Income tax deductions - how much for laundry?

[ScreamEmoGirl!]

In school my business teacher said that the deduction for washing sheets is (was, that was 2 years ago) $3 per load. However, I can't find that anywhere. Does anybody know if there is a standard deduction amount, and what it is now? It would be SO much easier than keeping receipts for laundry soap (and keeping separate soap for family use and for business use), and I can't imagine HOW to figure how much of the water bill to count, so the per load standard deduction would be perfect. I did keep track of how many loads of sheets I washed.

 

[Abuhurairah]

My accountant told me it was what you would pay if you had to go to the laundromat and pay for the machines. Not the giant ones because that's likely not what you have at home, but the machine that fits closest to the size you have at home.

An easy way to track how many loads you did last year: go back through your appointment book. Figure out how many sheets you average in a wash and then start counting clients. As a reflexologist I only use one sheet to cover the reclining chair, but I use three hand towels for each session. So I have to do a load of wash for every two to three clients I see. I can max a load at about four clients (4 sheets + 12 hand towels) but prefer averaging a load every three clients (3 sheets + 9 hand towels). So during slow weeks I average one load a week, during heavier weeks it goes higher.

Hope this helps!

 

[kitten kong]

Should I assume you have to add in drying too, or is that part of your washing cost?

 

[asambrano752]

Should I assume you have to add in drying too, or is that part of your washing cost?

Sorry, guess I wasn't very clear. It's for washing and drying. It took me a couple trips to the laundromat with a few average loads of wash to figure out the cost.

 

[Kakaroct Vanan]

My avg. cost at a laundrymat is about $20/week. (Had to go for a few weeks when my wash/dry bit the dust at home)

I avg'd that out over a general 12 months instead of weeks and got a figure of $960/year.

I have never talked to my accountant about this or even heard of it before, but I will see what he has to say about it.

 

[Fades to White]

Thank you, that should be easy enough. I did keep a count of how many loads I did, so that part is taken care of. Here it is $1.50 to wash a load and a quarter for 10 minutes on the dryer, so I'll figure $1.00 to dry, since I dry them just under an hour at home. Those dryers are faster, if I remember correctly.

 

[Pompal 09.]

That's correct for here too Sharon, there is the issue of detergent,
and spot treatment products, bleach and fabric softners, if you use them as well, isn't there?

 

[Naturepants9]

That's correct for here too Sharon, there is the issue of detergent,
and spot treatment products, bleach and fabric softners, if you use them as well, isn't there?

Well, that was what my teacher was telling us to avoid - trying to keep receipts on every individual product, and keeping all the business use products separate from family use products, when doing them at home with the same set of machines & limited space. She used what she called the "standard laundry deduction" that covers all of the components. It doesn't cost $2.50 to run the washer and dryer at home, but the $2.50 would include the cost of the products. Though she used $3.00 and I sure wish I knew where she got that figure!!

I have kept track of the number of loads of sheets I've done, but I have not kept reciepts for detergents.........yuck!! Just looking for a promise of simplicity, lol. Oh well.....

 

[crc]

Perhaps the remaining 50 cents was to cover the cost of laundry soap per load. Some laundromats DO have vending machines for small boxes of soap, but I think it's over a dollar in cost. *shrug*
On the other hand, I just got a new box of laundry detergent the other day, it was $7.34 (tax included). It says it does 80 loads of laundry... in which case it would cost me about 9-10 cents of laundry detergent right? (This is a powder which I've been advised is supposed to be better for my washer, although it's my usual brand.)
This doesn't include the tablespoon of Dawn dishwashing liquid I usually add to help get the oils out of my linens or the fabric softener. But a person could figure that out too by figuring out the MSRP and dividing that by the # of loads that it's designed to wash.
I think the last time I got Dawn (ultra) it was $3.99 (plus tax) for a 38 oz bottle, which we can assume does 38 or more... so this would be an additional 10 cents or so per load.
I think some fabric softeners like Downy Ultra are about $4.99 (plus tax) for a bottle which does 35 loads. Would that be an additional 14-15 cents or so added to our "tally?"
So what do we have here? $2.50 plus .35 cents of detergents and fabric softners... which still hasn't included bleach, spot treaters, oxy-clean or anything else of that nature. So, $2.75 - $3.00 sounds like it would be a fairly Normal Range to me.
What do you think?

 

[LaurenOrSatan]

Okay, you've convinced me - $3.00 sounds perfect! I will just write down a "formula" for how it is figured at $3.00 in case it is ever questioned.