# ? about little things like laundry etc..



## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

So i have been to just about every country in central america and lived down there for over a year to know its not common to find Laundromats with washing machines and driers for pay per use. 
I spent a good amount of time washing by hand and hang drying in Nicaragua and was lucky enough to stay in a place with a washing machine in Peru. But mostly rare to find washing machines to use. I dont trust my clothes with laundry service from bad expereince and wasted money. I was better off hand washing a bit of clothes every day.
Any way, Mexico is different and i have little experience in mexico from 15 years ago. 
Are there many pay per use laundry machine places in Mexico? Doesn't Mexico have some american appliance manufacturing going on there to make washing machines more common? 

I am a short term plan, 6 month maximum stay and not planning to spend enough on a short term rental to expect a washing machine included.

Was glad to find out my insurance company in US has a mexico insurance department or connection that quoted me mexico insurance at almost 30% of what i pay in US.

Does walmart in mexico do meyico stuff mostly? I was in a walmart in Costarica and it was full of Central american stuff and then the universal stuff like mayonnaise and ketchup from US were there, but not much more. It was stocked like the usual "Super" or "Hypermarts" but with Walmart name slapped over the main door. 
I like mexican food anyway, so i don't need walmart other than rare occaison ~and maybe i can just stock up well before entering Mexico. 6 months goes by quickly. 

What US phone networks extend into Mexico? The cell phones i brought back from central america all seemed to ride US networks to send me messages when i got back home in US. I think Claro was riding AT&T network or some network in US. So i am guessing some US networks can carry over into Mexico? No big deal anyway, i will do as usual to bring my US phone but also get a cheap mexican phone and sim to use there. 

Any other random details will be appreciated. :noidea:


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

You will be pleased to hear that fully automatic washing machines are quite common in Mexico and many, if not most of the common brands are made there. Driers too, although most are propane heated, since electric rates are high. However, you will probably not find coin operated laundramats, but you will find quite reliable commercial lavanderias with large machines and good service.
A locally purchased phone will probably serve your needs with a pay-as-you-go plan, unless you have an unlocked phone that can accept a Telcel chip, available in their ubiquitous shops.


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

RVGRINGO said:


> You will be pleased to hear that fully automatic washing machines are quite common in Mexico and many, if not most of the common brands are made there. Driers too, although most are propane heated, since electric rates are high. However, you will probably not find coin operated laundramats, but you will find quite reliable commercial lavanderias with large machines and good service.
> A locally purchased phone will probably serve your needs with a pay-as-you-go plan, unless you have an unlocked phone that can accept a Telcel chip, available in their ubiquitous shops.


 Thanks much RVgringo. I will get a basic $20 phone with a local chip there. I have a wifi tablet for internet and can always use a computer cafe if i don't have wifi wherever i end up there. :whoo:


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

Laundry shops on almost every block ..... cheap


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Walmart has the same merchandise as all the other supermarkets in Mexico. Except for the name, it’s no different from Superama, Comercial, Chedraui, Soriana, and so on; that is, the Mexican supermarket chains. Basically the same phenomenon as what you saw in Central America.
Costco and Sam’s Club are more different from the other supermarkets in terms of having more U.S. foods that the other supermarkets don’t carry. But of course only in large sizes.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

maesonna said:


> Walmart has the same merchandise as all the other supermarkets in Mexico. Except for the name, it’s no different from Superama, Comercial, Chedraui, Soriana, and so on; that is, the Mexican supermarket chains. Basically the same phenomenon as what you saw in Central America.
> Costco and Sam’s Club are more different from the other supermarkets in terms of having more U.S. foods that the other supermarkets don’t carry. But of course only in large sizes.


Walmart owns Superama. They also bought Aurrera Bodega a few years ago. And, of course, Sam's Club is a Walmart brand. Walmart also owns Suburbia and Vips. This is probably only significant to people like me who don't want to give Walmart any money. Mexicana Comercial, Soriana and Chedraui are not part of Walmart.


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## nomad1952 (Sep 6, 2016)

I've heard from different locals/Mexicans that the laundry shops where they wash/fold clothes use recycle water to wash the next load and every time I use these services the clothes came back dingy and damp (which means they didn't dry them very well. So I started washing clothes myself in the shower stall in a large plastic container and use PERSIL (which is a great detergent) and then put them on a clothesline. Now I don't worry about my clothes being in recycled water and on top of that the laundry services are expensive to me.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

nomad1952 said:


> I've heard from different locals/Mexicans that the laundry shops where they wash/fold clothes use recycle water to wash the next load and every time I use these services the clothes came back dingy and damp (which means they didn't dry them very well. So I started washing clothes myself in the shower stall in a large plastic container and use PERSIL (which is a great detergent) and then put them on a clothesline. Now I don't worry about my clothes being in recycled water and on top of that the laundry services are expensive to me.


