Sammamish needs a laundry service. We already have pick up and drop off dry cleaning, grocery and meals and who knows what. Why not laundry?When I lived in Boston in my post-college, single days, the washing machines in my 100 year old building were down in the dirty, dank basement, ate quarters and hardly dried clothing. When I couldn't make the trek to Mom's house, I dropped off my clothes at the local laundry and got my clothes washed, dried and folded for about $15.
Did I mention I hate to do laundry? Add twenty years, a husband, a couple kids and an obsession with consignment shops--voila!--a laundry disaster.
A few years ago, I took my overwhelming heap of laundry to the ONE place I could find in the area that would do your regular laundry--Overlake Village Maytag Laundry. They don't have a website. They are tucked right next to either a QFC or Safway off 24th near Sears. The guy behind the desk laughed when I presented my five trashbags full of laundry. The $150 I spent (at $1.15 a pound) was well worth the clean, folded laundry I brought home in only two trash bags. My husband and I spent 45 minutes organizing and putting away the laundry. It was great. Until it was time to do laundry again.
For me to keep up, I need to do about two loads of laundry a day. I'm not just talking one change of clothes per person per day. There's workout wear, work clothes, lounge clothes, art projects gone bad, potty training gone bad, change of heart in the middle of the day, pjs, sheets, pillow cases, etc.
Did I mention I hate laundry? So, if I let a day or three slide without doing laundry due to illness, busy schedules, or plain old spite, the pile naturally just grows and I can never catch up. That's not true. One time, before my in-laws came, I did about eight or so loads of laundry a day for two weeks and I caught up. But, then it started to pile up again since I wasn't doing laundry while I was entertaining--I thought it might be rude.
Today, about four years after my first journey to the Overlake Village Maytag Laundry, I went again. This time with seven bags full--each about 20 pounds. "I never saw so much from one person," laughed the attendant. I didn't tell him that I didn't even include my three-year old's clothing that can be done in one or two loads.
I sucked up the mortification and told him that he could make a killing in Sammamish if he started a drop off/pick up laundry service. He didn't believe me that there was a market and wasn't interested.
So, here you go, Entrepreneurs. I may be severely laundry phobic, but I cannot be the only one who needs help with the laundry now and then. Think of working moms and dads, pregnant Moms, famiies with MANY children, the elderly, people suffering with an illness, or people like me who just cannot stand doing laundry daily.
I found a service that helps out kids living in dorms called Dorm Mom that helps students with laundry, shopping, etc so they can focus on their studies. Yeah, whatever. I think in college I had 3 hours of class a day and I only did my own laundry. You can study during the spin cycle. Why not a service called Mom's Mom? I don't need constant help...like a nanny or maid. I can certainly cook and clean and do the laundry while raising my young ones into smart, polite, dynamic people, while juggling everyone's schedule and keeping up on world events. I just a little boost now and then...set back to zero to try it all again.
Services like Month of Meals (my favorite) and Dinner's Ready have proven to be a success here. Families need help with more than meals---give us a hand with laundry! The market is there, people...take the idea and run with it! There are countless other services just like this all across the country. For example, in Saugus, Massachusetts, there's Laundry Express. In Kirkland, there's Pressed 4 Time --- perfect if their service area came reached out to Sammamish.
This is my plea to anyone looking to start a business--combine it with a latte delivery service and you'll have the happiest Mommies around.