Here at Pack Hacker, we’re big supporters of one bag travel. It makes your life easier, and living a hands-free travel lifestyle away from the drag of rolling around carry on luggage is very freeing. Still, it has a few drawbacks, the biggest of which is space. If you’re only traveling with one bag, whether a carry on or personal item, you don’t have as much room as if you brought rolling luggage or checked a bag. This can mean compromises that affect your trip and a balancing act between clothing, tech, and extras.
One way to ensure you can bring everything that you need for your trip is to bring less clothing and plan to do laundry while traveling. By doing this, you’ll have a lighter pack that’s less tedious to lug around, or you can fill up that extra space with electronics that make traveling in the modern era easier. However, doing laundry while traveling isn’t as simple as it is while you’re at home. As a team, we’ve spent years on the road as digital nomads and one-baggers who like to keep our bags as lightweight as possible. In this post, we’ll share tips and tricks we’ve learned while traveling all over the globe. First, let’s go over a few things.
Detergent sheets are laundry detergent in sheet form. They’re handy because you can only bring what you need, you don’t have to measure anything out, they’re easy to pack in a toiletry bag or small pocket in your bag, and they often come in recycled and compostable packaging, which is better for the environment than big plastic jugs.
Detergent pods don’t need much introduction considering their popularity in recent years, but these are solid alternative if you already have some at home. It’s easy to know how many you need if you already use them, and they’re easy to stow inside your pack.
A dry bag is exactly what the name implies: a bag that keeps its contents dry. However, you can inverse that idea and keep wet things from getting outside, and that’s what we’ll recommend here. You can wash your clothing in a dry bag because the water and damp clothing inside won’t seep through, and many of them are crafted from durable materials, so you can ensure your homemade agitation is just as good as the laundromat. One model we often recommend is the Scrubba Wash Bag, which comes in different sizes depending on your anticipated needs and has a washboard built in so that you don’t have to rely entirely on elbow grease to get dirt out.
A care label is a tag inside an article of clothing that tells you how to best care for it. When washing clothing while traveling, it’s important to take care of your goods so you don’t waste money replacing your only pair of pants because you threw them in the dryer. Always read the care label! If you’re not sure what the symbols mean, there are image keys online, and some phones can even scan the symbols within your photos app (neat, huh?).
Now, let’s get into the specifics.
Before You Wash
It’s essential to look for stains on your clothing before you wash it. Most (but not all) stains are set with heat, and there isn’t much worse than discovering a baked-in stain after pulling something out of the dryer. Soaking the clothing before washing it will go a long way, and most hotels and Airbnb rentals have dish soap readily available, which will break down stains that are harder to get out, like oil, so long as you pre-treat it before washing. Put the soap directly on the spot, rub the material against itself at the stain to create a lather, and leave it for five to ten minutes before throwing it in the machine.
Once you’ve tended to any marks, ensure you’ve read the care label on anything you’re not very familiar with, such as new clothing you’ve purchased along your travels. We’ve found that most items will fare just fine in cold water and a low tumble dry, but a quick look at the label will confirm. You can also separate out previously unwashed items so that you don’t risk dyes running into your other clothing, and some tags will explicitly say to wash with like colors (though we find most items fare just fine without separation).
Choosing Your Washing Method
There are a few methods you can use to wash your travel clothing, and your choice will depend on how much time you have, how industrious you are, and where you’re traveling.
How to wash clothing in a sink
First, fill the basin with the correct water temperature based on the clothing you’ll wash. Don’t overfill the sink, as you’ll need to add the clothing. Once the water is to an adequate height, add the detergent and dissolve it in the water by stirring it lightly with your hand or a utensil from the kitchen (be sure to wash it after!).
We recommend washing one or two articles of clothing at a time; however, you can often fit a larger number of small items like socks and underwear inside the sink at once. You need to ensure you handle every piece of clothing, as you’re the agitator in this situation, and a quick soak won’t be as effective.
After you’ve washed the clothing, rinse it with clean water until soap bubbles stop appearing. After that, wring out the water (gently) and hang up the garments on hooks, over the shower curtain rod, or elsewhere in the hotel or Airbnb. The water will drip for quite some time, so don’t place them over sleep, work, or high-traffic areas that put others at risk of slipping. Additionally, you can bring a piece of paracord or a drying line for trips requiring multiple loads of laundry. Or, use extra hangers to hang clothing on the shower curtain rod so it drips into the tub.
To prevent items from dripping for hours (and to speed up your dry time so you can wear them the next day), roll them in a clean towel and squeeze as much moisture out of the garment as possible. That's key in humid cities or locations without air-conditioning, where your gear could otherwise take days to dry out.
How to wash clothing in a shower or bathtub
Washing clothing in a shower or bathtub is almost exactly the same as doing it in the sink with a few twists. Your work area is much larger, which is helpful for large loads but leaves room for waste.
