Laundry Cost Calculator
The real cost of doing laundry per load, per week and per year — water, electricity and detergent.
How it works
per load = (water gal × $/gal) + (kWh/load × $/kWh) + detergent · weekly = per load × loads · yearly = weekly × 52
Each load has three costs: the water it draws, the electricity for the wash and dry, and the detergent and supplies. Adding those gives the per-load cost, and multiplying by your loads per week and 52 weeks scales it to the year. The dryer typically dominates the electricity figure, while a cold wash almost zeroes out the washer’s own heating energy.
Worked example
At 20 gallons and $0.006/gal, water is $0.12 a load. Electricity at 1.5 kWh and $0.15/kWh adds $0.225, and detergent is $0.25 — about $0.60 per load. Four loads a week is $2.38 a week, or roughly $124 a year.
Frequently asked questions
What uses the most energy — the washer or the dryer?
The dryer, by far. A washer on cold sips power to spin and pump, but a dryer runs a heating element for 45 minutes or more. Most of the electricity in a wash-and-dry cycle is the drying half, which is why line-drying is the single biggest saving.
Does washing in cold water really save money?
Yes. Roughly 80–90% of a warm wash’s energy goes to heating the water. Modern detergents are formulated to work in cold, so switching to cold removes almost all of the washer’s energy cost with no loss of cleaning on everyday loads.
Are laundromats more expensive than home laundry?
Per load, usually yes — a laundromat wash-and-dry often runs $3–5 versus under a dollar in machine costs at home. But that ignores the price of the machines themselves; if you do only a few loads a week, a laundromat can still work out cheaper than buying and maintaining a set.
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This calculator is for educational purposes. Double-check important results before acting on them.