<p>Wondering if anyone has heard about laundry services available to students and if so will you be signing up your child, the one offered to us is about $500 to $700 a year and feel it is one less task my daughter will have to be worried about! Has anyone had a positive experience with a laundry service.</p>
<p>My mom signed me up, and my siblings before me. The plan is really complete and just great-- makes things a lot easier and, as you said, one less thing to worry about with all the chaos of living away from home.</p>
<p>my mom signed me up too! ill be doing dry cleaning at home though</p>
<p>I bought it for my son. I don’t think he’ll recognize his clothes when they come back ironed. :)</p>
<p>Yes, we are going to have the laundry service for our son, and it is fairly expensive, but it’s one less thing for him to worry about. (Although he does know how to do laundry and is required to help with it at home!) Also, the plan includes cleaning sheets, towels, etc. which probably would not be washed often enough if it were completely his responsibility. I also ordered “camp labels” to iron into his clothes so they will find their way back to him from the service.</p>
<p>Well, if you guys want to spend $700 on what could cost as little as $2.50 and an hour per week, I guess it’s your choice if you have that money to throw around, but, as a student who’s been doing his own laundry all year at school, I’ll tell you this: doing your own laundry away from home is NOT THAT HARD. /end rant</p>
<p>P.S. If any of you are signing up for a service that includes the washing of ties, don’t do it. Just don’t. Many a friend of mine have ruined their ties sending them in to E&R.</p>
<p>@Tom - it depends on the dress code. If I had a child at Andover or SPS, I probably wouldn’t buy it either. It takes over an hour just to iron a weeks worth of clothes at some schools, though.</p>
<p>Re the ties: They weren’t dry cleaned?</p>
<p>Well, I told my mom not to sign me up for it, because I can do my own laundry. I’m with TomtheCat on this one; there’s no way I’m using that money to do something I can already do on my own. I’m glad Exeter doesn’t have classes on the other half of Saturdays, because I think that will be laundry day for me…</p>
<p>My d’s grandmother made it a present for her. DA is a formal campus, thus lots of clothes for dry cleaning. I can admit my d knows how to do laundry, and does it “sometimes” but not on a regular basis her at home.</p>
<p>My son will be starting his second year at boarding school. Last year he was responsible for doing his own laundry. I’m paying for the laundry service this year. Hopefully this will “free up” some of his time.</p>
<p>My child has done her own laundry for several years at BS. It really doesn’t take too long. She’ll do it while studying in her room. Throw the clothes in - study - move the clothes to the dryer - study - fold the clothes. Not that much effort. </p>
<p>She will not subject her clothes to E&R. She has many articles of clothing she loves and has seen too many of her friends clothes ruined by the cleaning service. They are not very gentle with clothes. In fact, many of her friends that had started out using the laundry program wound up doing their own laundry in subsequent years.</p>
<p>In general, girls are pickier than boys, however. Maybe for boys with khakis, polos, jeans, it isn’t so bad.</p>
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<p>I wondered about that. Taft is formal too and a lot of D’s clothes are now dry clean only. Hmm. Might have to do some more thinking about that and if it will free up her schedule. She doesn’t want to spend the money - but in the scheme of things it’s starting to feel like a drop in the bucket given the estimated costs for books I just got.</p>
<p>I always did my own…it really doesn’t take that much time at all. You go put your clothes in, figure out how long until you need to stick them in the dryer, go do something else, come back, put them in the dryer, go do something else, and then go back and get them. </p>
<p>All in all, by not doing your own you save, what, 20 minutes, tops, in your schedule? Waste of money, IMO, and I really preferred being able to do laundry when I wanted rather than have to send it off on a certain day and get it back a certain day…I’d rather do it and have it done in a couple of hours rather than a couple of days.</p>
<p>Some parents have a point with the formalwear - but all the formalwear I have at school (though, of course, I wear it a lot less at Andover than I would need to at a school with a tight dress code) is machine-washable, minus the jacket which, when treated well, should only need to be dry cleaned once a month. I just take it into downtown Andover and have it dry cleaned. I bring my books with me and after I’ve dropped off the jacket I spend some time in Starbucks, studying. Doesn’t mess with my schedule or cause any type of undue stress whatsoever.</p>
<p>Oh dear, “all the chaos living away from home” in my 30k yr fancy boarding school. Barf!! You’d have to be one spoiled, entitled child not to do your own laundry. The parents must either be rubes or a little too used to the good life themselves to allow such coddling. It does no one any good except for the cleaning services that must love this terrible rich man’s dilemma.</p>
<p>Um, parlabane, with all due respect, I think that is a little strong. There is something to be said for doing your own laundry, but I don’t see anything wrong with having your clothes ironed and nice. It’s a nice thing, it’s easier, and it’s not a big deal. No one is saying that their kids couldn’t do laundry, or that they shouldn’t because it is beneath them. But its a rather insignificant choice that some families make and some don’t-- I don’t see where the hostility comes from.</p>
<p>Too strong? Paying 45k a year for a child who can’t do his or her own laundry is beyond the pale.</p>
<p>I had laundry service. It’s convenient at times, but honestly I prefer to wash my own clothes. I trust myself more with stains and the like. There are times when I hardly have dirty clothes but it’s laundry day, so it’s either send it out anyway because I can’t for another week or don’t send it out at all. Then there are times when I desperately need laundry done but E&R doesn’t come for another 2 days and then it’s 3 days until I get my clothes back. It’s just easier for me if I can do my laundry when it needs doing. Most of my “dry clean only” stuff can easily be taken care of by turning the clothes inside out and using some woolite on the delicate cycle. Anything that absolutely has to be dry cleaned generally isn’t something I wear often anyway, so I get it dry cleaned over breaks. </p>
<p>I’m not getting the laundry service this year.</p>
<p>My mommy won’t buy me laundry service. I have to learn to myself… 
Okay anyway I think I need to wash my own clothes, one to save money, two to learn how. Like tomthecat said, I’m going to have a few quarters and an hour each week, right? It’s part of living away.
Though if I got laundry service, I know I’d be saying the opposite, but still.</p>
<p>may be expensive but will give me more time to study. We consider it part of the boarding school expense. The trade off is less spending $ and buying used text books on line. Well worth it.</p>