Tips for a successful DIY or self service laundry shop

I have seen so many self service laundry shop everywhere. But what it takes to operate a successful self service laundry shop.? Self service laundry or DIY are a simple business which can be very profitable if you select a good location – and if you pay attention to the basics:

Hours of Operation

Successful self service laundry shop should be open long hours. Most customers work during the day and use the laundry at night or on the weekends. Take advantage of early morning wash dry fold business by opening at 7 am – no later than 8 am. We recommend staying open at least until 10 pm or even later, depending on your location and the hours of other stores in your area. Opening 24 hours a day is a good idea only if you are in a busy, well lighted, high traffic location.

Cleanliness

We can’t stress this enough. Keep your shop squeaky clean. A neat, tidy laundry demonstrates your pride of ownership, attracts customers and is also safer for your employees and your customers. Make sure your attendant knows that mopping the floor, wiping down machines, cleaning the restrooms and keeping the front walk swept are part of her job description. Even if your store is unattended, it should still be kept clean. Stop in a few times a day to clean, or employ a janitorial service or a local resident to do this job.

Pricing

Be competitive with your pricing. Check out your competition to be sure your self service laundry offers good value. Maintain a meaningful pricing ratio between your top loaders, double loaders, triple loaders and larger washers. Don’t forget to monitor the time you are giving per quarter on your dryers. Price your drop off services competitively as well.

Friendly Service
Insist that your attendants are always pleasant, cheerful and courteous to your customers. You are in a service industry, and customers can easily switch to a nearby self service laundry shop if they are not treated well. Prompt refunds, assistance with machine selection, helping carry loads in and out, making change with a smile, and a cheerful hello and goodbye will pay big dividends. Don’t overlook customer service if you operate a self service laundry. Self-service customers need an easy and reliable method of receiving refunds when a machine or bill changer does not function properly. Provide your self-service customers with a way of contacting you – using a wall mounted mailbox for refund slips and for suggestions or comments works great and shows customers that you value them.

Machine UpKeep 
Keep your equipment running properly. Don’t have out of order signs all over your equipment. Promptly repair even the smallest things to prevent larger problems later. Never bypass safety devices, lid switches, door locks, etc. Customers don’t like to contend with washers that only work on hot, others that don’t spin out properly, dryers that only work on certain selections, etc. Keep your machines safe and working properly.

In summary, don’t try to complicate a simple business. Keep your laundry shop spotless, price your machines and services competitively, treat your customers great, keep your washers, dryers and vending machines working properly, and finally, keep your laundry open during the proper hours, to maximize your sales and profit.

Tiendesitas Bazaar

It's been a  long time since my last blog. I was too busy with my newborn baby and my new business. Appleberry was established last November 2016 we started just by making laundry bags and selling them in bulk. After giving birth I decided to make my own store but I can't actually put up a physical store yet since I need to take care of my little one so I decided to join in a bazaar to showcase our products. Most of our products are mainly laundry bags, shopping bag, drawstring bags and men's apparel. We also supply promotional bags and shirt in bulk for your corporate needs. To know more you can visit our site appleberryph.weebly.com

Helpful tips to extend the life of your clothes

Mesh laundry bags are the infinitely packable, infinitely washable, infinitely versatile alternative to plastic zip-close bags. When you want to clean or corral small objects without creating an air-tight seal, a mesh bag in the tool you need. Once you start using mesh bags to help you sort, manage, and protect your laundry, you’ll wonder how you managed without them — but it’s their off-label uses that will truly tickle your productivity bone.

