Aug. 6, 2026

Laundry can bring out the passion in people.

Andy Arends had that reinforced earlier this year when he wrote a Facebook post promoting the use of wool dryer balls in dryers instead of synthetic sheets.

“Dryer sheets just congest the landfills,” he preached to his followers.

His post received more than 760 likes, 40 forwards and 70 comments, along with other suggestions for softening laundry such as using balled-up tinfoil and dryer balls made of hemp.

For Arends, who started an eco-friendly laundry service in Sioux Falls on May 15, the responses made him even surer that the city could support his business, Let’s Laundry.

Arends, a Canistota native and a former physician assistant, moved to Sioux Falls in May. He had decided against full retirement and based his laundry service on the example set by a businessman in Brooklyn, New York.

Rather than operate a full laundromat himself or establishing a mini-mart with eight commercial washing machines and dryers, Arends chose to use an already-open business.

He picks up and delivers the bags of laundry to his residential customers and as of this month to his first commercial customer. An average laundry bag weights 20 to 25 pounds, with residential items costing $1.95 a bag. The pickup and delivery are free. Bulk commercial loads cost $1.85 a pound.

Let’s Laundry is closed Saturdays, and Arends promises 48-hour deliveries — or even sooner.

Arends did a couple of years of research on the detergents he would use to be ecofriendly. He purchased a 55-gallon drum of concentrated professional laundry detergent. At 1 ounce per each load of laundry, he plans on it to last for a while.

“We use biodegradable detergents, and our oxybooster is biodegradable too,” he said. “Over-the-counter stuff, a lot of it is toxic to the environment, even bleach. They add chemicals to it. I’m using a pure ingredient, not adding in filters.”

Arends has done his own laundry for much of his adult life. His clients can come from a variety of demographics, “everybody from college freshmen all the way up to geriatric to independent living and anybody in between.”

Clients put their bags of laundry on their front step; after it’s washed, dried and folded, Arends returns it to the same step. Up to 25 pounds of laundry can fill a typical 13-gallon hamper.

New customers can sign up at the Let’s Laundry website. New customers receive 25 percent off the first load and a free drawstring bag.