Moving week is difficult enough on its own, and when the appliances have not arrived it becomes a specific problem rather than a general one. Everything you own is in boxes, half the household is dusty from packing, and the one room that would normally absorb that is empty. A little planning before the truck arrives makes the gap almost invisible.
Planning ahead when the appliances have not arrived
If you already know the appliances have not arrived and will not be there on day one, the useful work happens before you move rather than after.
Do a full wash of everything in the old place in the last few days. Arriving with clean laundry buys you a week of not caring about any of this.
Pack the last hamper separately and clearly, so it does not vanish into a wall of identical boxes.
Decide now where laundry will happen in the first fortnight, rather than working it out on the second evening with a full hamper and no boxes opened.
Put a small amount of detergent in with the things you will need first, not in the box with the rest of the cleaning supplies.
None of this takes more than half an hour and all of it is much harder to do later.
The box you should leave unsealed
Every move needs a first night box, and laundry belongs in it more than people think.
One full change of clothes per person, including socks and underwear, on top rather than buried.
Two towels. Not a full linen set, two towels, because the linen box always ends up at the back.
One set of bedding per bed, ready to go on, since making beds is the last thing anybody wants to hunt for at eleven at night.
A laundry bag, empty, so there is somewhere for dirty clothes to go from the first evening instead of a corner of a bedroom floor.
Detergent, and something to treat a stain with, because moving produces stains at a remarkable rate.
Keep that box in the car rather than on the truck if you have the choice, so it is the first thing through the door rather than the last thing off.
Label it on every side. A first night box that is written on one face only will spend the evening face down under three others.
What moving does to laundry
Packing and unpacking is genuinely dirty work and it produces a very particular kind of load.
Everything is dusty. Cardboard dust, loft dust, the grey film off the top of furniture that has not moved in five years.
Shake those clothes out properly before they go into a bag. Dust that gets damp in a hamper works into the weave and comes out much harder.
There is usually grease as well, off door frames, van floors and the underside of things nobody has lifted before.
Keep the moving clothes separate from everything else. They are the dirtiest load in the house and they will make anything sharing a drum worse.
Blankets and packing quilts used to wrap furniture go in their own load too, and they hold a surprising amount of water.
First loads in order
The appliances have not arrived, so the first session out should cover the things that matter most and nothing else at all.
Bedding first. A properly washed set of sheets on a new bed does more for the first week than anything else you can wash.
Towels second, because a household in the middle of a move gets through them fast.
Work clothes third, particularly anything with a fixed requirement attached, since those are what force an unplanned trip.
The moving clothes fourth, in their own load, after everything that needs to stay clean has gone through.
Everything still in boxes waits. It is clean, it is packed, and nobody needs it this week.
Running a temporary routine
A move is the worst possible time for laundry to be a decision you make fresh every day, and a stretch where the appliances have not arrived makes that worse.
Fix a day and stick to it, even if the rest of the week is chaos. It is one less thing being negotiated.
Do the whole household in one session rather than a load here and there, because in a half unpacked house the travelling is the expensive part.
Sort into bags at home, one bag per load, so nothing gets re sorted on a table.
Use two hampers if you can find two. One for the next session, one for anything that can wait.
Keep the laundry bag in the same place from the first evening. In a new house, habits form in about four days and it is worth them forming correctly.
Wash a slightly larger load than you think you need each session, so you stay a little ahead. A move already has enough things running behind without laundry joining them.
Before the new machines go in
While the appliances have not arrived you are going out anyway, so use the gap for the things that never otherwise get washed.
Curtains, throws, mattress protectors and the covers off chairs are all easier to do now than after the house is arranged.
Anything that was in storage is worth a wash before it goes into a wardrobe, because storage smell is real and it transfers to everything around it.
Give each heavy item its own drum. A comforter or a set of curtains holds an extraordinary amount of water and will unbalance anything sharing with it.
Check the care label first, particularly the drying part, which is usually stricter than the washing part.
Do it early rather than late, while the house is still empty enough to hang things and put them straight away.
Common questions about appliances have not arrived
What should I wash first when the appliances have not arrived at a new place?
Bedding and towels, then work clothes, then the clothes you packed and moved in. A clean set of sheets on a bed in a half unpacked house is worth more than anything else in the first load.
Should I do a big wash before I move or after I arrive?
Before, if there is any chance of it. Arriving with everything clean turns a laundry gap into a non event, and packing is far easier when the hamper is empty.
What goes in a first night laundry box?
A change of clothes per person, two towels, one set of bedding per bed, an empty laundry bag and some detergent. The point is that none of it should require opening another box.
Are the clothes I moved in worth washing separately?
Yes. Moving clothes carry cardboard dust and grease off van floors and door frames, and putting them in with ordinary laundry spreads that through the whole drum.
The Cincinnati part
Ohio gives a move a seasonal character, and the season decides how much laundry the move itself generates.
Winter moves are heavy and wet. Slush comes in on boots and hems, rock salt dries to a pale crust in the weave, and every coat in the house ends up needing a wash at once because they have all been worn hard for two days of carrying boxes. Salt in particular is worth getting to promptly rather than leaving in a bag for a fortnight.
Summer moves are sweaty and humid. Carrying furniture in August produces a bag of clothes that cannot sit, because warm still air turns a closed bag of damp shirts sour within a day. Keep those in an open basket rather than sealed up in a corner of a room full of boxes.
Spring storms sit in the middle and catch people either way. Rain soaked outer layers and muddy hems arrive in a rush and dry into fabric if they are left, so shake those out and put them at the front of the queue rather than the back.
Where the first week gets washed
The machines will go in when they go in, and the bedding and towels for the first week do not have to wait on them.
The machines at our self-service laundry on Colerain Avenue hold far more water per cycle than a home unit, and the drum size means a set of curtains or a comforter goes through in one load instead of being squeezed into three.
Our machines and the store are cleaned daily.
Nou wash-dry-fold service covers the everyday laundry.
For general guidance, The American Cleaning Institute publishes a laundry basics guide that is a useful cross-check.
The short version
When the appliances have not arrived at a new place, the laundry gap is easy to make small. Wash everything before you move if you can, and pack a first night box with a change of clothes per person, two towels, one set of bedding per bed, an empty bag and some detergent. Once you are in, wash bedding first, then towels, then work clothes, and keep the clothes you moved in as their own load, because they carry cardboard dust and grease. Fix a laundry day rather than deciding daily, sort into one bag per load at home, and use the gap for curtains and anything that came out of storage.
WaveMAX Cincinnati is at 8449 Colerain Ave, easy to reach from Cincinnati and the surrounding area. If you have a load that will not fit at home, call us at 513-445-4443.