Laundry and dry clean
Laundry and dry clean
Pre-Christmas laundry in Sydney is priced simply at WashMate: wash and fold from $9.90 per kilo, weighed on arrival, with dry cleaning and bedding priced per item. For a quote, email info@washmate.com.au
It happens every year. Somewhere around the second week of December you open the wardrobe for the work Christmas party and find the good shirt still carries a faint mark from the last event. The tablecloth is folded in the cupboard with a gravy shadow nobody dealt with. And the spare-room doona has not been washed since the in-laws left in January.
None of it is hard to fix, as long as you find it early. This guide walks through an audit you can do this month, then a week-by-week plan for getting everything cleaned, pressed and ready.
Because three things land at once. Party season fills the calendar from late November, so outfits get worn and needed again within days. Hosting brings out items most people only clean once a year, such as tablecloths, napkins, guest bedding and spare towels. Meanwhile everyone else is trying to get the same things done in the same fortnight.
Cleaning that gets these pieces right takes time. Our standard turnaround is three to five business days, and an older stain may need more than one treatment. Starting early leaves room for that, instead of discovering a problem the night before you need the item.
Set aside thirty minutes this month and go through everything you will use between now and the new year. Do it in daylight, because indoor light hides marks.
Try on anything you plan to wear to a function. Look for marks at the collar, cuffs and underarms, loose sequins or beads, dropped hems, and anything that smells stale after months in the wardrobe. Write down the date you need each piece. Our Christmas party dry cleaning guide covers how to rotate outfits across several functions.
Then pull out the table linen, napkins, guest sheets, spare towels and the guest doona, and unfold them fully. Yellow lines along folds, faint food marks and a musty smell all mean more than a quick wash. If the smell is the problem, our guide to why clothes smell musty in Sydney humidity explains what is happening in the fibre.
You will end up with three groups: things needed for early functions, things needed for hosting, and everyday washing. That list is your plan.
Start with what you will use last but what takes longest to get right. Stained table linen, guest doonas and pillows benefit most from going out early, because old marks have had a year to set. Our doona and bedding cleaning guide explains what is involved for bulky items.
Send out anything for the first functions of the season. Suits, blazers, cocktail dresses and anything with sequins, silk or structured tailoring should go to dry cleaning rather than the home machine.
Book business shirts in for shirt ironing so you are not pressing late at night before a client lunch. Anything worn to an early function that you need again goes back out straight away, before stains set.
By now the big items are done. What is left is regular washing, guest towels and whatever came back from the first parties. Our laundry service handles everyday wash and fold, and it is the easiest category to top up as you go.
Yes, and you do not need to sort anything by service first. Mixed loads are fine: put the tablecloth, the party dress, the work shirts and the guest sheets in the same bag, and each item is sorted and cleaned by the right method. Collection is contactless, so the bag can sit at your door or with building concierge while you are at work.
Pickup and delivery runs across Sydney metro seven days from $15 per order, and booking online takes about two minutes. If the party season is always this full, a weekly laundry service through November and December takes the planning off your plate entirely.
A few pre-Christmas items are genuinely risky at home. Red wine and gravy on cotton table linen often look gone after a hot wash, then reappear as a brown mark once dried, because heat sets oils and tannins. Sequinned and beaded outfits can lose embellishments in a machine. Wool-blend suits can shrink or lose their shape if washed instead of dry cleaned.
Not every stain comes out completely, and an old one is always harder than a fresh one. We inspect before processing and tell you what we expect to achieve. See the pricing page for the current list, or email a photo to info@washmate.com.au for an approximate quote.
Laundry is charged at $9.90 per kilo, weighed on arrival, so a bag of mixed everyday washing is priced on what it actually weighs. Dry cleaning and bedding are priced per item, because the work involved varies so much between a shirt and a structured jacket.
The full list is on the pricing page. If you are not sure what a piece will cost, email a photo to info@washmate.com.au and we will come back with an approximate figure before you commit to anything.
One pickup fee covers the whole order, however many services it spans. So the tablecloth, the party dress and the guest sheets travelling together cost the same to collect as a single shirt would.
Yes. December is peak season for everyone in this trade, because households discover the same problems in the same few weeks. Work still moves at the usual pace, but there is less slack in the schedule if something needs a second treatment.
That is the practical reason to start in November rather than December. An item sent early gets the time it needs. An item sent on the 20th gets whatever time is left.
Start in November. That is the whole point.
Audit everything in daylight first. Then send the slow items early, because stains that have sat for a year need the most time. Next come the outfits for the first functions. Finally, top up the everyday washing as you go.
Above all, do not leave table linen or a party outfit until the week of the event. There is no slack in the schedule then, and neither is there in ours.
Mid to late November for anything bulky or stained, such as table linen, guest doonas and pillows. Outfits for early-December functions should go out in the last week of November. Standard turnaround is three to five business days, and an old stain may need a second treatment, so the earlier it arrives the better.
Yes. Mixed loads are fine, because every item is sorted on arrival and cleaned by the method that suits it. Garments, bedding and towels are handled separately once they reach us, so you only pay one pickup fee.
Because heat sets oils and tannins rather than lifting them. Gravy, butter and red wine can look gone while the cloth is wet, then oxidise into a brown mark as it dries. Air dry and check before anything goes near a dryer.
Pickup and delivery is from $15 per order across Sydney metro, seven days a week. One fee covers the whole order, however many items or services it includes.
Book a pickup and we will collect across Sydney metro seven days from $15 per order, inspect everything properly, and tell you honestly what will and will not come out. Drop-offs are welcome at Surry Hills and Leichhardt. Book online, email info@washmate.com.au or call 0403 861 744.
Follow @washmate.sydney on Instagram for before-and-after garment transformations, care tips and a look behind the scenes at how our Sydney team works.
