Best laundry service for family in McLean area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Well I guess I hit upon the group of parents of young kids who all have WFH jobs. We have busy older kids with activities and both of us work outside the home. Our kids do lots of chores (they mow the grass, make themselves meals, do dishes, fold laundry, etc.) and know how to do laundry, but I have found it super inefficient for them each to do a tiny load a couple times per week. We certainly don't buy them enough clothes for them to build up a giant load before running out of things to wear. If there are any actual parents of pre-teens and teens who responded, I'd be glad to take a suggestion on how logistically each one of three kids in the family does their own laundry with a single machine and not owning a full weeks' worth of clothes each. And I agree it's not hard to do laundry, obviously. In fact I like doing it. But in our current phase in life it's at the expense of sleep, exercise, and quality time with my kids.

Family of 4: we pool the clothes, and have enough to wash every two days. There is a hamper for delicates, with extra-delicates going into laundry bags in the same laundry, and a hamper for regular. The delicates and extra-delicates are washed on delicate, low soil, cold water in summer (because it's tepid) and warm water in winter (because it's tepid). The regular get a stronger wash. The really soiled clothes get a pre-treatment. Soiled delicates are washed by hand. The extra-delicates are hung to dry, everything else is dried on very low or low, to preserve fabrics.

But by pooling our clothes... there is no water waste and every wash is full, which increases the friction the clothes get, and improves the washing efficiency.

If there is no family member who wants to be point person for laundry, and you don't want to rotate between family members, then pay your housekeeper more money to implement this system.

I've done it for many years and it's not a burden. When the clothes are clean, they get dumped on people's beds and everyone is responsible for folding and putting away.

Friction damages clothes. See if your clothes look pilly.

Friction is actually what gets clothes clean. You just need to use a tiny bit of detergent, and friction. We're not talking stone pounding here, of course. You can regulate the amount of friction with the tumbling speed of the washer, but also with the amount of clothes.

No, my clothes are not pilling, because I replace a fast tumbling speed with a full load.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow I’m sorry OP for the rude comments. I’ve outsourced laundry a few times when life has gotten crazy. My go to is Columbia Pike (not sure if they go all the way to mclean). I’ve also tried Rinse but wouldn’t trust them with anything beyond kids clothes that I don’t care as much about. I found out about that places off of MONA (moms of north Arlington). Plenty of ppl get help with laundry.
I also sometimes pay our cleaning service to fold.

+1 I’m working-class by DCUM standards, and I use Columbia Pike laundry from time to time, sometimes as often as weekly. I live nearby so just drop off and pick up in person, but they do deliver and pickup.

I have a family of four and deal with a family member with significant medical needs. I am the primary wage earner and the primary caregiver, and something had to give so I could also take care of myself. With a family of five and a job outside the home, I can see where this would be a huge help, OP.

[Anonymous]

I’ve used a laundry service before where we used to live and it was great for two working adults. I haven’t found one here that worked for our family and none of them will give the level of care you want. I would definitely have your cleaning people do a few loads once a week if they are willing and then make your teens do the rest.

[Anonymous]

So, you pay a housekeeper and want to pay to have your laundry done, but your kids don’t own 7 pairs of underwear?

This is fascinating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, you pay a housekeeper and want to pay to have your laundry done, but your kids don’t own 7 pairs of underwear?

This is fascinating.

Wait! And you live in McLean and your kids go to private school and they don’t own 7 pairs or socks?

Amazing!

[Anonymous]

Your kids need more clothes. Then they need to wash them theirselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Well I guess I hit upon the group of parents of young kids who all have WFH jobs. We have busy older kids with activities and both of us work outside the home. Our kids do lots of chores (they mow the grass, make themselves meals, do dishes, fold laundry, etc.) and know how to do laundry, but I have found it super inefficient for them each to do a tiny load a couple times per week. We certainly don't buy them enough clothes for them to build up a giant load before running out of things to wear. If there are any actual parents of pre-teens and teens who responded, I'd be glad to take a suggestion on how logistically each one of three kids in the family does their own laundry with a single machine and not owning a full weeks' worth of clothes each. And I agree it's not hard to do laundry, obviously. In fact I like doing it. But in our current phase in life it's at the expense of sleep, exercise, and quality time with my kids.

You are going to tell me your kids don't have enough clothes for 5 days? Why can't you run a load of laundry with multiple peoples clothes in it especially if it's maybe 3-4 things per person? How does sending out 1-2 days worth of clothes multiple times a week make it more efficient than doing a load of laundry? Nothing in what you said makes sense. I have 3 kids that spans different age groups, all in sports and with 2 working parents and I/we do my own laundry.

[Anonymous]

OP is not a free domestic worker. Leave the laundry to the professionals. Professional Cleaners in McLean is a reliable service.

[Anonymous]

Not in the dc area but I’ve used poplin for a couple years now and it’s great! I know lots of people who outsource laundry, not sure why it’s so controversial on this thread!

[Anonymous]

I can’t imagine coordinating laundry drop off and pick up or actually dropping laundry off.

I used to use this service in nyc when I didn’t have my own washer and dryer and didn’t want to wait around to do my laundry. I would get a laundry cube back. Even that was annoying to pick up and there was a dry cleaner/laundry in my same building.

I have 3 kids and we do laundry ALL the time. Some days my kids get clean clothes from the dryer. Some times they do their own laundry. Your teens are completely capable of doing their own laundry. We don’t do laundry separately. We just load together. My kids usually only take their own laundry. Each kid folds laundry including my 7 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Common in NYC but not sure about elsewhere.

I knew a kid in college who mailed his laundry home cross country so his mom could do it and mail it back.

In the 1950s during college, my dad had a special box that he packed laundry into to send home by train for his mom to wash and send back. Admittedly, dorm machines weren’t a thing back then, but still.

[Anonymous]

OP there are lots of wash and fold services out there but the level of care and sorting you’re describing is only going to be available from a housekeeper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP there are lots of wash and fold services out there but the level of care and sorting you’re describing is only going to be available from a housekeeper.

Our housekeeper does this but always mixes up our clothing. To be fair, my teen and I have similar clothing and size and so does ds and Dh. She puts our sheets and towels away. I try to fold my own laundry but let her do the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, you pay a housekeeper and want to pay to have your laundry done, but your kids don’t own 7 pairs of underwear?

This is fascinating.

I was just thinking it would be much easier and cheaper to buy your kids some more clothes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Common in NYC but not sure about elsewhere.

I knew a kid in college who mailed his laundry home cross country so his mom could do it and mail it back.

In the 1950s during college, my dad had a special box that he packed laundry into to send home by train for his mom to wash and send back. Admittedly, dorm machines weren’t a thing back then, but still.

This vaguely reminds me of Thoreau acting like he was off in the woods being deliberate about life while actually living only a mile outside of town and having his mom do his laundry. His mom should have written a book, "I did domestic chores well and lived deliberately."