I know what you’re thinking…why the fuss about laundry? Well, washing your clothes in Sweden is a big deal. Apartment living: No washer/dryer? Options: buy or use a communal laundry room.
Written by Ezinne Edet
In sunny countries, garment care isn’t a big plan; abundant sunshine simplifies year-round clothes upkeep. Pack, wash, rinse, line-dry; hours later, clothes crisp and clean—simple routine in sunny weather. Moving to Sweden with my garment care mindset, I wasn’t prepared for the culture shock.
A day after my family and I moved into our apartment in Sweden, I dashed into the laundry room with our dirty clothes and threw them into the washer. I set the timer and rushed upstairs to get myself busy with other chores.
Forty minutes later, I dashed back into the laundry room to get the clothes out of the machine but noticed that something was off. The machines were dead silent, the controls were unresponsive, and strangely, nothing was working. What could have happened?
I later discovered it was beyond laundry hours, so I had to shut down the machines. The bad news is, my clothes were stuck in the washer until the next morning, and the first slot had already been pre-booked by one of my neighbours. Talk about learning how to do laundry the hard way!
How does laundry work in Sweden
If you do not have a washer and dryer installed in your apartment, you could either buy one and install yourself or, every week, spend at least one day in the laundry room.
Laundry rooms in Sweden
Most apartments in Sweden have a communal laundry room—tvättstuga—with washers, tumble dryers, drying rooms/cabinets, and instructions on how to use them. This room is usually located at the basement or ground floor of the building and using the laundry room is totally free.
Never ignore the instructions on the wall of the laundry room. Although they are usually written in Swedish, this is one place Google Translate will come in very handy. Different rules apply to different rooms, so it is important you understand the instructions to get a hang of how the machines and the laundry room work.
How to book a laundry time in Sweden
The laundry room operates on a booking system. There are two types of laundry booking system in Sweden: the manual and digital booking system. With the manual system, you use a laundry lock to book a slot on a board inside the laundry room, while you use an electronic tag to make a booking with the digital system.
The laundry booking system, whether manual or digital, allows you to book a preferred day and time (usually 2 to 6 hours) for your laundry. In Sweden, laundry time is serious business.
Respect the laundry slot
After you have booked a slot, you must do your laundry (washing and drying) at your booked time. As a rule of thumb, if you are about thirty minutes to an hour behind schedule, a neighbour can “steal” your slot without prior notice.
Therefore, you may need to sort and pack dirty laundry beforehand, as well as the detergent and softener. Also, make sure to pack up and leave the laundry room as soon as your time is up. You don’t want to be caught encroaching into your neighbour’s laundry time.
Tidy up the laundry room!
Before leaving the laundry room, make sure it is in good shape. Clean the dryer lint trap, sweep the floor, mop up wet surfaces, take out the trash (if necessary). Just make sure the room is tidy enough for the next person to use.
Rinse and Repeat
Once you are done, don’t forget to book your next laundry time, then repeat the process all over again.
So much information just to understand how laundry works. I know, right? But, trust me, it gets easier with time.
It is amazing how something as little as doing laundry can cause a huge culture shock for newcomers. Apart from figuring out how to do laundry, you can read about other basic everyday info that newbies to Sweden need to have at their fingertips.
Did you have any problems doing laundry when you moved to Sweden? Is the method of doing laundry in your home country different from that of Sweden? Leave a comment to let us know.
About the Author
Hej! I am a Nigerian studying a Master of Science in Management at the University of Gothenburg. I have travelled around different countries in Africa, but this is my first time living and studying in another continent. I see living in a new country as an opportunity to learn a new culture, language, and create new networks and experiences. I will be posting about my experiences in Sweden, as a newbie, and sharing information to help you settle in fast. Enjoy!
Thank you dear. I have known how laundry is done in Sweden today. Please what is the language of instruction there? If not English ,how are you and other people from English speaking countries coping? How is Sweden generally? Are there opportunities there? Congratulations dear.
The language of instruction for the course I am taking is English. However, correspondences and texts like emails, letters, notices, etc are usually written in Swedish. I use Google Translate most of the time, but I am also improving my Swedish skills by attending Swedish language classes. About if there are opportunities in Sweden, it depends largely on what you are looking for also everyone’s experience is unique.
Wow 😲. So you have to book for washing and rinsing and drying? Separately? Why can’t you book at the same time? Like book and then book the next minute again
Hahaha! Not at all. When you book to do laundry, you do everything–washing (including rinsing) and drying–together at the same time. Then, after you are done, you book your next laundry time.
Very interesting indeed.
So how do you undo your booking if life happens and you cannot keep up with the time you had earlier booked?
Also it looks like one books once a week, so do you get another chance that same week if it so happens that you couldn’t meet up with your earlier booking?
If life happens and you cannot do your laundry at the time you booked, you can always check for the next available slot and make a new booking.
And no, you don’t have to do laundry only once a week. You can do laundry as many times as you wish during the week, as long as there are enough free slots for you to use.😊
I’m thinking about opening a laundromat near Gothenburg university. It would have pay as you go automatic washing machines and dryers in a student friendly environment including music, Wi-Fi and coffee and snack vending machines. If you want you can pay me to do your laundry and pick up next day or study while you wait for your laundry to finish while having a coffee, coke and/or snack. Do you feel something like this would be attractive to university area residents ?
Hi Larsen grengers,
We have a similar idea but don’t know where to start. It would be nice if someone can answer this question you have in mind that way, I can proceed and think further about this business. Thank you