Laundromat vs Washer and Dryer Calculator
How many months a washer and dryer take to pay for themselves against the laundromat, and what each costs over the years you choose.
Result
Months until the machines pay for themselves: 20.7 monthsEstimate
Depends on the per-load costs you enter, which change with prices and with how you do laundry.
- Saving per month
- $67.60Estimate
- Laundromat over the years chosen
- $7,488.00Estimate
- Own machines over the years chosen
- $2,398.40Estimate
- Laundromat less own machines
- $5,089.60Estimate
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Results are arithmetic from the amounts and rates you enter. The site publishes no tax rate, threshold or tipping convention, and rates vary by jurisdiction and change. Check the rate on your receipt, invoice or tax authority guidance, and confirm anything that matters with a qualified adviser. Read the full disclaimer
How to use the Laundromat vs Washer and Dryer Calculator
- Enter how many loads you do a week, what one wash and dry costs at the laundromat, and what one costs at home.
- Enter the price of the washer and dryer and any delivery and installation.
- Add travel to the laundromat, and under more options any yearly repairs and a resale value, then choose how many years to compare.
Buying machines against paying per load
saving a year = 52 × (loads a week × (laundromat − home cost per load) + travel a week) − repairs a yearpayback months = (price + installation) ÷ (saving a year ÷ 12)Every load done at home instead of at the laundromat saves the difference between the two per-load costs. Those savings pay back the price of the machines over time. The payback is the number of months the savings take to add up to what you paid, and it shortens as you do more loads or as the laundromat’s price rises.
Reviewed’s “Laundro-Math” article used the same idea with yearly figures: payback in years is the machine price divided by the yearly difference in cost. For one load a week the saving can be small enough that the payback runs to decades, while a household doing many loads can recover the cost within a couple of years.
The totals over time
Over the years you choose, the page adds up everything each way. The laundromat total is every load plus travel. The machines total is the purchase and installation, every load at home, the yearly repairs, less what you might sell them for at the end. The difference between the two is what owning saves or costs over that span.
What it assumes
Your laundry stays the same from week to week, and the per-load prices do not change. It does not include the value of your time, the space machines take, or the cost of running a new water or power supply to them, and it makes no suggestion about which to choose.
With your numbers
- Saving a year = 52 × (4 × ($4.50 − $0.60) + $5.00) − $60.00 = $1,011.20
- Saving a month = $1,011.20 ÷ 12 = $84.27
- Payback = $1,550.00 ÷ $84.27 = 18.4 months
Quick reference
Depends on the per-load costs you enter, which change with prices and with how you do laundry.
| Example | Months until the machines pay for themselves |
|---|---|
| Worked example: 4 loads a week | 18.4 |
| One load a week, as in Reviewed’s example | 276.3 |
| Family of five, 8 loads a week | 11.5 |
| Stacked pair for 2 loads a week | 88.3 |
| 6 loads a week over 5 years | 15.4 |
| Washer-dryer combo, 3 loads a week | 23.2 |
Common questions about the Laundromat vs Washer and Dryer Calculator
- What goes into the home cost per load?
- The electricity or gas for the washer and dryer, the water, and the detergent. If you use detergent at the laundromat too, include it in both per-load figures or neither, so it does not tilt the comparison. The appliance upgrade and electricity bill calculators can help work out the energy part.
- Why does resale not change the payback?
- Payback counts how long the savings take to return the money paid up front, and a resale only comes back at the end. It is included in the totals over the years you choose, where it lowers the cost of owning.
- Why is a year 52 weeks?
- It keeps the arithmetic in whole weeks of laundry, the way most people count loads. A year is a day or two longer than 52 weeks, which changes the answer by well under one percent.
- What if the machines never pay back?
- If a load at home costs as much as a load at the laundromat, after travel and repairs, there is no monthly saving and the page says so instead of showing a payback.
- Does it count my time?
- No. Time spent waiting at the laundromat, or the space the machines take at home, matter to many people, but they are not money the page can add up. Travel costs are included if you enter them.
- How is this different from the appliance upgrade calculator?
- That page compares the running costs of two appliances you might own. This one compares owning machines with not owning them at all.