Inclement weather or new lifestyle, housewives turning to laundry bars
MIRI: Many people, particularly housewives here are turning to laundry bars to wash and dry their clothes due to the current spell of inclement weather.
“The unpredictable weather patterns lately are making it difficult do our laundry. Lately the weather is always gloomy almost the whole day long and ‘on and off’ rain in between. During fine weather the sun seems to be not hot enough to dry some of clothes especially jeans,” said Umang Chambai who prefers to be called Indai Boi.
The weather pattern is forcing Indai Boi and many others to do their washing and drying at the laundry bar or self-service laundry outlets which are mushrooming here especially in new commercial areas and housing and residential areas with high population. Most of the outlets provide washing and dryer machines and operate 24 hours.
“If we were to wait for good and fine weather … we could end up running out of fresh and clean clothes to wear. Mildew will grow on damp clothes after a few days and it will be visible especially on white and bright coloured clothes,’’ said Indai Boi when approached while doing laundry in one of the outlets at a housing estate here.
The outlet and service offered are convenient for those with large volume of clothing as they able to wash and have the clothes dry within an hour. Some customers would do the washing at home and use the dryer at the outlets.
It is reported that the outlets are often fully occupied and customers have to queue up for their turn to do their laundry. Most customers do their laundry in the morning after sending their children to school, after office hours and at night.