<p>Having barely escaped the pernicious solicitation of RHL linen, I now view BSA offerings with a wary eye! </p>
<p>I just received another BSA offering - this time for discounted laundry services by one E&R The Campus Laundry. </p>
<p>Tell me, is the offer to be trusted? And also, how much does laundry cost anyway?</p>
<p>The answer is still no to any of hte services you receive by mail. They’re all rip offs. End of story.</p>
<p>My trust in BSA has been demolished to smithereens.</p>
<p>Thanks for the warning.</p>
<p>$1.25 per round, so 2.50 to wash and dry one set of laundry.</p>
<p>pshh, the laundry service isn’t the same as the other things you get mail about. Plenty of people use it… like me. That’s right, I’m that lazy. Hmm… I think I just lost my dignity.</p>
<p>In any case, you won’t exactly be saving money by using it, but it keeps the laundry from piling up. I’ve had it for three years now, and I have no major complaints.</p>
<p>Oh it’ll work just fine, just costs more than doing it yourself. Since I’ve had to do my own since I’m 9 or 10, I just figure it’s a waste.</p>
<p>The exception is if you always wear things that need to be dry cleaned or pressed, etc etc.</p>
<p>I think the major drawback of having the laundry service (other than losing your own self-respect) is having to lug a giant red and brown bag across campus so everyone knows you can’t be bothered to do your own laundry. It even has your name on it, so you can’t even pass it off like you’re doing your friend a favor.</p>
<p>Correct me if i am wrong, but I remember that you have to ‘tag’ your clothes with your names. (My freshman roommate made </p>
<p>…well I did not, when I used the service during my freshman year. And they put a barcode sticker on it. And then they wash it. And then they iron pressed it. So the sticker stayed. Forever.</p>
<p>They only barcode garments that get special treatment (i.e. anything more than simple laundering). There’s really no need to tag anything, and in my experience they did not lose clothing very often - if they lost anything, it was a sock or two, something I wouldn’t notice. I will say that on three occasions (over the course of three years) I ended up with someone else’s item: one ****ty tee shirt, one sock with a little pink tassel (who wears this crap?), and one lacy camisole thing (which, ya know, pretty much looked awesome on me).</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>for the longest time i thought you’re male. erhm.</p>
<p>It’s great that so many of you do your own laundry! Bravo to you and your parents for teaching you how to do it. I agree about a lot of these services-- do it yourself. However, what about renting a mini-fridge? We got an offer yesterday for a combo microwave/fridge/freezer to rent for the year. After roommates are assigned, is it worth it to discuss sharing this appliance? How many of you have this and did you rent it or buy it? Thanks!</p>
<p>It’s cheaper in the long run to buy a mini fridge, although if you rent it, they’ll move it for you which is nice. Also, it’s usually a good thing anyway if both you and your roommate have fridges.</p>
<p>lol, I am male. That doesn’t prevent me from looking awesome in someone else’s camisole. Which, incidentally, is a joke - I didn’t <em>actually</em> try it on.</p>
<p>Do not rent a fridge. It is always cheaper to buy a fridge, and no one in college actually needs the dedicated freezer compartment that is the crux of their advertising campaign - it’s certainly not worth the extra cost, anyway. Ever year I get the ads for the mini fridges (which used to be EXTREMELY crappy, btw, but now they’re nicer), and I think to myself: “Who would pay the full purchase price of a fridge just to rent one for a year?”</p>
<p>I have never found a satisfactory answer to that question :-)</p>
<p>Agreed MG, though I must admit, thinking of you in a lacy camisole made my morning.</p>
<p>That… scares me… :-P</p>
<p>mgcsinc: I had planned on renting a fridge since I don’t live close to RI. Is there cheap storage available? Even so I’d have to move the thing after I graduate and I’m not taking my car so…uhh…</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter if you live close. At least at the price it’s been in previous years to rent a fridge, it’s actually LESS expensive to buy. So, your options are (a.) rent something for more money, or (b.) buy something for less money. Even if you have to sell or give away your fridge at the end of the year, you still pick option (b.) because it’s simply less expensive. </p>
<p>Incidentally, at the end of the year, you may be able to get some free summer storage from Brown, which has been lottery-ed off for the past two years.</p>
<p>The only way that my advice does not apply is if you’re coming to Brown by plane and neither you nor your roommate’s family will have a car to pick up a fridge at some point during move-in time.</p>
<p>You will probably also make friends a Brown, some of whom will be staying the summer and might be willing to keep your fridge for you. I’m personally storing 3 people’s stuff in my apartment right now.</p>
<p>And my fridge is in an undisclosed student activities office :-)</p>
<p>We rented the refrig/micro combo for my son last year. He split it with his roommate-$100 a piece for the whole year. I thought it was well worth it. We didn’t have to lug it up the stairs (he was on the 4th floor of Keeney), lug it home for the summer and store it, only to do it again every year. He also used the freezer compartment alot-got things at Whole Food and had frozen snacks (plus some containers of home made food when he came home to visit). It’s a personal choice, but its the only thing we did from BSA and I thought it was worth it. In fact, will probably do it again this year, although he is living in 111 Brown St this year and has a full size refrig in his house.</p>