Some weeks the washing feels like a second job, and the thought of handing it to someone else is very appealing. You can, and there is more than one way to do it. The question worth answering first is not whether it is possible, but which version actually saves you time and money for the way your household runs.
In short. Yes, you can hire help just for laundry, in three ways: a house cleaner who folds a load as part of a visit, an independent housekeeper booked for laundry hours, or a wash-and-fold service that collects and returns it. In Australia a cleaning contractor runs around $40 to $60 an hour, so the honest question is whether the time saved is worth the cost, or whether a few good tools and a tighter routine solve it for less.
This is a value question dressed up as a logistics one. Below are the three realistic ways to hand off laundry, roughly what each costs in Australia, and the point at which doing it yourself with the right setup is simply the better deal.
The three ways to hand off laundry
Handing off the washing is not one decision, it is a choice between three quite different arrangements.
The first is a house cleaner who does laundry as part of a visit. Most cleaners will happily put on a load, hang or fold, and change the sheets alongside the regular clean. Airtasker's own list of tasks you can give a house cleaner includes putting on a load of washing and hanging or folding clothes (Source: Airtasker, house cleaning cost guide). This is the easiest to arrange if you already have a cleaner, but the laundry competes with everything else in the visit.
The second is an independent housekeeper booked specifically for laundry. You can hire a person for a block of hours to work through the washing, folding and ironing. This is the closest thing to a laundry-only helper, and it makes sense for larger households or anyone with a lot of ironing.
The third is a wash-and-fold laundry service, which collects your washing, launders it off-site and returns it folded. No person comes into your home, and it is priced by weight rather than time. We cover the detail of that option in our guide to what a laundry-only service costs.
What it costs in Australia
The honest numbers matter here, because they decide the whole question. A house cleaner or housekeeper engaged as a contractor in Australia generally charges around $40 to $60 an hour, because they are covering their own tax, super, insurance, travel and equipment on top of their wage (Source: Airtasker, house cleaning cost guide). Book two hours a week for laundry and folding and you are looking at roughly $80 to $120 a week, or something like $350 to $500 a month.
A wash-and-fold service is priced differently, by the kilo or the load, and usually carries a minimum charge and sometimes a pickup fee, so it suits a bulk drop rather than a daily trickle. Which is cheaper depends entirely on your volume: a person by the hour can be better value if you have a lot to get through in one sitting, while a service can win if you only need the occasional big catch-up.
When hiring help is the right call
Paying for laundry help earns its keep in a few clear cases. If your time is genuinely worth more than the hourly rate, and the hours freed go to work or family rather than a different chore, the maths works. If ironing is the real burden, a housekeeper who irons well is worth every dollar, because ironing is the slowest, least automatable part of laundry. And if a health issue, a new baby or a period of overwhelm makes the washing pile faster than you can clear it, hired help is a sensible short-term fix, not a failure.
In each of those the value is real, because the task is either high-volume, high-skill, or high-stress. That is where a person by the hour genuinely buys back time.
When your own setup is the better deal
For a lot of households, the honest answer is that laundry does not need to be outsourced, it needs to be systematised. Most of what makes washing feel endless is friction: sorting that never happens, a bench buried in clean clothes, small items lost between wash and drawer, and shoes and delicates that get put off because they are fiddly. Fix the friction and the job shrinks below the point where paying someone makes sense.
The tools that do this are few and cheap next to a monthly cleaning bill: sorting baskets so the washing arrives pre-sorted, mesh bags for delicates and shoes so the fiddly loads stop being put off, a drying rack so nothing waits on the dryer, and a small-items container so socks and laces stop going missing. Set up well, a home laundry runs itself in minutes a day, and the $350 to $500 a month stays in your pocket. The choice is not really help or no help, it is whether the friction is worth paying to remove, or cheaper to design out.
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The bit people still put off: shoes
Even households that hire help tend to leave one job undone, because it falls between the cracks. Shoes. A cleaner will not usually machine-wash the kids' runners, and a wash-and-fold service will not touch them, so the muddy pairs sit by the door regardless. It is the one laundry job that stays yours, and the one most likely to be avoided because it seems risky. The right tool removes the risk and the reason to put it off, which is exactly the friction worth designing out whether or not you pay for other help.
