Yes, there is a small percentage of the population that actually enjoys doing the laundry. They say it’s a way to relieve stress. But, for most of us it’s just another chore that’s standing in the way of some just-relax-and-do-nothing time.
The answer, of course, is to have somebody else do the laundry. Sure, you’ve been tempted. Off goes the soiled laundry, only to be returned washed and expertly folded – and on the same day. It’s got to be expensive, not to mention that you probably just can’t justify it considering you’ve got a perfectly good washer and dryer just sitting there in the laundry room.
It Might Add Up
Have you ever calculated what an hour of your time is worth? That’s relatively easy if you make an hourly wage. If not, just take your monthly salary and divide it by 160 – or take your annual salary and divide it by 2,000 (that assumes you take at least two weeks of vacation). It’s a rough calculation, but it gives you an idea.
For the sake of easy calculation, let’s say you have an annual salary of $50,000. Applying the rough math above would value each hour of your time at about $25.
Now, let’s say you’re married and have two children. Here’s a rough estimate on the minimum number of loads of laundry you likely do each week:
- Sheets (1 load)
- Kids’ clothes (2 loads)
- Towels (I load)
- Adults’ clothes (1 load)
That’s five loads – minimum – of laundry you’ve got waiting for you weekly. If the washing time is about 45 minutes and it takes another 30 minutes to dry the load, it’s going to require a minimum of six hours and 15 minutes to do those five loads of laundry. But wait, you’ve still got to fold everything. So, let’s round that up to an even seven hours.
That seven hours of your free time, based on what you earn when you’re working, is worth about $175 (seven hours multiplied by $25 an hour). But wait a minute. This is your free time. Wouldn’t it be fair to say it’s even more valuable?
Less is More
So, just for the sake of argument, let’s double its value. That means the amount of time you spend weekly doing those five loads of laundry might add up to about $350. Is that a worthwhile return on your investment?
A fair question to ask when you consider that you can give these five loads of laundry to us and take advantage of our wash-dry-fold service. The average load of a medium capacity washer is about eight pounds. We’ll charge you just $16.80 to wash, fold, and dry a minimum of eight pounds – and just $2.10 for each additional pound. And you can arrange for us to pick it up and drop it off.
Add it all up and it’s just 24% of the value you can attach to the time it takes you to do that laundry yourself. What would you do with all that time you gain? And okay, you probably wouldn’t have spent it all standing in front of your washer and dryer. You could have been doing other things. But, that brings us full circle. Are you one of those people who actually enjoys doing the laundry?
Didn’t think so.
How much time do you spend doing laundry each week? Take our quiz and find out!