Free laundry cost calculator. Add up electricity, water, detergent and machine cost per load at home, compare with laundromat prices, and see which is cheaper.
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The calculator first builds your true home cost per load: energy per load times your electricity rate, plus water and detergent cost per load, plus machine amortization (purchase price divided by lifespan in years times loads per year). It multiplies the per-load cost by your loads per week to get weekly totals, scales to monthly (x52/12) and annual (x52), and does the same for the laundromat price per load, so the comparison is apples to apples. Annual savings is the laundromat total minus the home total; a negative number means the laundromat is cheaper for your usage. All results are planning estimates, not professional financial advice.
This calculator builds your true home cost per load from four parts, then compares it with laundromat pricing. Electricity cost per load is your energy use per load in kWh multiplied by your electricity rate. Water cost per load and detergent cost per load are your own figures from your bills and detergent prices. Machine amortization (appliance depreciation) is the washer and dryer purchase price divided by lifespan in years times loads per year, which spreads the purchase over every load the machines will ever wash.
Home cost per load is the sum of those four parts. Weekly home cost is the per-load cost times your loads per week, monthly is the weekly figure times 52 divided by 12, and annual is the per-load cost times loads per week times 52. The laundromat side is simpler: laundromat price per load times your loads, scaled the same way. Annual savings is the laundromat annual total minus the home annual total. A negative savings number means the laundromat is cheaper for your usage, which can happen at very low loads per week when the machine's fixed cost never pays back. All results are planning estimates, not professional financial advice.
Choose your currency first. Enter how many loads of laundry you do per week, then your electricity rate per kWh, which you will find on your utility bill. For energy per load, count both washer and dryer: a full wash-and-dry cycle typically runs 1 to 3 kWh, while a cold wash hung to dry can be under 0.3 kWh (calculatorzilo.com).
Enter your water cost per load and detergent cost per load (a carefully measured dose of concentrated liquid is cheapest per load; pods cost more). Then enter what you paid, or would pay, for the washer and dryer together, and how many years you expect them to last. Finally, enter the laundromat price per load in your area. The calculator immediately shows your home cost per load, weekly, monthly and annual totals for both options, and which one wins. If you already own the machines and would not replace them, set the machine cost to zero to see operating costs only.
The dryer dominates. A typical electric dryer draws 2 to 4 kWh per load (calculatorzilo.com), and the dryer accounts for 75 to 85 percent of laundry energy cost (ecoenergycalc.com). That is why air-drying is the single biggest saving move: households spend roughly $150 to $250 a year just running the washer and dryer (ecoenergycalc.com), and most of that is the dryer, so that is where you save the most.
Water use depends on machine type: a high-efficiency washer uses about 20 gallons per load, a standard machine about 35, and a top-loader about 45 (overcalculator.com). Detergent is the smallest line: liquid detergent runs $0.20 to $0.40 per load and pods $0.30 to $0.50 (noscrubs.com), with carefully measured concentrated liquid the cheapest option (calculatorzilo.com). Appliance depreciation (amortization) is the line most people forget: an $800 washer-dryer pair lasting 10 years at 5 loads a week adds about $0.31 per load (calculatorzilo.com), and a $1,500 set at 4 loads a week for 5 years works out at $1.73 per load (thedutchmanslaundry.com). Ignore it and home washing looks much cheaper than it is.
Take calculatorzilo.com's worked example: $0.25 detergent, 1.2 kWh at $0.18, $0.20 water and $0.15 extras gives $0.82 per load at home. Five loads a week costs $4.08 a week, $17.68 a month and $212.16 a year. The same 260 loads at a $5.50 laundromat costs $1,430 a year, so home washing saves $1,217.84 a year. Published 2026 figures put home loads at $0.50 to $2.00 (calculatorzilo.com), while a laundromat wash-and-dry totals $4.50 to $8 before detergent (thepricer.org), so the laundromat runs roughly five to eight times the per-load price.
A second example from agentcalc.com: 20 loads a month at $1.40 per load at home ($0.50 energy, $0.30 water, $0.20 detergent, $0.40 amortization) costs $28 a month, versus $3.00 a load plus $0.50 travel at the laundromat for $70 a month, a $42 monthly saving. Four laundromat loads a week at $5.75 per wash-and-dry cycle costs about $1,196 a year before detergent and transport (thepricer.org). The pattern is consistent: home wins on price for normal usage, and the gap is widest for families doing many loads a week. Large laundromat washers can be more cost-effective per pound when filled properly, but a partial load erases that advantage (thedutchmanslaundry.com).
If you are deciding whether to buy machines or keep using the laundromat, the break-even formula tells you how long the purchase takes to pay back: break-even loads equals the total appliance ownership cost divided by the savings per load versus the laundromat (thedutchmanslaundry.com). With a $1,800 appliance cost and $3 saved per load, you break even at 600 loads, which is just under 3 years at 4 loads a week.
