by Claire
Sunday nights are always about setting out my clothing for Monday and mentally preparing outfits for the rest of the week. This is a habit that goes back to my Catholic high school days where I wore a uniform and when I got to college I had the HARDEST time figuring out wardrobe in the morning! Now..if for some reason I skip this routine at night and have to put something together in the morning…look out…it derails the entire day! I don’t have a ridiculous amount of options either–in fact, most people are surprised by my limited wardrobe that I do a lot with by mixing and matching. I set everything out—and if I don’t I scan on it and can’t fall asleep! I’ve instilled the same thing in the kids and now they make sure they have something out for the next day.
As I prepare to do this now, I see that I am faced with a dreaded trip to the dry cleaner. I am now much better about checking the labels before making a clothing purchase to avoid dry clean garments entirely but some of my more professional selections require dry cleaning. This dry cleaning industry baffles me. It bugs me that they don’t have to have their prices posted AND don’t get me started on women’s clothing costing so much more than men’s. I just don’t see a huge difference between my standard button down dress shirts and my husband’s dress shir-except mine is smaller so it should cost less! And…wouldn’t a skirt be easier to dry clean than men’s slacks? Why is the skirt always more expensive?! Is it like this everywhere in the country? I’ve tried the $1.29 sort of places and sometimes they are good and other times they are bad…and then there was the one that hit the news here that just shut down and customers could not get their clothing. I try to use coupons when I can but either way–it is an expensive option. Has anyone used those home dry cleaning kits? Dryel I think is one brand.
Anyway, back to the closet…I’ll find something for sure but my stack of black slacks (can you ever really have too many black slacks?) need to be dry cleaned!!
Born and raised in Texas. I’ve at least driven through every state in the US courtesy of a roadtrip loving Dad.
I’m single with two children and a good parenting relationship with their father.
I am a “life is just half full of funny” kinda gal. Humor is my saving grace and I am thankful for it every single day. I have a strong Catholic faith and am thankful for that foundation.
I read a lot for a living but still enjoy a good book. I love biographies but in recent years have found the need for fun fictional books–sadly, for a long time I just didn’t enjoy fiction!
I love live theatre of any kind–from local productions to Broadway.
I love to scrapbook and pride myself in my kids’ albums.
I love being a mom but also love my career. I’m blessed to have found a balance allowing me to be at everything my kids need and want me to be at–while also having a career.
Favorite Quotes: Well behaved women rarely make history.
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. -James Bryant Conant
They work! You will still occasionally still have to have clothes dry cleaned, but you can really stretch the trips. I’ve even removed a stain from the dress my daughter wore as flower girl in my wedding and then cleaned it so a friend could borrow it for her wedding.
Seconded– Dryel is fantastic. It definitely stretches out the trips.
Dryel works if it just needs a freshening up. I’ve had mixed results with the stain removal kit it includes. But I’ve also had mixed results with professional stain removal at the dry cleaners too.
Make sure your dryer vent is clean, you don’t want to breathe the chemicals in that anymore than the ones at the dry cleaners.
I haven’t tried Dryel however professional clothes more often than not, require dry cleaning. In my opinion, there is a cost to doing business and keeping up a professional appearance and dry cleaning unfortunately is part of that. I do agree that prices should be posted and yes, I do agree with you on the whole pricing strategy that dry cleaners use however I always feel that keeping a professional appearance is part of keeping youself marketable so I am less inclined to cut there.
Completely agree. Professional dry cleaning is just the cost of doing business. We spend at least $80 per month on this and cutting it is just not an option. Luckily we have “casual Fridays” that helps to keep costs down.
Dryel is best for knits (think sweaters), not wovens (dress shirts, dress pants). I have found the best way to keep things looking fresh (and I worked in apparel for 13 years, trust me those clothes go through the war before you get them home!) is to invest in a steamer and a good iron. Rotwana is a great brand for both (available at Bed Bath and Beyond), but if you can get professional quality steamers off of ebay, that’s even better. They are worth the investment because they will literally save you thousands of dollars in dry-cleaning over the years. You will look pressed, and you can steam out stains and odors to some extent. You will get three to four wears or more rather than two or three or less.
I have to admit that when it comes to my suits I pick the safe route and go for the dry cleaners. But I do try to wear them as much as possible before going.
The home kits work well.
Also, barely anything that says “dry clean only” actually has to be dry cleaned. I hand-wash cashmere and silk. Tons of bloggers do this and write about it, including with precious Hermes scarves. In fact, the only thing I pay to dry clean is a suit, and even then, it’s amazing how many times I can wear it without needing cleaning. What gets dirty is the shirt under the jacket and the underwear. And my shirts under my jackets are always machine washable. In fact, often a nice black, cotton t-shirt looks just as good under a woman’s suit jacket than a fancier top.
THAK YOOU 🙂