Dry Cleaning and Laundry Tips

Door-to-door laundry services are for your convenience. We exist to take care of laundry problems that average households can’t solve, and our services give you more time to devote to your work, family, or yourself. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, men spend five minutes while women spend 17 minutes doing laundry-related chores. That’s 25 minutes and nearly two hours per week of doing laundry, respectively. This is the minimum amount of time that you get back when you subscribe to a valet laundry service.

However, paying for this service doesn’t mean that you do absolutely nothing but hand over your laundry. You still have to prepare your laundry, but don’t worry because it won’t take so much of your time or energy.

From your trusted dry cleaners and laundry specialists in Bloomington, here are a few reminders and tips on how to prepare your clothes before sending them our way.

1. Indicate which items of clothing are stained.

A lot of stains become indistinguishable, the longer you wait to wash them. Ideally, you should rinse stains immediately or as quickly as possible to prevent them from permanently imprinting on the fabric. If circumstances won’t let you do this, the best you can do is send the item of clothing to your laundry service as soon as possible. Write a note indicating the cause of the stain, and when it happened, then mark the spot with masking tape. This should take only two minutes of your time, and it will help us figure out the best way to remove the stain without damaging the fabric.

1. Indicate which items have special washing instructions, if any.

Got clothes with precise laundry instructions, like wash in warm water or dry clean only? Include them in your laundry note. Although most experienced laundry staff can tell by the texture and coloring of a garment if it needs dry cleaning, laundry, color bleaching, or some other treatment, it helps to know the manufacturer’s cleaning method just to be sure.

1. Empty your pockets.

A must-do, yet often overlooked by many customers of laundry pick-up services. Pieces of paper may seem harmless, but the colors might bleed through your pockets and become visible stains if they have prints on them. A tube of lipstick, lip gloss, sign pen, or candy tucked into concealed pockets can also damage your clothes if they wind up in the wash with a whole load.

1. Separate items for dry cleaning from your regular laundry.

If writing notes is too much work, simply pack the clothes you want to dry clean from the rest of your laundry. This way, you can be sure that our staff will clean your clothes exactly the way you want.

1. Prepare a zippered bag or disposable bag for your first pick-up.

After you’ve sorted your clothes, put them in laundry bags with zippers or ties. Baskets with large holes or no covers are highly inconvenient: your smaller pieces of laundry could fall through and get lost while in transit. It’s better to put them in closed bags that when you send them to the dry cleaners, especially if it’s your first time.

Although we do our very best at Starcrest Cleaners to prevent losses, it’s best not to take any chances with the safety of your possessions.

1. Leave your laundry with reliable people.

If you’re not home on the day of your laundry’s pick-up schedule, leave it in the care of the right people, and inform your cleaners of the change in the pick-up location. It’s safer, for example, to entrust your laundry bags with the concierge or front desk of your condominium building instead of leaving them out on the hallway. Alternatively, you can ask a trustworthy neighbor who’ll be home all day for the same favor.

Follow these simple tips to prevent accidental damage to your clothes and avoid delays in your laundry pick-up.

If you have more questions on how to pack your laundry or want to know more about our valet laundry service, contact Starcrest Cleaners anytime. Reach us at (877) 722 2209 or send an inquiry through our contact form.