1. Choose the right size mesh bag for your needs. A laundry bag is usually roomy enough to stash a week’s worth of dirty laundry. A lingerie bag, on the other hand, is a smaller bag made specifically for washing a few delicate items.Sports and equipment bags tend to be quite large, but you’ll find a variety of sizes and colors.
2. Use lingerie bags routinely for lingerie to avoid stretched straps, snags, and damaging other clothing with hungry bra hooks. Clip a lingerie bag on or next to the laundry hamper so you can tuck things directly into the bag as you take them off.
3. Solve the mystery of disappearing socks.Left on their own, socks and other small items can float to the top and work their way out of the washer tub and into the pump. Besides the annoyance of the disappearing act, this nasty trick can plug the pump and flood your laundry room.
4. Machine wash with confidence. Tucking sweaters and other hand wash items into a mesh bag cuts down on friction and stretching. You’ll find you can safely machine wash many hand washables and even some clothes recommending dry cleaning if you use a mesh bag and the delicate cycle.
5. Bundle baby clothes. Protect your tiniest garments by grouping them up in a mesh laundry bag.
6. Eliminate sock and underwear sorting. Give individual bags to each member of the household, and have them put dirty socks and underwear directly into the bag. No more matching and sorting, ever again! Label names with permanent marker (check for a tag inside the bag) or buy mesh sport or equipment bags in various colors.
7. Avoid bags with drawstring closures.Drawstrings often come undone and become hopelessly tangled with other laundry and your washing machine agitator. Try using bags that are large enough to simply knot the entire end.
8. Don’t overfill mesh bags. More than two-thirds full and there won’t be enough space for the items inside to wash, rinse, and dry thoroughly.
9. Use a mesh bag for stuffed animals and toys. A mesh bag (and possible another item or three) protects plushies from excess friction, stretching, and tangling with other items in the wash.
10. Hang it up. If your bag doesn’t have a drawstring, you can hang it easily using aclothespin with a clothes hanger hook on it.
11. Keep lingerie bag zippers closed with a small safety pin.
12. Stick a mesh bag to the bathtub wall with suction cups to drain and store children’s tub toys.
13. Use a mesh bag when you’re campingfor lightweight dish storage and to hang clean dishes up to dry.
14. Small, zippered lingerie bags make short work of organizing extra clothing and fresh diapers in a diaper bag.
15. Corral all the little things you want to wash in the top rack of the dishwasher: children’s toys, hairbrushes, drinking straws, Legos, medicine dose cups, small utensils.
16. Drain and store beach toys in a big mesh laundry or sports bag.

Raspberry Laundry Choose Electric Delivery Bikes

Raspberry Laundry now provides pick-up and delivery service using electric bicycles, saving a lot of gas, pollution, and money. We are particularly proud of this aspect of our business. 

Raspberry Laundry and Dry Clean Services choose electric delivery bikes because it is fast, inexpensive to buy, and cost almost nothing to run, offering all the benefits of petrol powered scooters with none of the pollution, noise and taxes. They are less maintenance and very efficient. 

Electric delivery bikes offer many advantages over petrol powered scooters:

* no need for vehicle insurance

* reduce capital expenditure and operating cost

* reduce area noise pollution

* cut traffic congestion and air pollution

* improve brand value

* no coding and license needed

Personalized Canvass Bag / Drawstring Laundry Bags / Eco Bag / Tote Bags Supplier

We supply canvass bags, drawstring bags, laundry bag, eco bag and tote bag. We customized size and design of your choice. We deliver and ship nationwide. For your orders and queries you may call us at 0956.369.4038 or visit www.appleberryph.weebly.com

                    

Seven Financial Lessons

It’s no secret our grandparents view the world differently. If you’re like the majority of people, your grandparents or great grandparents lived through the Great Depression. The financial lessons they learnt during that harsh time are a legacy worth sharing. I was lucky to have been able to spend time with my grandmother learning the many life and financial lessons she had to share. Some I’ve learnt well, others I’m still working on. 

1. Cash Only 

My grandmother never used credit. Ever. She only paid cash. If she didn’t have the cash , she didn’t buy it. She was always able to save. She was a classic example of ‘it’s not what you earn, it’s what you spend, that matters’.

