Most apartments have a laundry room (tvättstuga) available. This may be somewhere in the building – for example the basement – or if your apartment block is part of a complex, there may be a separate building. This means you do not need to have a washing machine or dryer in the apartment although many people do find it is easier to have a small one available for day-to-day use, especially if their laundry room is shared by a lot of people. When you’re shown around the apartment or receive the keys, ask for detailed instructions about how to use the facilities in your building and get advice on booking the room and so on.

You need to book your slot for doing your laundry in advance. There will be some sort of booking system in the room itself which normally works by you placing your own block in the time slot you want to use. Time slots will be 3 or 4 hours long which should allow enough time for a couple of loads (and there will probably be more than one machine too) plus drying. The problem in busy rooms is that you often need to book your slot a long time in advance and possibly not at the most convenient time. It is commonplace to hear people leaving early from work (or arriving late, or taking long lunches) because they have to do their washing. The washing room is one area where you are most likely to observe Swedes at their most confrontational. Sticking to the slots and obeying the rules of the washing room are sacred commandments and if you put a foot out of line, you risk being admonished in no uncertain terms.

On the upside, the machines are generally commercial standard with a high load capacity and dryers include a ‘drying cabinet’ in which you can hang clothes giving the same effect as line drying. Facilities may also include mangles, presses and irons.

There will normally be a list of ‘house rules’ posted which is worth getting somebody to translate for you if needs be. These often include:

• No washing outside of bookable hours (i.e. the middle of the night)
• No dying in the machines
• Cleaning up after yourself, including cleaning the filters in the dryers
• Booking rules – for example, can you take over somebody else’s slot if they haven’t started washing within a certain amount of time?
• What to do if a machine breaks down

Tempers can fray over the use of the washing room so stay on the cautious side to begin with – make sure you use your slot if you’ve booked it, finish by the end of your time slot and clean up after yourself. Otherwise you may be making early enemies with your neighbours. You may find over time that your block is more relaxed and that people are fine if you’re still drying when they start their first load.