9 Secret Ways To Save Money On Dry Cleaning

There’s no two ways about it; dry cleaning is expensive.

Luckily though, there are all sorts of creative ways to save money on your dry cleaning bill.

You see – what you may not know about me is that I spent two years running a dry cleaners not so long ago. That meant I was in the perfect position to spot all sorts of potential money-saving tips – which I’m now going to share with you.

Be Realistic About What Dry Cleaning Actually Does

Too many of my customers seemed to believe that dry cleaning was some magic elixir that could make any garment look brand new. Not surprisingly, it can’t. Dry cleaning can be good for removing everyday dirt and marks and it certainly reduces color loss in sensitive garments but it’s not perfect.

It isn’t very good, for example, at getting rid of really ground-in dirt and it also isn’t as effective as wet-washing for getting rid of smells (body odor and the like). Consequently if any of your garments are suffering from these kinds of problems you may well be disappointed with the final result.

The fact is though that no matter what the result, your dry cleaner will almost certainly expect you to pay for the cleaning charge, even if the improvement is so minimal that you’re basically going to take the garment home and throw it in the bin!

By understanding what dry cleaning can and can’t do, you’ll know you’re only paying to clean garments that will benefit from dry cleaning in comparison to good old fashioned washing.

Learn Your Your Care Labels

While some items must be dry cleaned, others simply can be dry cleaned.

It’s an important distinction.

Many customers would drop off a garment to us that could either be dry cleaned or washed in a standard machine – and in most cases a proper machine wash will actually get rid of more dirt than a dry cleaning cycle.

But how are you to know? Quite simply take some time to get to know your care labels. Ask your dry cleaner to help explain a label or ask the assistant when you buy a new garment.

Knowing which items can be washed or dry cleaned gives you the upper hand. You can opt to dry clean the item if you like – which will cost more but help to reduce color fading. Or you can machine wash at home which, over the lifetime of the garment, will save you a fortune.

Beware Of “Danger” Fabrics

Some fabrics can cause dry cleaners like me to break out into a cold sweat. They’re fabrics that basically won’t hold their color – meaning they’re virtually impossible to treat for stains and marks.

We don’t like to add any chemicals at all to these garments – quite often they’ll get a standard dry clean and if there are marks remaining then that’s just too bad. Treatment would likely leave a nice white patch on your favorite garment. And land us with a bill for the damage.

So what are these danger fabrics and how will knowing about them save you money? The two riskiest fabrics of all for stain removal are silk and linen. The color literally leaches out if you’re not careful.

That means that taking a stained linen or silk garment into the cleaners means that once again you might pay through the nose for an item that looks almost identical to when you took it in.

That also means that if you’re considering buying a silk or linen garment, you’ll either want to limit it’s use to only the cleanest of environments or select a white garment. I can attack a pair of white linen trousers all day long without risk because there is no color to be lost.

Sneaky Money Saving Trick: silk garments such as gentlemen’s ties or ladies blouses have a nasty habit of suffering from water marks. These may be rain drops, sweat marks or whatever. However dry cleaning alone generally won’t get rid of these water marks while machine washing them would ruin them. So what’s the answer?

Take the garment and hang it up on a clothes hanger, then spray it with fresh water from a houseplant mister. Then allow the garment to dry naturally. Some hours later you should find that the water marks are noticeably improved – if not gone altogether. Repeat as necessary; a few tries may be needed to eliminate serious water marks.

Frankly, this is exactly what most dry cleaners will do behind the scenes – except you can do it yourself at home and save a fortune!

Plan Ahead

Many dry cleaners charge a premium for “rush” orders. If you’re willing to wait a little while for your cleaning you’ll often be charged at a lower rate. So don’t leave your dry cleaning to the morning to that wedding reception; try planning well in advance so you can make use of the slower – yet cheaper – cleaning service available.

Ignore Tempting Add-Ons

Dry cleaners love to try and sell you more than just your dry cleaning. Many of them (including me, not so many years ago) are set targets for add-on sales so they’ll constantly try to “recommend” other services and products to increase your bill.

Be strong. Ignore the lint roller, the scented drawer liners or the semi-permanent crease in your trousers. You probably don’t really need it – no matter what they tell you – and even if you do it’s probably cheaper at the supermarket.

Ask About Workplace Vouchers

Some larger companies have schemes in place that will entitle you to either free or discounted dry cleaning. If in doubt, try asking your boss or checking out your benefits to see if any such offer exists. If not, try suggesting it as an idea for the future; you’d be surprised how much discount some dry cleaners are willing to offer to win a whole new crowd of customers.

Look For Incentive Schemes

Dry cleaners operate in a competitive market; in many ways one dry cleaner is the same as another. To win business, then, many will operate a permanent incentive or discount scheme, or alternatively one-off promotions.

So try visiting different dry cleaners in your area to see if what offers and discounts they have available. Sign up for loyalty schemes and keep an eye out for vouchers and special offers.

Clean Matching Sets Together

Pairs of curtains, jackets and trousers, cushion covers; many items taken to a dry cleaners are used together. And while dry cleaning generally causes less color loss than machine washing, that won’t always be the case. Repeated cleaning can worsen the problem further.

You try dry cleaning your suit trousers each week, but do your jacket only once a month and pretty soon your “suit” won’t match any longer. Clean one curtain from a pair to “see how it comes out” and when you put it back up it’ll likely either be a slightly different color or it will be a few inches shorter than the other one.

Color loss and some minor shrinkage are a fact of life with dry cleaning; and especially for soft furnishing can be tremendously difficult to predict.

The key lesson is this; dry clean matching items together. If you choose not to, it may be that soon enough you’ll need to buy a new set and start all over again. You have been warned 😉

Look For Machine Washable Clothing

Finally the most obvious way to save money at the dry cleaners is to not go at all! Once you’ve learned how to identify care labels so you know whether something is dry-clean only before purchase, try buying only machine washable clothes.

This may be easier for some garments than others; many shirts, trousers and jumpers can easily be machine washed. But even some machine washable dresses and work suits are now available if you look hard enough.

How much do you spend on dry cleaning each month? What are your favorite strategies for spending less on dry cleaning? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below…