was that instead of gaining the freshman 15 I lost it!</p>
<p>I had a pair of UGG boots stolen from a locker room in an upscale fitness club (Tiger Woods worked out there while on PGA tour in town several years ago). I guess people were so strapped by paying membership dues that the could not afford a pair of boots. But the joke is on them, I NEVER wear socks with my UGGs and it was the second season I owned those UGGs.</p>
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<p>Lol. The same thing always happens in my house! Isn’t it amazing how you put a pair of socks into the washer, but only get one sock out of the dryer?</p>
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At my house, some fiend has been stealing my clothes and replacing them with similar, but smaller, items.</p>
<p>And who’s the jerk who stole all my kid’s white clothes and switched them with their pink clothes but didn’t touch his new maroon sweatshirt?</p>
<p>Ucbalumnus, I asked the same thing. His response was something along the lines of not knowing if stairs went to the basement (I’m sure they do, because if you were doing laundry and the fire alarm went off, you’d need a way to get out) and not wanting to lug his laundry up six flight of stairs. I cut him some slack. It’s his first week and he’s managed to navigate college so far without too much help from me. But he’s still going to sit and wait for the dryer to finish next time!</p>
<p>Sue22, I think I’d be even more mad at that!!</p>
<p>At my house, some fiend has been stealing my clothes and replacing them with similar, but smaller, items.</p>
<p>I have the same problem over the winter, where someone is taking my summer clothes & shrinking them!</p>
<p>This thread officially makes me want to take all my laundry home on the weekends and have my mom do it. ;)</p>
<p>I never had any clothes stolen in college, but someone did steal my brand new over-sized red umbrella from the library umbrella rack. I knew someone who had had a dress stolen from the laundry room, and put up a sign that said “Whoever stole my blue dress, I have the belt. Drop by my room and pick it up.” 
I thought this was very clever. So I put up a sign saying “Whoever stole my umbrella, call me at ### and you can drop by and pick up the case that goes with it.” Not surprisingly, never got a nibble. What really amazed me, though, was that someone called me and said “I wondered if when you found your umbrella was gone you took mine”! I told her no, such a thing would never occur to me, but since it obviously occurred to her, I was now wondering if she took mine! She hung up on me. :D</p>
<p>I did see what I was sure was my umbrella hanging on a rack in another dorm a few months later–it was somewhat distinctive–but despite my friends’ urging I didn’t take it back, just in case I was mistaken.</p>
<p>S ended up with a few mysterious swapped items, but I don’t think it was intentional theft. Apparently this is an issue with all of those black Northfaces at parties, but in general Dartmouth is known as a place where you can safely leave your laptop in the library for a couple of hours and no one will take it. His fraternity did kick someone out who they found was stealing from the brothers, though.</p>
<p>But I’ve found that someone is breaking into my house and leaving piles of clean, unfolded laundry in my laundry room! I think I’m going to have to take my laptop upstairs and see if I can get to the bottom of it with the aid of Netflix!</p>