<p>Please don’t laugh but our Son has a lot of graphic T-shirts that can’t go in the dryer. Consequently we hang them in our laundry room & his bedroom to dry. How in the world is he going to be able to deal with this in a dorm? Has anyone else had a child who went through this transition from custom home laundry to dorm laundry & specifically addressed the drying situation mentioned above. OK, you can laugh I guess … ;)</p>
<p>Not a bad question at all, was actually wondering the same, otherwise we might suffer the dreaded “short shirt.”</p>
<p>Why can’t the t-shirts go in the dryer? My three boys have tons of graphic t-shirts of all kinds, brands, etc - I spray the stains,I turn them inside out, wash them, dry them…what is different about your son’s t-shirts?</p>
<p>LOL, ok, good point, I guess we’re just a type of scared laundry ppl … I guess it’s the fear of shrinkage and graphics fading …?</p>
<p>Well hate to tell you but the washers and dryers are crap at most college freshman dorms anyway - they are comparable to laundromat machines and turn everything dingy - every time the kids came home with clean white t-shirts I rewashed them and the washing machine water would turn dingy gray. I even had one son call me from his dorm basement laundry as a freshman and ASK me how I got t-shirts white because he just thought his looked dingy/dirty even after he washed them. My advice is if your son has t-shirts that are that special and he wants to keep them as mementos…don’t bring them to college.</p>
<p>I line dry all kinds of shirts as well. We are a tall family and can’t afford even a little shrinkage in length. As Mom of three mentioned, turning shirts inside out will help preserve the graphics. When your son uses the dryer, he should use the lowest heat level to minimize shrinking. </p>
<p>never too old to learn laundry secrets … ;)</p>
<p>If he cares enough about these shirts, he could get one of those small folding laundry racks. Put it together minus a few of the lower bars, and hang the shirts from it. Not perfect, but it works. Depending on the room layout, there might also be some place he could set up a closet dowel bar in the room on laundry days. (or maybe string up something like a chain or knotted laundry line to keep the hangers from sliding together.) If he’s going to a cold climate it has the added benefit of humidifying the room.</p>
<p>Sent DD to school with one of those and she used it all of the time. However, may be significantly different for guys. I don’t think we ever saw anything like it for DS’s dorms. Would suggest low setting on dryers if they have them. </p>
<p>When asked what she’d miss most when away from home this summer for weeks, D’s answer was “the dryer refresh cycle.” (So she doesn’t have to worry about wrinkles or ironing.) So much for my homecooked meals and bedtime hugs. ;)</p>
<p>Drying them on racks will take too long and take up too much room. </p>
<p>Turn them inside out, wash in cold water, place in the dryer until just slightly damp, then put on hangers. They won’t shrink and the graphics will stay bright - I do it all the time.</p>
<p>told my Son about this thread last like, we had a good chuckle but I could see he was somewhat relieved. now it dawned on me will I miss doing his laundry and hanging up those shirts … oops am I hijacking my own thread …? hahaha</p>
<p>I have a lot of shirts that can’t go in the dryer. I used to not put any black t shirts in the dryer (they fade to a rust color YUCK) or I wouldn’t put any “valued” t shirt in the dryer. Then there are all the ones that just can’t go in the dryer because I’m a girl and our clothes are a pain. My dorm dryer shrunk everything, so I didn’t even put jeans in the dryer anymore after they shrunk my only pair of blue jeans by three inches in length. In my dorm, I had a collapsible garment rack that I hung up my clothes on. When clothes are not being hung up in a dark basement, they dry fairly quickly. In my dorm they dried within 6 hours easily-- my dorm was very dry. In my house, it’s more like 12 hours. At home in the basement, 24 or more for sure. So, the dorm was easy, no problem. Finding room for the rack once a week to do laundry was no trouble. I will say that I eventually reached a point where I realized I was babying my t shirts so much they were going to outlive me and I would rather get new clothes, you know, once every 5 years, so t shirts go in the dryer again now. I’m 25 years old and at this rate I’ll be handing down my 5th grade DARE shirt to my children.</p>
