If you aren’t lucky enough to have an in-home washer and dryer — or even an in-building laundry room for apartment dwellers — laundry day can be a real pain. It’s not an enjoyable chore under the best of circumstances, and often creates scheduling difficulties.
It’s no wonder all sorts of services have cropped up with people who will do your laundry for you. In many cases, these services will pick up and drop off your laundry for you, saving you from having to lug around a heavy basket. It may not be the cheapest option, but it may save you time.
Delivery.com
How it works: Unlike the services above, Delivery.com lets you choose who’s going to do your cleaning. The service charges the businesses, instead of you, so you only pay the cleaner’s fee to clean and deliver your clothes. You can look at the companies’ Yelp and user reviews to get a sense of their reputation, but Delivery.com takes no responsibility if the cleaner shrinks your favorite shirt. The minimums for one zip code we checked ranged from $20 to $45, with some delivery times stretching as long as 48 hours. What’s nice, though, is that it’s all in one place, letting you decide how much you want to pay and how long you want to wait.
Pricing: Depends on which cleaner you choose — making it easy to compare rates
Turn around time: Depends on which cleaner you choose
Available in: More than 100 cities, including New York, Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore, and Boston
TaskRabbit
How it works: TaskRabbit is more of a general service, one meant to connect those in need of help with those looking for work, for everything from moving to cleaning to event planning. Each “Tasker” has been vetted via in-person interviews and background checks, according to the company. Until dedicated laundry services move into more cities, TaskRabbit provides an alternative with a more one-on-one experience that works great when you can find a reliable and effective Tasker to entrust with your laundry.
Pricing: Depends on whom you hire, with the ability to browse taskers by skills and reviews, then chat with them. Current rates for Taskers are around $17 to $18 per hour, but laundry services can vary a lot based on how in-demand they are in your city.
Turn around time: Depends on who’s available
Available in: More than 60, including Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Miami, Phoenix, Portland, Omaha, Cleveland, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle, and London, plus a strong Canadian presence
ByNext
How it works: Created by a merger between Cleanly and NextCleaners, this new app offers home cleaning and clothing care options (potentially at the same time, depending on what you want done). The laundry side of the app supports dry cleaning as well as traditional laundry, with options for next-day turnaround and the ability to set washing, drying, and detergent preferences, among others.
Pricing: Varies based on location and services, with a 10-pound minimum charge fee for all wash-and-fold orders, even those under that amount. Delivery fees apply to any order under $35.
Turn around time: 24 hours for wash and fold, two to four days for dry cleaning
Available in: New York City, Brooklyn, Washington, D.C.
Rinse
How it works: Open the mobile app and schedule a “rinse.” All Rinse customers are on a specified “route” and receive free delivery on their designated day. However, if you need laundry ASAP, there’s a Rush Delivery option that will get you clean clothes in 24 hours or less for an additional $5. You’ll need to separate your wash-and-fold items, including sheets and towels, from your dry cleaning. You don’t have to be home to receive your clean laundry, but you’ll need to give the company access to a safe area to access your clothes.
Pricing: Per bag and per pound options available. Around $2.25 per pound, with extra charges for unusual items (duvets, comforters, etc.).
Turn around time: 24 hours
Available in: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston
FlyCleaners
How it works: Much like Cleanly and Rinse, you can use the FlyCleaners app to schedule when you’d like to have your laundry picked up and dropped off, from 6 a.m. to midnight (or just pick the next available time slot). If you’re in a rush, you can even request overnight cleaning or reschedule as needed. You can also designate the type of laundry you need washed and the specific cleaning treatment by placing machine-wash loads in a certain bag, dry cleaning in another bag, and hang-dry clothing in yet another container.
Pricing: Fees are highly variable for no obvious reason, and FlyCleaners has yet to provide an explanation for pricing protocol. Delivery is free for orders over $15 but costs $4 for orders under $15.
Turn around time: For regular washes, they provide an overnight service that takes around 8 hours. For example, loads collected at 11 p. m. will be delivered clean and folded to your door at 7 a.m.; dry cleaning takes three or four days
Available in: Most of Manhattan and Brooklyn
