Is a Laundry Service Worth the Money?

Although stretching out with a warm blanket pulled fresh from the dryer is among life’s best small comforts, few people enjoy the time and effort that goes into doing laundry, not to mention folding clothes once they’re out of the dryer. Laundry can be even more annoying if you don’t have a washer and dryer in your apartment – walking down to your building’s basement or around the block to the laundromat tends to be a big nuisance.

Some people are so averse to doing laundry that they hire a laundry service to do it for them. These services take the time and effort of doing laundry out of your life, but naturally, they charge for their convenience. Consider the following factors to determine whether a laundry service is right for you.

Pros of using a laundry service

Time and effort saved

With a laundry service, you get back all the time involved in the two or three washer and dryer cycles you’ll run on laundry day. Your laundry service will fold your clothes too, taking another chore off your hands. And if your trips into your basement or to the nearby laundromat often involve waiting for washers and dryers to free up, that’s another worry that laundry services can strike from your list. If you can’t keep up with your laundry load, a laundry service can give you back all that invested time.

Better machines

Just because you have easy access to a washer and dryer doesn’t mean the machines in your vicinity are any good. With a laundry service, you can be all but certain your clothes are being washed and dried properly by professionals with the right equipment to do the job. Instead of worrying about where to find better machines, pass your laundry off to folks who would know.

Cons of using a laundry service

Money spent

Although trips to the laundromat or that coin-operated basement washer and dryer are annoying, they’re relatively inexpensive. The national average amount of money spent per load of laundry is merely two dollars, a figure that tends to run lower than laundry service fees. Typically, a laundry service will charge one to three dollars per pound of clothes. 

To understand this difference in prices, think about your laundry hamper. Though unwieldy and heavy, you can likely take care of everything in a full hamper in two loads (or perhaps three if sheets or towels are involved). That’s just four or six dollars if you do it yourself. But your hamper is pretty heavy – that’s many pounds right there, and with laundry services charging as many as three dollars per pound, you might quickly spend far more than you’d intended.

Lack of control

Ever wonder where that missing sock went? If you’re scrupulous about your laundry, maybe you haven’t had to put up with this notorious laundry woe. If you hand your items over to a laundry service, though, you might find yourself losing clothes more often. Since laundry services tend to have many clients, it’s not unheard of for clothes to go missing or wind up in someone else’s pile. It’s even possible your laundry service will accidentally shrink your clothes, and if you’re a very careful about laundry, you would absolutely never let that happen.

Ultimately, whatever you decide is the right choice for you

If you choose against using a laundry service to save money and keep control of your laundry, your budget will look all the better for it. If you have the money to spend and decide that doing so is worth the time you get back, that’s also a great choice. As long as you’ve thought long and hard about your decision — and made sure that the cost fits your budget — you can’t go wrong.