Do Your Own Damn Laundry!

I'm not passing judgment on any New Yorker who supports the laundries and local economy of our fine City. However, stop whining about how much it costs to have someone else do your laundry (It's a typical New Yorker trait). It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it right? Well, let's talk economics.

On the one hand your time is money. However, your free time is suppose to be free, but if you work 16 hour days, then maybe your free time is for slipping all-night Diner food down your throat and sleeping off the vodka tonics, Mad Men style. But then you best be gettin' paid to have your laundry lifestyle where someone else toils over it.




For those of us who aren't as dashing as Don Draper and have a fair amount of free time, then doing our own laundry could save a bundle. For instance, top loading medium capacity washers can usually hold 7-8lbs of laundry. That's usually a little less or more than half of a standard laundry basket. Add a full basket and you have between 15-20lbs of laundry. At a dollar a lb (which is usually the standard in NYC, give or take 25c) that's around $20 a basket with detergent & folding included. The typical washer at a laundry mat (or in your own building) costs $2 and you supply your own detergent, dryer sheets and intuitive. Best of all, if anything comes out shrunk or covered in bleach, you have no one to blame, but yourself. For me to do a laundry basket costs $5.25 w/ detergent (which I recommend Arm & Hammer Dye & Perfume Free, $1 coupon at site). That's 75% off the price of having someone else do it and I burn calories walking up and down the stairs and folding. It's a win/win situation for me!

Now a lot of people have many excuses for not doing their own laundry, besides the time issue, I understand that (i.e. it's gross, it's boring, I'm lazy, etc...). But for those of you who want to venture out and need some encouragement, watch this clip from FRIENDS- The One with the East German Laundry Detergent.

List of Top Ten Things To Do at the Laundry Mat

1. Catch up with Mom, your bff, your ex, or your proctologist on your cell phone.
2. Start writing the great American Novel.
3. People watch.
4. Read one of the many great novels of British Literature.
5. Work on Monday's New York Times Crossword Puzzle or better yet, the TV Guide crossword.
6. Hit on someone or at least try to (I recommend Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog for guidance- Act 1)
7. Meditate
8. Read the latest issue of Soap Opera Digest (I once read an issue of People from 1972...it was 2005 at the time).
9. Knit or crochet.
10. Dream you're rich enough to have someone else do your damn laundry!