Clothes, like taxes, cars and kids, cost money. And then they cost more money. Imagine my chagrin at the 50 weekly dry-cleaning bill for my work clothes. Buying dress clothes for the office is expensive enough as it is, but sending those clothes out for dry-cleaning, ironing and pressing only adds to the burden.
Rather than paying the 50 like a mug for all eternity, I looked into some other options and found a number of domestic cleaners and house cleaning London companies that offered home laundry, ironing and pressing services, domestic carpet cleaning and whole range of other things. Some of them offered maid services starting at only 8/hour. When I did the sums, I realized I could buy a home dry-cleaning kit for my domestic cleaner and have all my clothes properly laundered, ironed and pressed, plus my kitchen and bathroom cleaned once a week for less than the price of my dry-cleaning.
Taking care of my clothes was another big thing I had to learn. Nothing is worse than clothes that go all pilly and bobbly after wearing them only a few times. I did a little research and found that pilling is caused by friction, either from my clothes rubbing together in the laundry or during the course of everyday wear. Rather than sending these things to the cleaners, I bought an electric sweater shaver and added clothes maintenance to my list of house cleaning chores. Washing expensive items at home, I put them in a garment bag to be washed and set the washing machine on delicate. My suits and sweaters have stopped pilling and I'm spending a lot less on dry-cleaning than I used to be.
My domestic cleaner has also helped keep my clothes looking new by changing my laundry habits. She started washing everything in cold water on gentle cycle, and she has the time to do the clothes ironing while she's waiting for the laundry finish. Since then, I've noticed that there isn't as much color-bleeding with any of my clothes. She also switched to wool-friendly detergent that stops pilling and colour-bleeding and keeps my clean clothes looking clean and new.
Calling around for domestic cleaners at you might end up with more than you bargained for, and not in a bad way either. Rather than making the schlep to the dry-cleaners every week, you could end up with someone coming to you and taking care of more than just your laundry: my regular cleaner got me a great deal on professional carpet cleaning London.