<p>Since we are talking about a boy, I am wondering if some clothes he feels comfortable putting in the dryer are in order for college. As a girl, I was just resigned to the fact that some clothes just can’t go in the dryer. I wonder if your S would put off washing them to avoid dealing with this!</p>
<p>My son also had/has tshirts he doesn’t want to dry. The dryers at school were notorious for shrinking everything if you used a hot setting. If you used a not so hot setting it took a fortune to get things dry! </p>
<p>He would often do his laundry at odd hours - so either early in the morning so he could hang things around the room and let them dry while people were at class - or late at night so they were dry by morning. Depending on the size of his closet (some of them are actually pretty large) he may be able to make a space where he can hang tshirts on a hanger and space apart IN the closet so they can dry out. (leave closet door open - could even put a fan on them!) You could also buy a few of the 3M hooks and put on the wall - big enough to easily hang a hanger on and dry. </p>
<p>thank you, don’t feel so silly asking anymore …</p>
<p>I just want to add a dose of reality here. 99% of males will handle college laundry this way: Wear item until it can walk away on its own; when roommate comments on the aroma of unwashed clothes for third day in a row, toss item in washer with everything else that’s dirty (in other words, everything else, including sheets and towels), so there isn’t room in the machine for anything to move around enough to get really clean; forget wash is done for hours so someone else takes out clothes and leaves them in a pile on the floor; finally remember clothes and toss them into dryer in one lump, making sure not to shake anything out; forget about clothes until the next day; retrieve dried clothes from floor where someone left them after removing them from dryer; dump dried clothes in pile on dorm floor with plans to put them away “later”; wear items pulled from pile day after day until convince self it no longer pays to bother putting them away, and besides, the piles of dirty and clean have gotten a little mixed up by now so it’s kind of hard to tell which is which; when mom inquires about laundry situation, assure her it’s all under control, of course lights and darks are washed separately, important tees are hung up to dry, and sheets are changed weekly; make mental note to discuss ethics of white lies in next Philosophy class.</p>
<p>True story: a few weeks ago my adult S left his clothes in the dryer and his housemate removed them and folded his shirts so beautifully S was moved to tweet about it and include a photo!</p>
<p>Oh, now I know why I didn’t open this thread first thing. I have way too much to add here . . . . </p>
<p>DH refuses to let me dry any of his T-shirts. This became a major marital challenge about 20 years ago, when I thought he was being a big baby, and he threatened me with physical abuse. (Just kidding. But he did get pretty upset.) In our old house, there wasn’t too much room to hang them. We used two laundry drying racks where I could fold the shirts over on them; they’d dry in a day or two. We also had a sort of clothesline string on which I could hang items on plastic hangers, so that’s where the overflow went. Unfortunately the string was right above the washer and dryer, so anytime there were things hanging up there I’d get super annoyed trying to get into the machines.</p>
<p>I don’t dry my underwear, and I’ve taught my sons not to dry their nylon shorts and spandex compression shorts (Under Armour,etc.) since IME those synthetics last about only three dryings. So both my boys had at college, and have IRL, drying racks for those items.</p>
<p>Thankfully in my new house, my laundry area is much larger than before. I have a really heavy, solid rack on which I can hang on hangers all of DH’s T shirts, sweatshirts, fleeces, etc., plus two racks where I can put my underwear, wool sweaters, fancy shirts and so forth. I love my laundry space now.</p>
<p>I guess my son is in the 1%. :). He’s all guy and an athlete but he doesn’t want smelly clothes. He may have a pile or two but he doesn’t leave soiled stuff on the floor. </p>
<p>Different strokes, different folks. I’d lower the 99%.</p>
<p>My son dried everything on a towel draped over the radiator. “The dryers cost money.” (Old dorm: it had steam radiators.)</p>
<p>looks like “his” problem will become a reality. but now, will I miss all those dirty dishes in the sink …?</p>