Our first tip for cleaning your clothing in the bathtub is to ensure the tub itself is clean before you start. If there is soap residue from past showers or baths, you’ll want to wash that down the drain before starting. However, some cleaning products can stain or alter clothing, so be diligent and avoid any with bleach.
Next, we recommend using less water than you think you’ll need. Just because you aren’t paying the water bill doesn’t mean you should go overboard using it, and you’ll likely only need a few inches of water to complete the sink-washing process we described.
After you’re finished washing your clothing, you’ll want to ensure you properly clean the tub. Detergent is notoriously slippery, and you don’t want to fall while taking your next shower.
An efficient way to clean a lot of clothing while traveling is to use the bathtub and the sink. The bathtub acts as your washing machine. Let all the clothing soak, and wash the articles one at a time. Once one is clean, wring out the water and move it to the sink, where you’ll rinse it. Using the two in tandem will make the process much quicker. You can treat this process like an assembly line if you have two people. Wouldn’t Henry Ford be proud?
How to wash clothing in a dry bag
Most dry bags can function as a mini washing machine. Load your clothing, water, and detergent up, and get to work. Shake, squeeze, and rub until you feel you’ve done enough to clean the clothing. Most wash bags aren’t clear, so you can’t see how things are going, but some have a small window, which allows you to see the suds and how dirty the water is. However, you can’t adequately gauge how clean your clothing is through it, so we recommend pulling out articles of clothing one at a time to ensure they’re clean.
First, inspect the article of clothing. If you see some grime left behind, return it to the dry bag and continue. If you’re struggling to get certain articles of clothing clean, try spot-cleaning them by rubbing the material against itself or using a brush or washcloth. Sometimes, soaking clothing for longer will do the trick, too.
Once the clothing is clean, you have a few options for rinsing. You can refresh the water in the dry bag and repeat the process until it comes out soap-free, which is how a washing machine works. Or, as we mentioned earlier, you can rinse the clothing in the sink or tub. There’s no right answer here, and this comes down to personal preference and the tools that you have at your disposal.
Do hotels have laundry machines?
Some hotels do have laundry machines; however, we wouldn’t count on this being the case in every place you stay. It’ll likely be listed on your booking website, and you should call to ask questions beforehand. It’s good to know whether it’s inside the room, and if it isn’t, how many machines are in the common area. If there’s just one set of machines for a hotel with a few hundred people, you may struggle to find one available when you need it.
It’s also important to know how to pay for a common area machine before you get there, as you may not have enough coins in a foreign currency to pay for a wash. Some accept cards, which is something you can confirm with the hosts before you arrive.
Can you use the laundry at an Airbnb or VRBO?
You can absolutely use the laundry machines at an Airbnb or VRBO, but you need to ask first. This will likely be included on the listing page, but you can always ask a host or property owner in the app before making a reservation whether laundry is available on-site. It isn’t wise to assume, as you may be left without a way to wash clothing or with a bad review if you use a machine without asking.
Should you go to the laundromat while traveling?
Some travelers swear by using laundromats while traveling for a few reasons.
First, you don’t have to bring any laundry tools with you. Almost all laundromats have everything you need to get the job done on-site. However, you won’t be able to choose your exact detergent and fabric softener, so if you have sensitive skin, it’s worth bringing your own products.
Next, a laundromat often has better machines than a hotel or rental. Commercial machines work faster and better than residential ones, so you can spend less time doing laundry and more time exploring your destination.
Last, visiting a local laundromat can immerse yourself in the destination. Chat with the other people waiting and ask for recommendations and look at the bulletin board for events, art shows, and concerts. Or, use it as dedicated time to take a breather from a fast-paced vacation and simply take in the sights and sounds of the place while the machines clean your laundry.
Going to a laundromat might not make sense for you depending on how long your trip is. If you only go for a weekend, you don’t want to spend an hour-plus doing laundry. Instead, pack clothing you can get multiple wears out of, like travel pants that can handle a little sweat without getting stinky!
How not to wash clothing while traveling
A good rule of thumb for doing laundry while traveling is that if you don’t do it at home, don’t do it on the road. This can be as simple as respecting the machines and as complex as not experimenting with water temperature, as the stakes are higher when you can’t replace an item with something already in your closet. Now isn’t the time to switch things up too much.
Occasionally, you’ll see a news article about something stupid a tourist did to wash their clothing while traveling. In 2023, a flight attendant made national headlines when they washed their underwear in the coffee maker at a hotel between flights. You don’t want to be this person! This is inconsiderate to the hotel, staff, and people who will use the item after you.
Hopefully, by this point, you’re sick of reading about doing laundry and have a plan for how you will do it on your next trip. Whether traveling as a digital nomad across Europe or on a road trip to California, nothing feels better than a clean pair of socks! Enjoy the trip.
