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How to do laundry while traveling?
What is the best method to wash clothes in hotel room?
How to wash clothes while traveling, backpacking and camping? What to take with you if you plan to do laundry by hand? First of all, there is nothing complicated or too hard about it. Thousands of people do it every day, and even if that is something new for you that’s fine. You can learn everything online now.
Follow our tips to create your own best travel laundry kit.
Table of Contents
How to Wash Clothes While Traveling
So, what are your options?
If you are staying in hotel or hostel, just ask the staff.
Maybe there is a laundry service in hotel you are staying at.
While often hotel laundry service costs a lot, sometimes and in some countries it’s ridiculously cheap. If it turns out to be very expensive, hey, you don’t have to use it. Hotel staff can also give you recommendations where you can do laundry in the city.
Which brings us to tip number one.
1. Use Local Laundrettes or Laundromats
And you’ll save money.
Because these are the services used by locals. Accordingly mostly they are cheaper than your hotel, hostel or guest house laundry service. In some countries these services are incredibly popular, and you can find a laundromat wherever you go. Take Thailand for example. In Thailand there is one on every corner, and it costs very little.
Most of them are self-service.
2. Pack a Laundry Bag With You
Add a laundry bag to your packing list.
No matter how you plan to be doing laundry on the road.
It’s small, doesn’t take up much space and will help you to separate your dirty clothes from the rest. If you don’t use a dedicated travel laundry bag, remember to dry your clothes before putting them in your bag. This way they will at least smell less.
2.1 Best Travel Laundry Bag – Our Favorite
HOMEST Wash Me Travel Laundry Bag (click for more details)
An ultra large capacity drawstring laundry bag.
It’s super simple, versatile, sturdy and overall the best travel laundry bag.
Of course, if you need a laundry bag this big. You can use it for traveling or college, at home or in college dorm, or while camping. You can also use it as a storage bag. The bag is made of tough ripstop nylon material.
It comes in sets of 2 laundry bags.
Available in several colors.
DIMENSIONS: 28” x 40” (71 x 101 cm)
More: Best Travel Laundry Bag
3. Learn How to Do Laundry by Hand
It’s just a very useful skill not only for traveling.
Yes, it may turn out that you don’t need it at the end. Simply because nowadays there is a laundry service of some sort almost anywhere around the world. We, people, are just so used to the conveniences of our modern lives.
But still, it’s good to know how to do laundry in the sink or how to wash clothes in bathtub. You never know when you might need it.
4. Bring a Travel Laundry Soap
There are several types of travel laundry soap.
Choose soap or travel laundry detergent for your needs and travel style.
4.1 Best Travel Laundry Soap For Hand Wash (Suitable for Camping)
Travelon Laundry Detergent Sheets For Travel (click for more details)
A compact travel size laundry detergent.
It’s tiny, very easy to use and extremely lightweight.
Despite the tiny size a single package comes with 50 travel laundry detergent sheets. The sheets are fully biodegradable. And if you’re traveling very light, with a carry on backpack only, then it’s highly likely that for you it’s going to be the best laundry soap for travel.
WEIGHT: 1.75″ x 2.75″ x 0.5″
4.2 Best Travel Laundry Soap For Machine Washing
Tru Earth Laundry Detergent (click for more details)
Very lightweight, yet powerful laundry detergent.
The True Earth laundry detergent is fragrance-free, vegan friendly and very gentle. It’s the best travel laundry soap, if you plan on using a washing machine. Use the True Earth, and you’ll not have to think about how to pack laundry detergent for travel anymore.
The detergent comes in a plastic-free packaging and is 100% biodegradable.
WEIGHT: 2.46 oz / 70 g
NUMBER OF LOADS: 32 loads
4.3 Best Multi-Purpose Travel Laundry Soap (Suitable for Camping)
Dr. Bronner’s – Pure-Castile Liquid Soap (click for more details)
High quality liquid soap that you can use for everything.
This travel detergent is made of organic oils, and 70% of its ingredients are certified as fair trade ingredients. If you do care about nature and ethical working conditions, you should be caring about this. Use it as soap or shampoo, or as biodegradable dish soap for camping. You can even use it to wash your clothes or pets.
