Knee-Deep in Sheets

I love clean cotton sheets--I really do. At my business, we each did our own laundry when we were still very, very small, and I didn't mind a bit. Well, I didn't really like the hauling them to and from the business, to the car, to the house (repeat cycle), but the washing and folding process was very orderly and calming. Well... until there got to be so very many sheets, that getting my own household laundry done starting becoming a problem.

When the sheets started getting out of hand, my employer started looking at professional laundries. Now by professional laundry, I mean places like Darcie's, where individuals can go to use coin machines for their personal laundry, but where businesses can also drop off laundry to be washed and folded. The first one of these we went to charged us about $1.25 per pound to wash and fold our sheets. Sounds pretty cheap, right? Well, until you figure out that one sheet weighs roughly a pound, and that a sheet set is costing you about $2.50. And if you've basically been paying nothing while doing your own sheets, then turn around in one month and pay over $400 to a laundry for the same sheets, you can end up shocked and resentful.

Our next step would have been to get a quote from one of the larger services who deal exclusively in sheets, tablecloths, etc., and who pick up and drop off . . . cause if you're going to pay anyway, why do all that lugging? Or to ask the landlord if there was any chance of getting washer/dryer hook-ups in the basement of our building (not likely, but worth a shot). But then we thought, hmmmm, is there anyone on the team who needs extra funds? As it turns out, our newest LMP hire still had a patchy schedule, and she was willing to do the laundry for roughly $3.50 a load, detergent provided. If she charged the professional laundry fee of $1.25 a pound for one of her loads, it would be around $10--so you can easily see savings right there. The business not only saves money, but an employee who needs the cash gets it, and these sheets and loads add up.

Now at some point, this therapist's schedule may become so full that she can no longer do laundry for the business, but for now, I'm enjoying picking and choosing different top and bottom sheets for each massage on my massage table canvas. Maybe THAT'S actually my favorite part of doing the sheets :-)