Laundry Services

I hate doing laundry... really bad.  Putting stuff in the washer and dryer isn't that bad, but folding... I dread folding laundry VERY much!  So when I found out that that we were going to get to hire someone to do our laundry while we were in Thailand, I was stoked!  "No more laundry for me!!!"  I thought.  Little did I know then that my experience with laundry was going to be more difficult.

So when I got to Thailand, I searched for laundry services.  I couldn't find any close to us and I wasn't going to drag a huge bag of dirty laundry across town while toting 2 small kids so I knew that somehow I needed to find something close.  People online said to just walk down your street and look for a lady outside ironing some clothes with some clothes hanging up behind her.  Even if she doesn't have a sign, just go up and ask her and she most likely will do your laundry for you.  I looked and looked and found no one.  I met some people who were Americans and lived here and they didn't know of anyone who could do my laundry.  I did some more googling, no luck.  I went and asked the doormen downstairs of our apartment and they gave me this paper and told me to call them.  "Call them?!?  I don't speak Thai, how is that conversation going to go?"  So I chose not to.   the prices didn't look that great anyway.

During my search for laundry services, I found out that the best way to get your laundry done is by the kilo and not by each individual piece.  A good price is 70 baht per kilo.  When I tried deciphering what this sheet was trying to say, it didn't look like a good deal.

Meanwhile, I found that the mall on the ground floor of our apartment complex had a laundry service and they gave me this:

It looked like they charged my for a year 950 baht per package... but it also looked like they charged per item.  I was so confused, I tried asking them but there was a huge language barrier.

By now I was stressing pretty bad.  Our laundry pile was getting pretty huge and we were running out of clothes to wear and I had no idea how to do my laundry.  I felt so helpless and I HATE feeling that way.

Jason took the yellow price list to school and asked a Thai student what it meant.  He told him that it wasn't a good deal.

I was getting desperate and didn't care about the price so I decided to call the number on the yellow sheet.  the person who answered spoke no English and I eventually just hung up the phone.

By now I was at a point of break down.  I went out of our apartment and cried and cried.  While I was out, a lady named Wat called me.  She was in charge of laundry and told me that someone would be by my house that night to pick up my laundry to wash it!  I was so relieved!

When they came to my door, I paid them 1200 baht for 100 pieces for 4 months.  I interpreted that to each week I could give her 100 pieces of laundry and that the 1200 baht would be the payment fo rthe whole time we were in Thailand.  I specifically wrote on my google translate and asked the lady that came to pick up the laundry if I would have to pay anymore or if this was just a 1 time fee.  She said yes, I would only have to pay once.  But Wat started asking me for money and I got confused why I had to pay and there was this huge language barier.  And it came to a point that I told her no I wasn't going to pay her (because I thought she was trying to rip me off) and I have no proof but I think she was holding part of my laundry hostage because of it.

The second week, I counted all of the laundry I gave her and made sure that it did not go over 100 pieces.  In fact, I had it at 92 pieces just to make sure that I didn't go over just in case I miss counted.  That time she wanted more money!  I told her no way because I knew I didn't go over the 100 pieces mark.

I washed all the extra laundry that I couldn't give her in the sink of my bathroom.

I had to put my face wash on the drain plug to keep the water from draining. ☺

Then one day I figured out that the prices on both of these sheets of paper where prices for laundry that was supposed to be washed, dried, and IRONED.

I figured it out when all my kids jammies were pressed and during our money dispute Wat mentioned in an email (this is how we communicate) that she would do my baby laundry for 30 baht per kilo.

Long story short, we somehow came to an agreement that she would do all our laundry for 30 baht a kilo.  We still have a credit of like 16 pieces so if Jason needs his white church shirt ironed.  I just put it on a hanger and tell Wat in the email, and she does a great job.

SO NOW I THINK I HAVE IT FIGURED OUT...

So the laundry service is wash, dry, and IRON.  The part where it says 50 pieces/ 1 month is 600 baht.  You are paying to get 50 things washed, dried, and ironed each month.  So each month (or every time you went over 50) you would need to pay another 600 baht.  If you didn't use the 50 pieces that month, you would still need to pay the next month because the "contract" was only valid for 1 month and expires at the end of 30 days.

Even if the laundry person's price list does not have a price per kilo, ask them about it.  Put it in google translate, try every way you can think of to get them to understand what you are trying to ask.  Because they may not understand.  The internet says 70 baht per kilo is a good price, I've seen that a lot of places to it for 40 baht a kilo so anything cheaper than that is a great deal.  This price is for wash, dry, and most likely fold. So every time you get your laundry washed, you pay for it depending on how much it weighs.  I have 2 small kids that go through a lot of laundry so our average size is 13 kilos per week.  Sometimes it is more though.

My laundry lady is very unpredictable.  I never know when she will give me my laundry.  Sometimes it takes 4 days to wash and get it to me.  The other day it was all done (all 17 kilos of it) the same day she picked it up!  That was a bummer because just I washed my toddler's blanket in the sink and hung it outside to dry because I was worried that it would take 4 days to get it back if I had the laundry lady do it and he can't sleep without his blanket so that would have been bad.  But the laundry was done early and I could have given them his blanket to wash.

 I don't trust them with stuff that shouldn't be put in the dryer so I usually hand wash that stuff.  I also hand wash pillow cases and stuff because there is only one set of sheets for each bed here.

 But when all is said and done, it is nice to get this delivered to my door.  All my nice, clean and folded.

Good luck with finding someone to do yours!!!