2. Value What You Have

When you value your belongings and consider them investments, you take care of them. Nowadays, it’s seemingly cheaper to throw it away and replace it than it is to repair it. That goes for everything from clothes to appliances. My grandmother took care of all her possessions because she valued not just the item but the money it took to purchase it in the first place.

3. Practical Skills Are Priceless

My grandmother grew up in the province and like most women of her generation she knew how to do and make a great many things that we now outsource to industry. She could cook, knit and sew, milk a cow, garden… you name it, she could do it. She also used some of those practical skills to earn a little extra money and keep herself busy.

4. Emergency Fund

Of course, my grandmother never called it an emergency fund, to her it was ‘saving for a rainy day‘. And, it was a priority. She knew that having money in the bank was insurance against adversity.

5. Grow Food

My grandmother knew that a productive kitchen garden ensured you always had plenty of fresh vegetables available, regardless of the state of your budget. Good food is the foundation of good health. 

These are the vegetables from my mini garden.

6. Wants and Needs – Know the Difference

We’re constantly bombarded by advertising… It’s no wonder we can’t distinguish between a want and a need. Everything seems to be a need. Being able to make this distinction can mean the difference between living well with money in the bank and living from pay cheque to pay cheque with a mountain of consumer debt looming over you.

7. Luxuries Don’t Have to be Expensive

Like knowing how to discern the difference between a want and a need, my grandmother also knew that sometimes the real luxuries were the little things in life: taking time out to enjoy a sunny day, fresh flowers in a vase, a special dessert. Not a designer bag or luxury cruise in sight!

I’ve weathered a few financial storms during my life and I hope that, like my grandmother, I’ll be able to pass on some of the wisdom I’ve acquired (the hard way) along with the wisdom passed to me, to my own future grandchildren.

How to be stylish without spending money

Bargain shopping can be turned into an art. Once you've mastered it, your closet will be full of cute and affordable clothes that express your unique personality and style. There are numerous ways to shop on a budget, and it might take a little experimenting to see which method of bargain shopping is best for you.

I am wearing a white top which I bought for only 100php and black bottoms for 50php.

1. Shop at Outlet malls or Tiangge. 

 Outlet malls carry discounted clothing from past seasons, or clothing from current seasons that isn't selling well in retail stores. And, while already discounted, outlet stores have sales too. The sale price of an already discounted item is a great way to be stylish while saving money.

• When you walk into an outlet mall store, there will be beautiful displays just like in a traditional retail store. Instead of shopping here, head to the clearance racks to get the best deals.
• Outlet malls tend to become a whole day affair so make sure you allot yourself enough time to shop.

2. Go thrift for clothes. 

Shopping at thrift or ukay ukay stores is an awesome way to save money and find one-of-a-kind pieces. Thrift isn't as glamorous as most shopping experiences – thrift stores can be dirty, dusty, and extremely cluttered. But if you're willing to dedicate some time to thoroughly look, you just might find some gems.

• Thrift stores are cheaper than any other store or sale rack. You might find less clothing to buy, but the pieces you do find will be unique and affordable.
• Thrifting will allow you to include some other fashion eras in your wardrobe. Good fashion is timeless, so adding some vintage pieces will enhance your closet.

3. Shop at factory overruns store. 

These are the best stores to shop at when you're looking for designer brands and current trends at friendly prices. They normally carry clothes that are in season and offer a huge variety.

• Some examples of these stores are Factory Overruns. You can find these stores in almost every city, so go online to find the discount stores near you.
• When a major designer produces more items than it can sell at department stores, off-price retailers, otherwise known as discount stores, buy the merchandise at discounted prices. Then, they pass these savings onto customers. This is how you're able to save money shopping at these stores.
• Full-priced department stores have the option of returning merchandise to clothing manufacturers if it doesn’t sell, but discount stores’ purchases are final. Because of this, they must sell everything they have in stock. This makes sale prices astoundingly low.