No matter who you are, where you live, or what your personal style is, laundry is an inevitable part of life. Not only is doing laundry a tedious and time-consuming endeavor, but it can also be a significant challenge if you wear delicate fabrics or high-end, custom-made garments.
For these reasons and many more, here is an overview of what a laundress does and how to find a proper laundress for your household.
What Is Laundress?
A laundress is a professional who is employed to clean and maintain clothes, linens, and other household fabrics. Laundresses are often employed in private homes and are part of a larger household staffing team to cater to an individual’s or a family’s needs. They are one of many wonderful types of domestic staff members that we work with at Household Staffing International.
Common Duties of a Laundress
As the name suggests, laundresses typically focus their attention on the laundry of a household, which may include clothing, undergarments, coats, sheets, towels, and upholstery. This household professional will wash, dry, steam, and iron clothes. Laundresses also mend clothes that have been ripped or torn by sewing them, patching them, and replacing buttons.
It is also common for a laundress to keep their clients’ laundry, closets, and drawers well-organized so that all items are easily identified and located. This includes seasonal clothing items that may need to be stored away for a few months before being retrieved and refreshed. Also, a laundress may drop off and pick up items that require special handling at the local dry-cleaning shop to handle this errand for clients.
Other Potential Laundress Tasks
While some laundresses’ duties are confined strictly to laundry, others are versatile household professionals who can willingly handle other tasks as well. For example, a laundress may be able to help you pick out and pack clothing for an upcoming vacation or business trip. Depending on the size of your household and your arrangement with your laundress, your hired employee may also be able to assist with light cleaning and decluttering tasks around the house that are outside of the scope of just laundry.
Professional Laundress Qualifications
Being a laundress typically does not require specialized formal education or a professional certification. Instead, laundresses become qualified for the work they do though extensive on-the-job training and by gaining experience to work their way up in the industry. Many discerning families will require a laundress to have at least three to five years of professional laundering experience in a private home.
Qualities of a Great Laundress
As a general rule, laundresses should have extensive knowledge about caring different types of fabric, cleaning products and tools, and experience in caring for designer clothing and linens. Other desirable laundress qualifications include good communication skills, having dependable transportation to get to work, and being able to pay close attention to details. Many families will also look for a laundress to be open-minded to occasional errands and general daily housekeeping duties.
Where to Find the Best Laundress for Your Needs
If you could use some assistance with your laundry and garment needs, Household Staffing International can help. We work with the very best laundresses in the industry and will assist you with finding and hiring an expertly skilled and knowledgeable one.
To tell us more about your laundry needs, please fill out our family application via online form. Or you can call us at 212-683-7722 to explain what you’re looking for and learn about the next steps involved in hiring a professional laundress for your home. We look forward to serving you and helping to alleviate the burden of laundry from your life!