uptowngirl
uptowngirl

Laundry anybody?

When I am walking on NYC streets I am often accosted by the scent of laundry which tends to waft out of basement laundry rooms. I tend to love the smell and this got me wondering as apartment dwellers where does everyone do their laundry? Are you lucky enough to have a washer and dryer in your apartment or do you use the communal machines in the building as I do or do you go to commercial laundromat or even to one of those wash and fold by weight places?
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
We have communal - I know many apartments in my area (UES) tend to. It's a nice way to meet the neighbors! And avoid the noise in your own homee
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
I have my own washing machine so I don't use any external facilities.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
I drop mine off at the laundry around the corner and pick it up in a nice little clean, folded stack a few hours later.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
There's a laundry mat on my block.... I have the option of dropping it off, but have been doing it myself since I moved in. I actually haven't dropped my laundry off since I lived in the LES where we had the Sun Sun laundry place on Stanton St... they were so amazing. I had a friend that came down from the Village to use them.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
Just out of curiousity how expensive is it to use one of these laundry wash and fold places. The machines in my building have to be operated with a stored value card and on an average to wash a load is $1.25-$2. Dryers also have similair prices of course the foldinng is all my hard labor :) not to mention the ironing. A friend of mine who lives in the city and couldnt be bothered with domestic chores drycleans everything including towels.. yucck thats not getting them clean is it? I think New Yorkers as a whole patronize dry cleaners a lot otherwise why would the city have that many dry cleaning mom and pop stores.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@uptowngirl You pay by the pound usually, so it varies a bit. When I lived in the LES, I never paid more than $8 for a full laundry bag, not counting whatever tip I added.

That's a pretty good deal you have in your building. My local place charges $1.75 for a small wash and $3.25 for a large one. I think $1.25 buys about 40 mins in the dryer.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@uptowngirl You pay by weight, with a minimum charge of around $8, and then going up from that. My weekly laundry, unless I need to do sheets, etc, is never more than the $8 or $9 minimum charge, and a bit more if I do the sheets, of course. When you add up the cost of the machines, the dryers, the detergent, and then the TIME it takes to stand around waiting for the laundry to get done, those prices seem like a bargain. I would never actually have the patience to fold my own laundry, and this way, it gets folded neatly for me too. I see it as a win in every way, including for the middle-aged Spanish lady who does the work, and therefore earns a little on the side. There's nothing more depressing than spending time in a laundromat, so I see it as a necessary weekly expense that adds to my general mental health.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@uraniumfish funny that's how much I tend to pay as well though I do my sheets, towels etc every week and then I iron them too..there is something so seductive about clean, freshly ironed ,sheets..Luckily for me though the machines are on my floor so I put my laundry in and then go back to whatever I was doing in my apartment. I use an egg timer to remind me to turn the laundry though.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@uptowngirl Aaahh, see, that makes all the difference! Laundry machines in the building are the only way I'd do my own laundry...
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
Having a washing machine has its advantages. At least the only cost to me is the laundry detergent. And that I pay for two times a month.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Living about 50 feet from the laundry mat isn't too bad; I just throw my clothes in the wash and go home until it's time to put them in the dryer. I have it pretty well timed out by now.

I can understand not wanting to deal with laundry mats, though, and if I lived any further away I probably would just send out my laundry - seems to be what most New Yorkers do.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@hhusted some friends who are similarly blessed like you enjoy the convenience of doing their laundry at anytime of the day/night unlike us lot who have to rely on the timings of communal machines and Laundromats.
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
Trust me, uptowngirl, I used to be in the same boat as you guys. But I soon realized that the costs of doing laundry was getting out of hand, especially when my budget got tighter. So I decided to buy a washing machine. I had this machine for 5 years now, and haven't seen the inside of a laundry mat in years.
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