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Here are some tips to keep your communal laundry rooms—and your dorm-mate relationships—in clean and working condition. Even if you've grown up and out of college, you might still be living the urban life of shared washers and dryers, so listen up:

• Try to be there to remove your laundry as soon as the washing machine or dryer stops. If you've been waiting on a stopped machine with a neighbor's laundry in it, follow the lead of others around you and remove the offending load if it's the social norm to do so.
• The lint trap needs to be cleaned out regularly for the dryer to work properly. Check the lint trap before you dry a load and dump the lint in the trash. Even if you find it's never clean for you, try to clean out the lint trap after your load as well.
• Don't wash too big of loads. If they're overloaded, the old and overused machines could break or overflow, pissing off both your dorm-mates and your R.A.. If you have to wash large items like a rug or comforter, do so with care and under observation. Bring your homework or something. Your GPA will thank you.

Via Suite101.com

Image of Illinois State University laundry room from soundfromwayout @ Flickr with a Creative Commons license.