How does laundry work in a goshiwon?

There is a machine, it is usually free or nearly free, and drying is the part that is actually annoying.

The normal setup: one or two washing machines in a shared laundry area, free to use or 1,000 to 2,000 won a load. You bring your own detergent, though some buildings provide a communal one.

Drying is where it gets awkward. Tumble dryers are uncommon in Korea generally — most people air dry. In a goshiwon that usually means:

- A shared drying rack area or a rooftop line, which is the normal arrangement
- Or a folding rack in your own room, which in a 6㎡ room means living around your laundry for a day
- Some newer buildings have a dryer, at 1,000 to 2,000 won a cycle

In winter, indoor drying is slow and adds humidity to a small room, which is unpleasant if you have no window. In the monsoon weeks of summer, nothing dries at all and this is the point where people start using a laundromat.

Practical notes:

- Buy a folding drying rack in your first week. 10,000 to 15,000 won at Daiso.
- Do not leave laundry in the machine. This is the laundry equivalent of the unwashed pan and it generates the same annoyance.
- Peak times are evenings and Sunday. Doing a load at 10am on a weekday means no waiting.
- 코인빨래방 (coin laundromats) are everywhere and cheap — around 3,000 to 5,000 won to wash and dry a full load in an hour. Worth it during monsoon season or for bedding, which will never dry on a rack.

Budget: essentially nothing for normal weeks, maybe 20,000 to 30,000 a month if you use a laundromat regularly in summer.