For many people, the idea of a shared laundry room brings back nightmares from college in which you forgot you had a load going, went to class, came back to your dorm to find your laundry strewn everywhere and half of it missing. If this scenario didn’t happen to you, it likely happened to someone you know. Now, you’ve just moved into a building that doesn’t allow washers and dryers, and you have to use a public, shared laundry room all over again. Here are a few tips to ensuring that your laundry doesn’t end up all over the floor for a second time.

First, buy a timer. Most machines now have digital read outs that tell you exactly how long it takes for a wash load and then a drying load. When you go to the laundry room, simply take the timer with you and then head back when the timer gets down to a minute or so. If you get there right as it ends, no one will ever mess with your belongings.

Read up on any rules that are posted that tell you how the laundry room works. Most complexes will tell you how long you have to move your laundry before another resident can move it for you. Even if you’re frustrated that there are no available machines, make sure that you follow the rules because you never know when it will be your laundry sitting down there. Try to give the same amount of respect to other people’s laundry as you would to your own, and you will be fine.