I make nearly £20,000 a month with laundry side hustle – people think it’s a boring chore but I make thousands doing it

A mum who made £2,000 a week washing other people’s clothes has now opened her own laundromat thanks to her side hustle.

Christian Sanya, 44, said returning clothes along with cookies can sometimes help her rake in a larger tip.

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What might be a tedious chore for some, Christian saw as the perfect opportunity to turn her ideal afternoon – watching Lifetime while folding laundry – into an extra source of income as she now earns £24,000 a month.

She started washing other people’s clothes in 2019 via SudShare — an on-demand laundry platform that has been compared to Uber.

That same year, Christian lost her job and looked for jobs that would allow her to spend most of the day at home.

This enabled her to care for her then six-year-old daughter, who was diagnosed with autism.

Last year the mother earned £46,000, according to verified documents CNBC do it.

The service aims to relieve those who hate doing laundry, don’t have access to a washing machine or can’t find time to go to the laundromat.

Workers are notified when they receive an order within a 10-mile radius and have the option to accept or decline.

The employees then collect their customers’ laundry, wash it and return it the next day.

Christian said she was one of the top earners earns between £1,000 and £2,000 per weekhowever, admitted she could sometimes make a little extra cash by delivering sweet treats.

She said: “All my deliveries are made with the Crumbl cookie and my customers love it.”

“So it’s my thing. I’m the Crumbl cookie girl.”

Thanks to her earnings in laundry – and the £76,000 a year she makes as a full-time medical laboratory technologist – Christian and her husband opened their own laundromat.

It has been Christian’s lifelong dream since laundry was made her chore as a child, and she kept that dream alive when she got married.

In 2015, the couple even tried to buy one from an acquaintance but couldn’t afford it.

But last year the property came back on the market and after saving enough money, Christian and her husband bought it outright with no mortgage for £200,000.

The Laundry Room, which opened last September, is based in Lanham and has 40 machines operated by four employees.

Today, Christian still does laundry jobs 12 hours a day, with her husband and the Laundry Room staff filling in the gaps while she goes about her other job.

“You have to sacrifice a lot to know that the goal, the end point, will pay off,” she said.

“I’ve given up family time, I’ve given up my date nights. I gave up a lot for SudShare at this point.”

The entrepreneur told CNBC Make It that she describes her side hustle as an addiction.

“It’s not an easy part-time job, but if you like it, it’s an easy way to make money,” she said.

“But doing laundry has always been my thing… It doesn’t feel like work to me.”

She described her routine as a “puzzle” in which she typically only slept four hours each night.

But despite the crazy schedule, the couple is looking to expand their business, with a second laundromat location already in the pipeline.

You’re not quite sure what the next steps will be.

She said, “I never thought this would happen.”

“I never dreamed it up on paper or anything, but I’m building on what I want for the future.”

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