I had two competing startups do my laundry — here's who won

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In San Francisco, my apartment is full of "charm"— a word that loosely translates into great crown molding, but no modern appliances like a washer or dryer. Not even in the building. 

Normally, I just carry my dirty clothes to the nearby laundromat and sit with it for two hours to make sure it doesn't get stolen. It's not fun, but it's my only option. 

With my laundromat closed for renovations, I decided to send my clothes off to Washio and Rinse, two competing laundry startups that promised to deliver my clothes back washed and folded.

Here's how that went...

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My boyfriend and I hadn't done laundry in awhile, and the laundromat being closed didn't help. We pull together our dirty clothes on a Saturday afternoon (the typical laundry day for us), but soon realize we're out of luck when it comes to on-demand laundry.

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When I sign up for Rinse, I'm not given the option for a Saturday pick-up. The earliest it can do is on Sunday, and its pick-up window is from 8 to 10 p.m. By picking up on a Sunday night, my clothes won't come back to me until Wednesday. Three days feels like a long time when my laundry is normally done in a few hours and because I have to wait an extra day before I can send them off. Rinse does let me choose between scented or hypo-allergenic detergent, whether they should use fabric softener, and how much starch they should use for laundered and pressed items.

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Washio is a little bit more flexible both with pick-up times and preferences. They have time slots available all day Sunday, and it also promises to turn my clothes around a day earlier than Rinse. Each of the time windows is an assigned 30 minutes. I also get the same assortment of detergent options.

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