The math turns against buying when usage is very low. At 1 or 2 loads a week, the machine's fixed cost is spread over so few loads that the per-load amortization can exceed the laundromat price, and the calculator will show negative savings for that case. If you go to a laundromat for years without ever buying machines, you never pay repair bills but you pay the higher per-load price every single time, which is also why laundromats can be the rational choice for short-term living: no appliance purchase, no installation, no repair bills. Use the calculator above with your real loads per week to see which side of the crossover you are on.
Wash cold. Heating water is one of the most energy-intensive parts of the cycle (calculatorzilo.com), and a hot wash adds about 0.5 kWh per load (mrcalcu.com). Modern detergents are formulated to clean well in cold water, so the saving costs you nothing in cleanliness. Always wash full loads: half loads use nearly the same water and energy, so two half loads cost almost double one full load.
If you are buying machines, a high-efficiency front-loader uses 40 to 50 percent less water and 30 to 40 percent less energy than a top-loader (mrcalcu.com), and ENERGY STAR certified washers use about 14 gallons per load versus about 20 for a standard machine (thedutchmanslaundry.com). Switch from pods to carefully measured concentrated liquid to cut detergent cost per load, and if your utility offers off-peak rates, run the machines at night (mrcalcu.com). Air-dry when you can: a cold wash hung to dry can cost under 0.3 kWh per load, which turns laundry from a dryer bill into almost nothing.
Published ranges run $0.50 to $2.00 per load (calculatorzilo.com). A typical worked example comes out at $0.82: $0.25 detergent, 1.2 kWh at $0.18, $0.20 water and $0.15 extras. Your number moves with your electricity rate, machine efficiency and whether you include the machine's purchase price.
Home washing is almost always cheaper, often by a factor of five or more (calculatorzilo.com). In one published example, 5 loads a week costs $212.16 a year at home versus $1,430 at a $5.50 laundromat, a saving of $1,217.84. Laundromats seem expensive because each machine price bundles commercial equipment, water, energy, maintenance and facility costs (thedutchmanslaundry.com). The laundromat only wins for very low usage or short-term living where buying machines makes no sense.
Yes, it really does. Heating water is one of the most energy-intensive parts of the wash cycle (calculatorzilo.com), and a heated wash adds about 0.5 kWh per load (mrcalcu.com). Switching to cold saves that energy on every load, and modern detergents are designed to work in cold water. That is money saved on every single load with no downside.
A typical electric dryer draws 2 to 4 kWh per load (calculatorzilo.com), and the dryer is 75 to 85 percent of the total laundry energy cost (ecoenergycalc.com). At $0.18 per kWh, that is $0.36 to $0.72 per load just for drying, which works out at roughly $7 to $15 a month for 5 loads a week. Air-drying eliminates most of this cost.
Usually, yes. Detergent pods run $0.30 to $0.50 per load versus $0.20 to $0.40 for liquid (noscrubs.com), and carefully measured concentrated liquid is the cheapest option of all (calculatorzilo.com). Pods charge a premium for pre-measured convenience.
Yes, amortized over its life. An $800 washer-dryer pair lasting 10 years at 5 loads a week adds about $0.31 per load (calculatorzilo.com); a $1,500 set at 4 loads a week for 5 years adds about $1.73 per load (thedutchmanslaundry.com). If the machines are already paid for and you would not replace them, you can set the machine cost to zero in the calculator to compare operating costs only.
Singles typically do 2 to 3 loads a week, while families with kids, towels, bedding and sports gear often do 8 or more (calculatorzilo.com). Published averages put typical usage around 300 loads a year, roughly 6 a week, which is a reasonable average for a family of four (noscrubs.com). That makes household size the biggest driver of total laundry spend, and your cost scales directly with this number.
With your own machines: full loads, cold water, measured liquid detergent and air-drying (thedutchmanslaundry.com). Without machines: pick a laundromat machine correctly sized for the load, since large washers are more cost-effective per pound only when filled properly. Self-service beats drop-off, which charges a premium because you are paying for the labor (thedutchmanslaundry.com).
Washing one comforter: a 60 lb washer runs about $5.50 to $10 and an 80 lb washer about $7.50 to $14, with drying adding several dollars more (thepricer.org). Comforters are one case where the laundromat makes sense even for machine owners, since home washers often cannot handle them.
At $0.82 per load and 5 loads a week, about $212 a year; at $1.78 per load and 4 loads a week, about $369 a year (see the worked examples above). Households doing 6 to 7 loads a week spend roughly $100 to $300 a year on washer and dryer energy alone (solartechonline.com).
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