Ways to get laundry help, and how to choose
By the Momsity team · Updated
There are four common ways to hand off laundry: drop it at a laundromat's wash-and-fold counter, use a pickup-and-delivery laundry service, have someone do it in your home, or arrange it with a local person. The right one depends on how much control you want over how it's handled, and whether you need it put away or just returned clean.
Laundromat wash-and-fold
You drop off a bag and pick it up folded. Many laundromats charge by weight, which makes the cost easy to predict. It works well for routine loads when you can get there yourself.
The tradeoff is control. Your clothes are handled with everyone else's routine, so special instructions may or may not be followed, and you still have to make two trips.
Pickup and delivery services
Dedicated laundry services and apps collect a bag from your door and return it, usually on set days. They're convenient where they operate, which tends to be denser areas.
They're built for volume, so individual instructions can get lost, and they usually return laundry folded in a bag rather than put away.
In-home help
Someone comes to your home, uses your machines, and folds and puts things away. This is the option with the most control: your detergent, your settings, your closet.
It requires having someone in your home and a block of time that covers wash and dry cycles, so it fits best when you'll be around or have arranged access.
A local person nearby
A local helper can do either version: at your place, or picked up and brought back. Because you're arranging it with one person, specific instructions are more likely to be followed, and it works for irregular needs, like catching up after a trip or an illness, as well as regular ones.
This is also the option that works best when the laundry isn't yours. A parent can arrange it for a student on campus, or an adult child for a parent across the country.
What to tell whoever does it
- Temperature and dryer settings, and anything that must hang-dry
- Detergent or fabric-softener preferences or sensitivities
- Whether your loads should stay separate from anyone else's
- Roughly how many loads or bags
- Where finished laundry goes: folded on the bed, put in drawers, or bagged
- Anything that needs special care, or shouldn't be washed at all
Where Momsity fits
On Momsity, you post a laundry Task with your instructions, and MOMs nearby can offer to do it at your place or pick it up and return it. You choose who does it and pay through Momsity. Payment is held until you confirm it's done.
What Momsity doesn't do
- MOMs are independent people, not a commercial laundry, so same-day turnaround isn't promised and not every area has a MOM yet.
- Dry cleaning and garment repair aren't part of laundry Tasks, though you can ask for a drop-off at a dry cleaner as an errand.
Read how Momsity works and how trust and payments work.
Ready to post a Task?
Posting is free. MOMs nearby can offer, and you choose who helps.