<p>does columbia offer room cleaning, dry cleaning and wash+fold laundry services for us?</p>
<p>how spoiled are you?</p>
<p>…someone will clean the kitchens, bathrooms and hallways in the dorms but the rest is up to you and your suitemates if you happen to live in a suite. </p>
<p>there are several dry cleaning places within walking distance of columbia</p>
<p>there is at least one laundry room in each dorm or in each group of dorms that are internally connected. noone will fold your laundry for you. There is this student run company that picks up your laundry and does it for you but i think wasting your money on a service like that is silly.</p>
<p>“wash+fold laundry services for us?”</p>
<p>there’s lion laundry at $228 per semester. Washing clothes every 10 days (2 machines and 2 driers) would cost $50/semester. </p>
<p>“does columbia offer room cleaning”</p>
<p>you should start a club! I’m sure you’d make some money cleaning rooms, although there’s the large legal burden of privacy and theft.</p>
<p>I’ll probably take the Lion Laundry thing. It’ll depend on how much of a pain using the machines will be.</p>
<p>I can handle a lot (I’m a freaking janitor at a casino this summer) but it’s always been my pet peeve chore. It’s time-consuming and I tend to suck at it.
That said, you really shouldn’t need someone to clean up your personal living space in college.</p>
<p>Are there vacuum cleaners available for students’ use in each dorm? I notice some of the dorm rooms are carpeted…</p>
<p>Oh, no.. I’d never considered the possibility of theft but wouldn’t keep valuable things in my room anyway. That said, I am getting nervous.. Is there a safe in a dorm?
You’re right; I needn’t a room cleaner, since the room is rather small like a condemned cell with ceiling lights.</p>
<p>If you’re gonna bring something valuable enough to warrant needing a safe to store it, you probably don’t need it there…I doubt there’s a locker for laptops and electronics.</p>
<p>"Are there vacuum cleaners available for students’ use in each dorm? "</p>
<p>yea usually 1 per suite / 1-2 per floor. even for non carpeted dorms.</p>
<p>“Is there a safe in a dorm?”</p>
<p>if you’re in a single you needn’t worry, if you’re in a double, too bad, just trust your roomie. you can get a laptop lock, and you shouldn’t have too much else which is very valuable.</p>
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<p>The RA for each floor has the vacuum cleaner.</p>
<p>Definitely get a laptop lock. If you think you are the kind of person who will study in the library, it’s a necessity.</p>
<p>Also, as far as theft goes, the time of the year that the most stuff is stolen is during move in/out. All the dorms are pretty much open so anyone can walk in and take what they want. Be sure to stay with your stuff on these days.</p>
<p>You can get a heavy trunk or footlocker that locks. I think most people’s most valuable items are probably their laptops and passports. Like Skraylor said, you can get a laptop lock for the former, and the latter is relatively easy to stash. There’s really no need to be nervous. As long as you keep your door locked when you’re away, you should be fine (assuming you don’t have a thieving roommate, and that’s not very likely despite all the horror stories you hear).</p>
<p>Undisclosed, the machines really aren’t pains at all. The most annoying thing about doing the laundry is having to wait for machines if you choose to do it at peak times. And occasionally, one of them goes out of service (but at least in the Carman laundry room, there are many other machines).</p>
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<p>$15/wk for the laundry service? That seems kind of high for wash-and-fold. The local places charge like $1/lb or less for wash-and-fold, don’t they? You might as well use them if you don’t want to do it yourself.</p>
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<p>u can now check the status of all the machines online so you can see which ones are free before you go down and the system will even email you when your load is done. Not to mention at $1 per load in a washer and $1 per hour in a drier its probably the best deal in manhattan </p>
<p>in terms of valuables in your room…i never had a laptop while in college but i would imagine it wouldnt be too hard to have it locked to your desk or some other piece of furniture while its in your room. I think keeping your passport/checks/social security card (you might need if you decide to work) in your drawer under a bunch of other stuff. Also there is no reason to keep any money at all in your room …there are more than enough ATMs around campus. That being said, i never locked my room and never had a problem …as long as your door is closed (i’m mainly talking if you’re living in a single) noone is going to be walking around randomly checking if doors are locked. </p>
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<p>this is a misleading statement…anyone here really refers to any columbia (not barnard) student who lives in a dorm…u make it sound like any random person can walk in off the street</p>
<p>“this is a misleading statement…anyone here really refers to any columbia (not barnard) student who lives in a dorm…u make it sound like any random person can walk in off the street”</p>
<p>on move in day, anyone posing as a parent or family member can walk into the dorms, the more diverse you consider your student body the more they’d be willing to let just about anyone into the dorms. On move in day simply keep your door locked at all times when you aren’t inside, even when you use the bathroom, on other days it’s not such a big deal, but locking your door when you’re out costs you little.</p>
<p>“a thieving roommate” - laugh a lot lol
I was thinking of basic stuff, such as accessories, shoes and maybe undies.<br>
I will just make sure to close/lock the door and get a laptop lock :)</p>
<p>I locked my door even when I went into the shower. I had a couple laptops and some other electronic stuff. There were laptop thefts every few weeks I seem to recall.</p>
<p>Shraf - as confidentialcoll pointed out, you missed that I was talking about move-in/out day, not in general</p>
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<p>The laptop thefts have really been toned down a LOT then. I’m pretty sure there were only 1 or 2 per year recently. That is unless they simply decided to stop emailing campus about them…</p>
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<p>yea, i see that now and i agree with u</p>
<p>If you can swing it, Lion Laundry is terrific. My son used it when he lived in the dorms – they pick up at your room and deliver everything folded. For the most part, they did a great job.</p>
<p>yeah, move-in and move-out day is hectic and there are a ton of thefts. i didn’t lose anything but i know people who did. it’s mayhem.</p>
<p>every other day of the school year is pretty safe, property-wise. follow the General Directive - “Don’t Do Dumb Things” - and you’ll be fine.</p>
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On a related topic, if you live in a double, do bring your key with you when you go shower. Don’t leave the door open and rely on your roommate to remember where you are. This is for both safety and practicality.</p>
<p>And if you live in Carman, bring a couple extra rolls of TP and save them somewhere (not in the bathroom) because sometimes you do run out.</p>