The soap has no synthetic preservatives or agents. And it’s 100% vegan.
Available in different sizes from 2 fl oz to 128 fl oz.
Do you want to save money? Buy the big bottle and refill it in travel bottles.
SIZE: starting from 2 fl oz / 59 ml
More: Best Travel Laundry Soap, Best Soap for Camping
5. Do You Need a Travel Soap Case?
If you are bringing a soap bar then yes.
It will make the carrying around easier, and the soap will last longer.
5.1 Best Travel Soap Case – Our Favorite
Snowkingdom Travel Soap Case (click for more details)
A simple, yet very good travel soap case.
The best travel soap case right now for the buck. It’s leak proof and will not open in your backpack or suitcase. All thanks to its sealing system, that’s the same as used in seal food containers.
Great for travel, gym, school and use at home.
DIMENSIONS: 4.6” x 3.3” x 1.8” (11.8 x 8.3 x 4.5 cm)
More: Best Travel Soap Case
6. Use Bathtub Instead of Sink
If you have one, though.
Washing clothes in sink sometimes just doesn’t work.
It’s very easy to wash your underwear or socks in the sink, but it’s not the same with bigger items like hoodie.
So, if you have, I would always recommend you to wash the rest of your clothes in bathtub instead. In my opinion, it’s the best way to hand wash clothes. In the sink there is just no enough space to fully submerge something more than a couple of t-shirts. Another option is to do the laundry in the shower.
You’ll find some more tips here on WikiHow.
7. Travel With a Travel Sink Plug (stopper)
If you know you’ll be hand washing your clothes more than once in a while, bring your own travel sink plug.
Otherwise – mostly you’ll be fine also with running water.
7.1 Best Travel Sink Plug
OXO Tot Tub Stopper Aqua (click for more details)
A minimalist design soft and flexible silicone sink plug.
Overall the best travel sink plug, our favorite.
The plug that is great both for bathtubs and sinks. It is made of silicone, is BPA, Phthalate and PVC free. Thanks to its design carrying it around is very easy. Can be stored on bathtub walls.
Available in several colors, sold as a single piece.
MATERIAL: Silicone
More: Best Travel Sink Plug
8. Add Washing Line to Your Travel Laundry Kit
Last but not least, don’t forget about a clothesline.
Especially if you are a couple or family.
If you are traveling alone, you can dry your clothes on anything, on a chair for instance. But if there are more of you, and if you’ll be having more clothes, there simply won’t be enough space. That’s why it’s a good idea to pack a travel clothesline with you.
8.1 Best Travel Clothesline
HAWATOUR Portable Travel Clothesline (click for more details)
An elastic travelers clothesline with clothespins.
It’s simple and it’s super easy to use.
It’s just so much better for traveling than most of clotheslines. Because it’s made with travelers in mind. Take for example, the clothespins. You don’t have carry your own clothespins. There are “built-in” ones. They are tight. And they don’t slide. There are special clips for that purpose.
Thanks to its hooks the clothesline itself is very easy to set up, versatile and will hold on very well.
The line is made from stainless steel.
MAX LENGTH: 10 ft / 3 meters
More: Best Travel Clothesline
What about you? How do you do laundry when traveling?
Featured photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
Book Your Trip Like a PRO
1. Book Your Flight. Find cheap flights using Kiwi.com, Momondo.com. Or subscribe to Dollar Flight Club, if you don’t want to be searching for the flights yourself. Kiwi currently is my first choice.
2. Book Your Accommodation. Booking.com, Agoda.com and Airbnb. I use Booking and Agoda at least a dozen times a year, and Airbnb – when looking for a long-term stay. My best tip is to ALWAYS compare the price. Sometimes the same hotel is cheaper on Booking.com, other times – on Agoda. Always compare the price!
3. Buy Your Travel Insurance. Ekta and SafetyWings are two companies I can recommend. Ekta offers some extra benefits, that will be important for those doing some higher risk activities (make sure to choose the right plan!), while SafetyWings is better for digital nomads. SafetyWings is also very affordable.
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