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Topic: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning  (Read 8989 times)

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Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« on: June 09, 2005, 09:38:51 AM »
Good grief, the cost to get a shirt laundered in London is unbelieveable. I've seen prices like £2.50 or £3.00 per shirt.

$5 to launder a shirt?  It's $1 to $1.50 in New York City, and they deliver.

Is there any way to get around this, short of ironing your own shirts?


Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2005, 09:52:55 AM »
You might be able to find a private ironing service.  Look in your nearest laundrette for advertisements.  The wifey on the ground floor of our stair takes in ironing - but not laundering - for £12 a bag.

Otherwise, Argos sells some cracking irons.


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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2005, 10:31:57 AM »
Unfortunately, I've been doing a lot of ironing :(  When we first moved here, I checked the prices of laundries all over London and the suburbs, and it's all about the same.  A couple of times a week, we get small ads from women who will clean, iron, etc. for a minimum of 3 hours.  I've never checked their prices, that could be an option. 


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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2005, 01:43:02 PM »
When Simon was here last week he was amazed at my gigantic washer and dryer.  He asked how one person can make so much laundry!!  HA - what a guy!!  I told him he has no idea, and when it's the two of us and hopefully one day a baby, there will be MUCH more than there is already!  My question is, how in the world do you do laundry in your KITCHEN?  Where do you iron?  Where do you fold stuff, or put your cleaning supplies?  I iron every day and have my board set up in my sewing room.  I think the laundry arrangements in England will be one of my largest adjustments.

~Liza
"Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with a new power, with an advanced experience, that shall explain and overlook the old."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2005, 02:07:52 PM »
When Simon was here last week he was amazed at my gigantic washer and dryer.  He asked how one person can make so much laundry!!  HA - what a guy!!  I told him he has no idea, and when it's the two of us and hopefully one day a baby, there will be MUCH more than there is already!  My question is, how in the world do you do laundry in your KITCHEN?  Where do you iron?  Where do you fold stuff, or put your cleaning supplies?  I iron every day and have my board set up in my sewing room.  I think the laundry arrangements in England will be one of my largest adjustments.

~Liza

That's what your living room is for!  Ironing.  I do it in front of the TV.  I fold stuff in the bedroom on the beds and then immediately put them in the wardrobe, cupboard or chest of drawers.  There's no spare room to have have things lying about and a toddler inspires us to keep things tidy.

We live in a 2nd floor flat with no dryer or communal garden, so all our things - we have a 2 year old and are expecting another baby - are dried in the hall on a luxurious familiy-sized drying rack from Lakeland that I got as a present.  BEST purchase ever! 

If you have a house, however, sometimes they have utility room, separate dryers and washing lines in the garden.

I put the ironing board away in the hall cupboard and keep the washing powders, liquids, etc. on a high shelf in the kitchen. 

Having a small washing machine and no dryer means I stay on top of the washing and never allow it to pile up.

Everyone seems to manage okay.  TBH, I can't even remember what it was like to have a separate dryer and my clothes keep much better now that they are air-dried. 



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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2005, 02:12:55 PM »
I do the laundry in the garage (washer and dryer are there).  If it's a nice day, I put the clothes on the line in the back garden.  I fold laundry in the living room and carry it upstairs.  I put away whatever can be put away at that point and leave the stuff that needs to be ironed on the guest room bed.  I iron every Sunday in our bedroom, so that I can watch tv while I'm doing it.

When we lived in an apartment, the washing was done in the kitchen (supplies kept under the sink).  It was a combo washer/dryer (which, may I say, are generally crap  :P), which meant that there were usually clothes on all the radiators, over the balcony, and on drying racks in the guest bedroom  ::).  Back then, I ironed in the living room because it was the biggest room with the biggest tv.   :)


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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2005, 02:18:11 PM »
my husband does all our laundry and ironing.

and yeah....i DO know how lucky i am!!!

we have a very small dry cleaning bill every month-mostly suits or dresses! 


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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #7 on: June 09, 2005, 02:39:17 PM »
Husbands can do laundry???  ;)

Actually, that's not fair of me. Washing clothes and putting them on the line/drying rack/dryer is one of DH's favorite hangover activities. He knows it'll keep him in my good books!