Where the Shoe Wash Kit fits
Shoes are the laundry job no cleaner or service covers, so the tool for it belongs in every home. The Shoe Wash Kit is a three-compartment bag plus a pair of adjustable shoe trees. One outer compartment takes each shoe so the pair never touches mid-cycle, and a centre compartment holds the laces and insoles. More than 3,000 soft chenille fingers line the inside and hold each shoe off the drum wall, and a 3D mesh panel at each end lets the water move through. On the Chalk Kit there is no dye anywhere in the bag, so there is nothing to transfer onto your white runners. It is tested to ISO 105-C06 grade 4 colour fastness and stress tested to 50 cycles at 60°C and 1400rpm, which is the durability test, not a usage instruction. Recommended use is a cold wash, on a delicate or gentle cycle, with the spin set to 600 to 800rpm, air dry only. Designed for canvas, mesh and synthetic shoes. Not designed for leather or suede.
Laundry help options at a glance
| Option | Roughly what it costs (AU) | Best for |
| Cleaner does laundry in a visit | Part of $40 to $60 per hour clean | Households that already have a cleaner |
| Housekeeper booked for laundry | About $40 to $60 per hour | High volume or lots of ironing |
| Wash-and-fold service | Priced per kilo or load, plus minimum | Occasional bulk catch-ups |
| DIY with a good setup | One-off cost of a few tools | Most everyday households |
| Washing shoes | Stays yours in every option | A shoe wash bag at home |
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About Mudroom Co
Mudroom Co is a small Australian premium brand making home care tools for active families. We build for the way people actually use their homes, not the way the catalogue says they do. We launch in July 2026 with one product, the Shoe Wash Kit: a three-compartment bag plus a pair of adjustable shoe trees, built chalk cream inside and out, with a eucalyptus zip, piping and tag the only colour you see. It is tested to ISO 105-C06 grade 4 colour fastness and stress tested to 50 cycles at 60°C and 1400rpm. We are based in Melbourne and we sell direct. The machine washes the shoes. The bag protects them. That is the whole brand in one line.
Frequently asked questions
Can I hire a housekeeper just for laundry?
Yes. You can book an independent housekeeper for a block of hours to do only laundry, folding and ironing, ask a regular house cleaner to do a load as part of a visit, or use a wash-and-fold service that collects and returns it. The best fit depends on your volume and whether you want a person in your home.
How much does laundry help cost in Australia?
A house cleaner or housekeeper engaged as a contractor generally charges around $40 to $60 an hour. Two hours a week for laundry and folding is roughly $80 to $120 a week. A wash-and-fold service is priced by weight instead, with a minimum charge.
Is it cheaper to hire a housekeeper or use a laundry service?
It depends on volume. A person by the hour can be better value for a lot of washing and ironing in one sitting. A wash-and-fold service can win for occasional bulk drops. For everyday washing, a good home setup is usually cheaper than either.
Will a house cleaner do my laundry?
Most will, as part of a regular clean. Common laundry tasks a cleaner will do include putting on a load, hanging or folding, and changing the sheets. It competes with the rest of the visit, so agree it up front if laundry is the priority.
Is hiring laundry help worth it?
It is worth it when your time is worth more than the hourly rate, when ironing is the real burden, or during a stretch of illness or overwhelm. For routine washing, removing the friction with a few good tools and a tighter system is usually the better value.
Will a cleaner or service wash my shoes?
Usually not. House cleaners rarely machine-wash shoes, and wash-and-fold services do not take them. Washing the family's runners stays your job, so a structured shoe wash bag at home is the practical fix.
Related reading
Going deeper on the topics above. Each of these is on the Mudroom Co hub.
In short. Hiring out the laundry is easy to arrange and, at $40 to $60 an hour, only worth it when the volume, the ironing or the stress is high. For everyday washing, a few good tools and a tighter routine remove the friction for a fraction of the monthly cost, and the shoes stay a job for home either way.
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About the author
Catherine Spiteri is the founder of Mudroom Co. With two teenage kids, an overflowing mudroom and a washing machine running twice a day, she noticed how few quality tools existed to make busy home life easier, and to protect the things we use every day so they last.
She started Mudroom Co because, while the tools existed, she could not find any made properly for the lives people actually lead. She has thirty years in development and construction, working with global corporates on projects of every scale and complexity, and now applies that skillset to household products with proper manufacturing and quality control behind them. Mudroom Co is based in Melbourne, Australia.
References
External sources cited in this article.
Airtasker, house cleaning cost guide