Doing laundry and groceries like a pro

Part 1: Grocery shopping like a pro

Remember way back, in this post here, where I explained about our meal tickets and a few grocery cards?

The Esselunga (where we have €50 of grocery cards) is a 20-25 min walk. This was my second trip here, and I smartly brought a backpack this time and my own grocery bags. [You have to pay for bags otherwise.]

I spent €20 this time to obtain what is pictures below: cereal, yogurt, sandwich-making products, etc. and also detergent for clothes. 

I actually love grocery shopping here. It's crazy, crowded, hectic, and most things are in random order so you can find socks by the vegetables or toiletries next to chocolate. One thing that was different was getting fruit: you have to put on a plastic glove, put your fruit in a bag, then weight it. Consequently, a sticker will print out the cost/barcode when you choose the fruit (or vegetable) so they don't have to take time to weigh it when you check out. 

Part 2: How my towel heater turned into an unlikely dryer

My socks being dried by the towel heater. 

Doing laundry is a fascinating experience at first, let me tell you. They don't have dryers in Italy (except perhaps at laundromat-esque places). What you see above is what I've deemed to be a "towel-heater". You usually have your towel (or in my case, my pajamas) so it's warm when you use it after the shower! It's a great invention. And it's really hot! (Upon first discovering it, I thought I burned myself). 

So after using an interesting washer, I thought -- why not hang up my hard-to-dry items on the towel heater??

Absolute brilliance. Jeans and cotton socks are dry in hours. Why did I deem this method faster than the other students'? 

1) Those who don't have a towel heater, those unfortunate enough. 

2) They share their bathroom, so there isn't enough room on one heater to dry a substantial amount of clothes. 

Many of my peers are telling me it takes days for their jeans to dry! 😱 I have heard of people putting their clothes over the heater though...but the majority just hang it up to dry, which equals a long drying time. 

And that's how I do my laundry efficiently in Italy in the winter.