If you haven’t used a laundromat in a few years, the biggest surprise is what’s missing: the change machine, the coin slots, and the pocketful of quarters. At Leaf Laundry everything runs on a reusable card or a phone app. Here’s how a first visit actually goes, step by step, so there are no surprises.
Before you leave home
- Sort roughly into lights, darks, and anything bulky. You can re-sort at the store’s folding tables, but a head start helps.
- Check the pockets. Tissues, pens, and lip balm cause most laundry disasters, and they’re all preventable in ten seconds.
- Treat any stains now if you can — stain treatment works best before the wash, not after (our stain removal guide covers the common ones).
- Bring a basket, hamper, or bags to carry everything, and detergent if you have a favourite. Forgot it? The store vending machines sell detergent, dryer sheets, bleach, and bags — and yes, they take the card and app too.
At the store, step by step
- Get set up once. Pick up a Leaf Card at the in-store kiosk, or open the app on your phone — either one works on every machine. The full how-it-works is on our Payment Options page.
- Load value. Add money to your card or app at the kiosk. It takes the usual payment methods, including EBT Cash.
- Register your card. This takes a minute at the kiosk and ties the balance to you — if you ever lose the card, your money can be moved to a new one. Do it on visit one, not after the card goes missing.
- Pick your machines. Sizes run from 20 lb to 80 lb. Match the machine to the load (our washer size guide translates pounds into baskets) and run several at once if you have a big day — that’s the whole advantage of a laundromat. A week’s worth of laundry can wash simultaneously instead of back-to-back at home.
- Start the load with a tap. Card or app, one tap, cycle running. No coins anywhere in the process.
- Dry, then fold. Move loads to the dryers (give them room — drying is airflow), and use the folding tables rather than the top of a warm dryer. The system can alert you when a cycle finishes, so you’re not standing guard over a machine.
A few etiquette basics
- Set a timer and come back for your loads. Machines are shared; a finished load left sitting holds everyone up. The cycle alerts make this easy.
- Carts are for transport — load, move, and return them so the next person can use one.
- Wipe up spills and take everything with you. Open one dryer and check you haven’t left a sock behind — everyone has done it.
Timing your visit
Weekday mornings and midweek are the calmest times. Weekends — especially Sundays — are the busiest. Both stores open early at 6:00am every day, which makes a before-work laundry run genuinely possible. Last-wash times and each store’s details are on the location pages:
That’s it
No quarters, no change machine roulette, no second trip because a machine ate your money. Most first-timers tell us the card takes about two minutes to figure out — and after that, it’s just laundry, done all at once, in a clean store with seating and WiFi while you wait. See you on your first visit.