Dry cleaning clothes is a conscious financial decision that we make that is designed to make our lives easier. We make the decision to pay for a service that saves us time, hassles and provides a professional look for our attire.
While the cost of dry cleaning varies drastically from city to city and fabric to clothing piece, it is a multi-billion dollar industry that alleviates the headaches and time that we would otherwise have to endure if we cleaned our clothes ourselves.
Image Credit: mezone
Is the time we save worth the cost?
Dry cleaning is a classic opportunity cost model. We are paying for a service and time that the majority of us could accomplish on our own.
Below is a set of figures that illustrates hourly income in minutes:
- $10 per hour = $0.17 per minute
- $15 per hour = $0.25 per minute
- $20 per hour = $0.33 per minute
- $25 per hour = $0.42 per minute
- $30 per hour = $0.50 per minute
- $35 per hour = $0.58 per minute
- $50 per hour = $0.83 per minute
- $75 per hour = $1.25 per minute
- $100 per hour = $1.67 per minute
- $200 per hour = $3.33 per minute
Assume that it takes an average of five minutes per piece of clothing and the average price to dry clean an item is $2.50. Using these numbers we come to the conclusion that dry cleaning costs us $0.50 per minute and those who make less than $30 per hour are paying a premium to dry clean while those who make more than $30 per hour are actually saving money.
But wait! All of the numbers above also assume that you are making that hourly income every single hour of the day. It all boils down to how much you value your time that you would have normally spent cleaning your own clothes. It’s a personal preference that you should weigh against how much you value your time off.
Dry cleaning costs compared to income
One final example. Below is a list that compares the cost of dry cleaning compared to your income with the assumption that you spend $30 per week ($1,560 per year) on dry cleaning:
- At $10 per hour dry cleaning is 7.50% of your income.
- At $15 per hour dry cleaning is 5.00% of your income.
- At $20 per hour dry cleaning is 3.75% of your income.
- At $25 per hour dry cleaning is 3.00% of your income.
- At $30 per hour dry cleaning is 2.50% of your income.
- At $35 per hour dry cleaning is 2.14% of your income.
- At $50 per hour dry cleaning is 1.50% of your income.
- At $75 per hour dry cleaning is 1.00% of your income.
- At $100 per hour dry cleaning is 0.75% of your income.
- At $200 per hour dry cleaning is 0.38% of your income.