You're doing it how many Mexicans do (except they use the _pila_ instead of the shower stall). I remember many years ago when my oldest daughter was about 14 yrs old and her step-cousins in Mexico asked her if she, like them, soaked her clothes in a large bucket with detergent overnight, washed them out in the _pila_ the next day and hung them out on the terrace to dry. She replied by stuttering something about a washer and dryer...


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## Howler (Apr 22, 2013)

*kids & laundry*



ojosazules11 said:


> You're doing it how many Mexicans do (except they use the _pila_ instead of the shower stall). I remember many years ago when my oldest daughter was about 14 yrs old and her step-cousins in Mexico asked her if she, like them, soaked her clothes in a large bucket with detergent overnight, washed them out in the _pila_ the next day and hung them out on the terrace to dry. She replied by stuttering something about a washer and dryer...


My kids thought it a great novelty when they learned how to wash their clothes in a pila from their Grandmother & Aunt... it didn't matter that my wife had tried to teach them before, or that they had seen her wash clothes by hand often while on vacation in Mexico. It was great to watch them for awhile, feeling that they had learned a good & useful life-skill. Yeah....

Contrast that several years later when, as teenagers, it was like pulling nails with your teeth to get them to simply load up the washer & dryer to do clothes, much less to wash their own. When the younger two visit home, it's funny how they bring their laundry with them accompanied by complaints or reasons for why they don't like using their neighborhood laundromat. (Sometimes "revenge" can be sweet!)


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

I prefer the places with machines that i get to use myself. 
I never went back to the places where i handed in my clothes to do them for me.
They overloaded the machine with my clothes and everybody eleses clothes and my whites came back looking like they got a brown tint and they smelled like whoever washed them just put a teaspoon of soap in ,just to say they used soap. You know the wash was bad when the clothes come back smelling like other people's dirty laundry. 
Another place, i made sure to buy them a whole sack of soap and still the clothes came back smelling like hardly any soap was used and they assured me none of the soap i provided was left to return to me. I have been doing my own laundry since i was 12, by machine and hand wash, so i know when the smell is not right. 
Every corner they could cut, they cut. Every thing they could leave out, they left out and still came up with a big deal over extracting a huge price. 
Thats another reason why i don't go for US quality standard of living in cheaper countries. They will charge you the US price and serve up their impression of that value and quality and it never adds up even if you overpay. 
I would rather hand wash myself to know what quality of wash i am getting and also i prefer to live closer to the local levels of decent living so i don't have to pay huge prices and watch the value i paid for -slowly whittle away every day as they let things slip into the third world way while resting comfortably in the demand for US prices. 
It hasn't failed yet in any cheaper country i have been to.
Thats why i don't expatriate. I do extended stay tourism for winter in the tropics, and keep my investment at home where i know what i am getting, and have a lot of options ,including my own washing machine and drier. 
If its not a self use washing machine, i will not give them my money. 
I have free time to hand wash and if i get fustrated enough, i will buy my own machine rather than give those laundry people money. I have allergies anyway, so its no fun having my clothes washed with other people's stuff that had pets all over it or stuff left out in the rain.


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## RPBHaas (Dec 21, 2011)

*Do It Clean*

There is a laundrymat chain based in Guadalajara called Do It Clean. You can wash your clothes yourself at all of their franchise locations.


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## jackBnimble (Oct 18, 2016)

The economics of getting a washer aren't that bad - if you are near other Gringos - you might pick up a good one used (Vivanuncios) - I love my Mexican friends but, I would not buy any used appliance or tools from them - they probably would not sell it until its a major fail (sorry sweeping generality alert, but my honest experience) - a new one, maybe 300 USD for a cheap one - $30 USD f a plumber to make hook-up & drain mods to accommodate or modernize - use it 6 months and then sell it when you go for $150.00 - should sell in 3 days - especially if they know it is a ****** selling it - because they generally have the same opinion as I do about cultual differences owning/maintaining their equipment. Thus they are happy to buy anything from a ******. So, $180 net f 6 months use - $30 a month - less if you stay longer or find someone who will store it f you till you come back - and last time I went to a damn laundromat (on a trip in the States) cost me about $24.00 USD in just one session. Dryer took so many quarters - I kept looking to see if it might pay out a jack-pot, but no such luck.


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