[ams6110]

The whole concept crystalizes what I never liked about living in big cities. The tiny apartments with no amenities and the endless expenses to get basic stuff done.

My scenario, since I own a house with a washer and dryer: It's 5PM, I realize I need clean clothes for the next day. I spend 2 minutes gathering them up and putting them in the washer, then go back to my beer, or whatever else I'm working on. An hour later, I spend 60 seconds loading the clean clothes into the dryer. 30 minutes after that, give or take, I spend 5 minutes folding them and putting them away.

No scheduling. No waiting for SMSs and pickups. No giving strangers keys to my home. $25 still in my pocket (and given the time I spent, I paid myself a $180/hr rate in that savings).

But hey, if they can make a business out of it, more power to them. Doesn't hurt my feelings any.

[drstewart]

It may surprise you to learn that people in cities were able to get laundry done before Prim started.

Also, it costs me about $2.50 to do a load of laundry (washer + dryer), which is basically what it costs you (see: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html). And it's in my building.

So I'm not sure which concept crystalizes this notion for you, but it's not one based in reality.

[tlrobinson]

"I'm not sure which concept crystalizes this notion for you"

Because the parent commenter implied it takes an hour of full time work to do laundry, which implies having to go to a laundromat.

But yeah, plenty of apartments in cities have washer/dryers.

[bobwaycott]

Using national averages for electricity and water, it only costs $0.76 to complete a load of laundry (washing & drying).

[voltagex_]

What figures were you using? I'd like to put the current New South Wales, Australia electricity price into the equation.

[bobwaycott]

My calculations are here[1].

Basically, $2/1000 gallons of water & $0.10/kWh for electricity (I did not bother calculating for gas dryers) were the most recent US averages I could find, and that was rounding up (e.g., electricity was actually > $0.09 but < $0.10).

I used this calculator[2], and plugged in appropriate values where I could find most current data.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6107020 [2] http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html

[voltagex_]

Sorry, I missed your initial comment.

Even with lowball estimates, my cost for washing is double yours - 30+c/kWh... sigh.

[icebraining]

There are actually some nice 2L washers, which you don't even need to install, just plug in. jmduke might prefer the laundromat, but it's not needed even if you live in a big city.