I rarely get anything dry cleaned. Most of my things that say dry clean I hand wash but this week I decided to take a few of my better dresses in. One being one that benefits from a nice pressing. 3 dresses, 1 sweater and 1 sport coat. Grand total of over $130 dollars. I was shocked the dresses were close to $30 each. I think it’s crazy. After a few cleanings I could buy a new dress.
I live in Ca in a coastal city.
When my D lived in San Francisco she had free dry cleaning through her job or the dry cleaner on the ground floor of her apartment building was super cheap. $10-12 for a suit. $12 for a dress.
What do you pay?
stopped 8 years ago going to one, have not needed one yet
I don’t own anything that needs to be dry cleaned but I was checking prices for some choir dresses for a chorus I sing in and it seemed to run between 12 and 15 dollars to dry clean a dress.
11 pants, 1 dress, 1 wool peacoat, 1 Boss suit… total $88 including our 9.5% tax. I go there only when Mr. runs out of clean dress slacks… otherwise, all is washable.
Wow, $30 to dry clean a dress seems high to me. I hardly own anything that MUST be dry cleaned, but we do sometimes have to dry clean a wool blazer. Even that was under $20 if I remember correctly. H has trouble with fumes he detects on clothing that has been dry cleaning, so we have to give a good airing in the living room after we dry clean anything.
Have had $200 wool slacks ruined at the dry cleaners so this pair of wool slacks I just bought is machine washable. I’d be surprised at such a high bill for so few items, but I always get price quotes before leaving garments because I dislike expensive surprises.
We pay $2.49 per item at a chain here, including formals.
I live in NYC and I don’t pay 30 to clean a dress. It is usually around 10. I have found prices can vary for the same price, so I have gotten into the habit of always asking how much before I do anything.
I just got some dresses cleaned and they ran around $13. I always look for coupons too, and sign up for emails from the local dry cleaning places to help bring the cost down (although I did not have any for the dresses I just had done).
I use dry cleaning quite a bit. Our prices aren’t CA high, but I believe we pay around $10 for a sweater or a pair of slacks.
I will send items to the dry cleaner that I could hand wash, but by dry cleaning the garment, it stays new looking. Another reason I use the dry cleaner is to avoid shrinkage caused by washing an item.
I view dry cleaning as an investment in my clothing.
One example: another friend had the exact same maternity cotton sweater that I did. She often remarked that mine looked better than hers. She was correct. She washed hers in the machine, and we all know what can happen to cotton sweaters when we wash them. It faded and became stretched out. Mine was sent to the dry cleaner and retained it’s shape AND color.
I envy people that can avoid dry cleaning! In my business, there is no wash answer option tho! A dress runs me about 23USD.
I don’t buy anything “cheap” that needs dry cleaning bc a few cleans and you could just replace it. So why bother?
I spritz the armpits of my dresses after each wear with febreze. I also let the air out overnight.
I just had two sweaters and a pair of pants cleaned. Was $36. I hand wash most of my sweaters on the hand wash cycle in washing machine but not my cashmere sweaters. I don’t like how they come out.
I wash my cashmere sweaters on the delicate/wool cycle of my front loader. The older ones, which I like to shrink just a bit because I’ve lost weight, I wash once on warm, which shrinks them half a size and makes them a bit denser and a lot warmer. DH prefers his clothes dry-cleaned. Our local cleaner charges around $6 for pretty much every kind of item, as far as I can tell. My silk blouse? $6. DH’s khaki pants (which he likes to have dry-cleaned)? $6 Dress shirt? $5. Wool sweater? $6. They use chemicals that are theoretically better for the environment and can’t always get stains out, though. They also give a 5% discount if you pay when you drop off the clothes.
It is amazing to me how much the drycleaning prices vary in my neighborhood. The quality does not seem to vary nearly as much.
I like to use the drycleaner because I don’t like to iron. But the drycleaner will wreck most things with stretch, especially knit jersey with stretch. I really can’t figure out why but it drives me nuts.
It sounds as if your dry cleaner might be marking things up to mark them down (offer a discount). Since you are not a regular customer, you probably paid full price. It’s also possible that your dry cleaner does not offer discounts, particularly in an area where there are no competitors in the immediate vicinity. That would describe my situation. I HATE paying for my dry cleaning let alone paying retail. Before I retired I was in the formalwear rental business and had my all my personal clothing dry cleaned for free.
We have a cheap option that’s 2.49 or less per item, including dresses. Usually they run a sale in the fall where comforters are about $20.
I have a lot of dry cleaning. Mostly wool dress trousers. But as long as the trousers look clean & uncrumpled, I’ll re-wear them.
Mr. B uses the same test - with one exception: a pair of trousers that travels on a plane will not get worn again after said travel.
I’m always amazed when I see passengers wearing shorts or miniskirts aboard a plane. Why would u want bare skin on those grimy seats-- yuck! X_X
I hope the whatever solvent those drycleaners use dissolves and kills the little buggers! 
I know BB is using the term “little buggers” metaphorically but I’ve always wondered they’ve ever found bed bugs on a plane 
Whatever the drycleaner charges is worth it!
ETA: I’m just back to say if you value your sanity, do NOT Google that question.