Camp Laundry – Did you buy detergent?
For the record, I have a J.O.B. I have about 30 of them. All you peeps who commented on my Gestapo article and told me to get one… I have news for you! I probably have more jobs than you. I am so busy that I have been trying to figure out WHEN I was going to be able to lock myself in the laundry room for 24 hours ( like my mom used to do when all my stuff came home from camp) and wash every item when the duffles return next week. It is not like I have a laundry room like this:
And then I had an idea. When I was at Syracuse, I sent my laundry out!! I never did it ( I know,I know, poor me). It came back neatly folded and very clean…. just how they do it at camp. I called my local dry cleaners ( who I LOVE by the way). Do you know I went through FIVE dry cleaners in town (there are about 20) to find Grace. Anyhooo, they were like of course we do laundry by the pound! Who knew? I mean we live in suburbia, who sends their laundry to be cleaned? (Apparently more people than you think)
Ironically at the same time I called Grace, this little update popped up on my Facebook page. It said, I shit you not:
Sleep-Away Camp is almost over.
Now come the huge trunks and overflowing duffle bags with piles & piles of
DIRTY LAUNDRY!!!
Why be chained to the Washer & Dryer for days cleaning dirty laundry?
VILLAGE LAUNDRY CENTER is here to answer your prayers.
Let us Pick Up, sort, seperate, Wash & Fold all your happy campers dirty laundry, sheets, blankets, duffle bags, sleeping bags, etc.
We will bring you back clean, folded & neatly packaged clothes and garments ready to be put away or stored until next camp season.
DON’T BE LEFT OUT
CALL NOW TO SCHEDULE A SPOT TO ENSURE YOU ARE ON OUR LIST
So I called them, hoping they would answer my prayers!!! It turns out they do pick up and deliver! You do not have to bring those filthy duffles inside.
This truck will come pick up all your kids dirty clothes! Plus their laundry is Organic which means they do not use any soap with perfumes or dyes. They will either pick up your duffles without you inspecting them, meaning you can give them to Village Laundry with dead frogs, tennis racquets and cleats OR you can sort through it and give them exactly what you want cleaned.
Laundry by the lb – $1.40 lb (includes shirts, socks, shorts,underwear, pants). There is a 10lb minimum.
Sleeping bag – $19 (sleeping bags can burn when washed so they must be washed carefully)
Pillow – $4
Rugs – $4-6 (depending on size)
They also have LICE LAUNDRY! If your bedding has been infested, they have special cleaning elimination. It is obviously more expensive than their regular cleaning due to the specialized process.
I am assuming that everybody in their town has a service like this…I think there actually may be more cleaners than nail salons in this country. Could that be true?
Village Laundry is offering $10 off the $50 or more in Laundry services. You must call to schedule an appointment 973-783-7045. The turn around time is 48 hours!
I am sure some of you are reading this thinking, “Girl, this is old news…been there , do that (every summer)”. GUESS WHAT FOLKS – This is my first time at this rodeo. First time the gross duffles are being dropped off, first time my kid is coming home after 7 weeks. Yup, FIRST TIME. So cut me some slack and let me enlighten all the First Time Sleepaway Camp Moms. Hell, maybe you even have some laundry pointers! Do share!!
We were always away when the camp trunks came home so my mom took them to the laundry for me. Last year I took them and they charged me almost $200 because they charged separately for each blanket. My son brings about 4. So I would make sure little blankets are weighed. This year I will wash those at home.
This is a great idea! I would definitely use this service if my kids went to sleep away camp. So worth the money. I have to tell you, when I came across the line in your blog about you sending your laundry out while in college, I just smiled. You really did that?? As a college student you actually had money to spend on this service? Kudos to you!
This is the first year that my daughter was at camp long enough to have laundry service. If you think those clothes really got clean… think again. My daughter told me that her underwear was still dirty, and of course things were lost (I expected that, and didn’t send anything that I didn’t want ruined.) One of her cabin mates told me that her parents came on visiting day with a fresh load of clothes and just took the dirty ones home!
I think my favorite part of the Facebook ad is the ‘don’t be left out’ line. Of all the things to be worried about! “Oh no, everyone is sending their laundry out but me! I must follow the crowd in everything, or else I WILL BE LEFT OUT!” If you want to send the laundry out, that’s fine, but it’s not a crisis or anything 😉
This is my brother’s business, AMAZING! Seriously a HUGE time saver, and I love that everything comes back organized for next summer! Not only do I recommend every camp parent that has used them in the past raves about them!
DO NOT let that stuff in your house!!! Little kid camp laundry is THE WORST! All manners of flora and fauna! Send it out. Don’t even LOOK at it or it will try to eat you. IT CAN SENSE YOUR FEAR!! I always have told my kids to throw away the socks at camp they’re forever again unwearable. Don’t even get me started on the moldy bathing suits…and with that said, IS IT SATURDAY YET??? I can’t wait until they are mine again!
I actually don’t mind doing camp laundry. Last year my girls’ laundry came home “clean” and folded vs. my son’s which was damp, not folded and really smelly. Regardless of the state of the laundry, I wash it all in HOT water, Not sure if the way the laundry returns home is a reflection of the camp or the gender of the child. My daughters attend a different camp than my son, so it is really hard to determine which it is?!
Well, last year my son’s trunks were left outside for 3 days in Maine until camp baggage picked them up. Well it down poured the last day, so I had the pleasure of two soaking wet trunks, delivered to my house. I opened one and everything inside was wet and smelly! Thank you to Tweeds, who picked up my son’s trunks and managed to take the smell away, cleaned everything ( including the trunks ) then neatly wrapped everything up for this summer’s packing. I have already called for this years pick up.
This is my 6th rodeo, and I had no idea about this service! So thank you for enlightening even an old cowgirl. My husband always does the camp laundry, and my only involvement is to insist that the trunks NOT come in the house. Although I have told my son every year to throw away his socks instead of bringing them home, he always brings them home. Maybe just to taunt me 😉 Also, beware of open bottles of toiletries – yuck. I’m going to look into this laundry service this year.
I always did it myself. Another suggestion would be a laundromat. Only one yr out of many, did the clothing come home disgusting. Laundry is not a big deal to me. Cooking, whole different story! That someone else would doing for sure! Good luck!
My mom used to hit the laundromat with the camp duffles – she’d take a book and do everything – for all four kids – at once! I have emulated her and done the same thing every summer! Here in California sending your kids to camp all summer is not the norm – a few weeks at a time is what tends to happen. Even so – I would have loved to send it all out! We do have a cool laundromat with wi-fi and a coffee bar that I actually enjoyed when I went a few summers ago!