We are VERY fortunate in that now we have a good washer in the kitchen, a dryer in the garage, a large line in the garden, and racks and room inside if we need it. But, I've paid my dues!! When I lived in a teeny tiny north facing terraced house in Kendal, laundry was the bane of my existance. We had a small line in the front (ugh!) that got little sunlight. Inside was so cramped there was no room for more than one small rack. We hung things from clothes hangers on the curtain rods! We had a line strung across our large bathroom that we used for some stuff as well. We had no radiators, either! We lived there from June to December and by December, I hated it b/c it took so long for things to dry.
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. ~ John Lennon


Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #8 on: June 09, 2005, 02:39:17 PM »
my husband does all our laundry and ironing.


Is he available for hire??  That is simply the bees knees, Aimiloo! 

I cannot trust my husband to wield a hot iron at all.  He tried once . . . with disastrous results (minutes before we need to leave for a wedding, of course).


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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #9 on: June 09, 2005, 02:41:38 PM »
expat, it soothes him!

he does a pretty good job too!!!

i swear i hardly do any housework.  when i was a stay at home wifey without a job it was spotless and i was doing it all

i've been on a 6 month long strike from it.  :)


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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2005, 02:50:49 PM »
I live with another person (not bf)...we have a washer, no drier.  We put our laundry on drying racks in our living room and iron clothing in the hallway.  It's a pain but you get used to it.  Someday I will own a large washer and dryer (they do sell American style ones though expensive in London)...when I get that house of my dreams!  ::)


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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2005, 03:14:40 PM »
That's what your living room is for!  Ironing.  I do it in front of the TV. 


Me too. I usually save it up until there's an 'ironing programme' on - ie something particularly undemanding. :D
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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #12 on: June 09, 2005, 03:25:20 PM »
My husband does most of the laundry during the week - I do what's left over at the weekends.  Stuff goes on radiators/racks, or outside if it's nice.  He irons.  To be fair, I don't have much that needs to be ironed.  So it's his stuff he presses when it needs it.
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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #13 on: June 09, 2005, 03:46:56 PM »
Stuff goes on radiators/racks, or outside if it's nice.   

This will make me totally crazy.  I love my bed linens to dry outside, but not my clothes.  They get too hard and scratchy.  I do dry all my undergarments on a rack, so that's not a big deal, but to have clothes drying all over the house will drive me insane!!  How in the world do you dry a set of sheets?  Certainly you can't dry them on a rack or radiator? 

I'm sorry - I feel like I sound judging and nasty and I certainly don't mean to - I am just floored that in one of the most industrially advanced nations in the world that people are still drying stuff on racks and lines!  I'm just surprised is all - I know that everywhere is not like the States, and I'm ready for the challenge, but man it's going to be a learning curve for me to be sure.

Must find a place with good laundry set up!!!  :o 

~Liza
"Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with a new power, with an advanced experience, that shall explain and overlook the old."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


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Re: Cost of laundry and dry-cleaning
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2005, 03:56:44 PM »
This will make me totally crazy.  I love my bed linens to dry outside, but not my clothes.  They get too hard and scratchy.  I do dry all my undergarments on a rack, so that's not a big deal, but to have clothes drying all over the house will drive me insane!!  How in the world do you dry a set of sheets?  Certainly you can't dry them on a rack or radiator? 

I'm sorry - I feel like I sound judging and nasty and I certainly don't mean to - I am just floored that in one of the most industrially advanced nations in the world that people are still drying stuff on racks and lines!  I'm just surprised is all - I know that everywhere is not like the States, and I'm ready for the challenge, but man it's going to be a learning curve for me to be sure.

Must find a place with good laundry set up!!!  :o 

~Liza

I understand how you feel.  When we were in that apartment I screamed all the time about how backward it is to dry clothes on radiators.  I still can't stand to see it -- sometimes on reality shows you'll see people's houses looking just great EXCEPT for the 457 shirts flung over the radiators!  However if it's all you've got, you make do!

Space is really at a premium here.  The houses are small and pantrys/laundry rooms are virtually non-existent.  Lots of people don't have garages, so the kitchen is just the natural place to put your washer/dryer.  Not ideal, but it's better than having to lug everything down to the laundrette!


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