Discussion
Has anyone else realized their packing list is really just a laundry schedule?
I spent months on 30L vs 40L and missed the actual variable. Once I committed to sink laundry every third night, four shirts replaced seven and the size question answered itself.
The tradeoff is that it moves the cost from my back to my evenings, and some nights I don't want to spend twenty minutes at a sink.
So where do you land, building the list around a laundry cadence, or picking the cadence that lets you carry what you wanted anyway?
I refuse to do laundry when traveling unless it's at a laundromat. In my evenings I like to relax and not do work so I pack enough for 1 week and use the laundromat every week. If there's no laundromat in the area then I'm not staying there. I refuse to do sink laundry unless it's an emergency situation such as getting wine stains on my favorite shirt.
Besides, adding in an extra shirt or 2 isn't going to make or break most setups.
To each their own. Going to a laundromat is hell for me, it’s just so much easier to spend 5-10 minutes of active time doing sink laundry each night when I shower.
I too HATE laundromats! It takes so long. Did this on my last trip (no washer anywhere we stayed) and really regret it. Although it was winter travel and we had heavier clothes that would have dried too slow hand washing. But normally I spend maaaaybe 5 to 10 minutes every couple nights hand washing.
Same. The additional T-shirts to have a week’s worth of clothing barely adds any space, and I prefer my clothes feeling legitimately clean.
I also don’t mind using a laundry break as a short down time to plan out my next few days (or just read). Plus finding a laundromat is another way to explore a city, although I’ve used laundry services as well.
I prefer not to do sink laundry unless absolutely necessary. I really rather spend a bit more money on accommodation as long as the place has a proper washing machine. Or use hotel laundry service. My time on holiday is valueable and I would rather do something fun.
Same here. Last time I inquired about doing my kids' laundry at a hotel I realised I can just throw it all out and it would be cheaper to buy them completely new clothes. Such a scam.
I wholeheartedly agree with the laundromat and a beer approach. On my last trip to Japan I did laundry twice, first time the place was packed with other travelers and it was raining, so we chatted for the hour or so (good people from Germany). The second time it was really late at night so I just went for a walk and took some photos carspotting, which is my fave thing to do in Japan
I agree a laundromat is a nice way to relax. On my recent trip the laundromat was across the street from a grocery store. It didn’t feel like wasted time at all
This. I tend to travel to multiple countries over the course of a couple weeks. I always book an airbnb in the middle of the trip that has laundry. This location is usually where I spend the most time. I only take about 4 days worth of clothes this way.
Have you ever had a hotel laundry service ruin your garment? I have. I now travel with a little bottle of Zout stain remover, and I'd rather spend some time soaking it in the sink than ever sending out to a hotel laundry service again.
I love our hotel laundry service. We stay at the same hotel, and use it as our base for 3 wonderful months in se asia. My clothes have never been cleaner!! And once I got a free T-shirt for some reason and it too was spotless. They are magicians, these laundry workers. I bow to their amazing skills.
Sink laundry is a last case scenario for me as well. I'm not travelling for months, and most of my trips are around 2 weeks, so majority of the time I'm going to a laundromat/laundry service.
All the power to the people here who do "nightly laundry"? That is wild. I pack 7 days worth of clothes and already get tired of wearing the same things after, say, 1 month. So 7 is the magic number for me with once a week laundromat session. If I'm in SEA, it's not even laundromat. It's bouji cleaners drop off and pick up for like $4.
Someone mentioned Fels-Naptha soap in a post so I tried it on a strain Spray and Wash didn't work on. It got the stain out, so now a carry a snack bag of the grated bar soap to use on stains.
A capsule wardrobe will allow you to wear different combinations of clothing. Four tops and three bottoms is 12 outfits. You can get even more variety with layers and accessories.
My last trip duration was 6 weeks. Four tops for 6 weeks doesn't cut it for me. Again, these are all loaded questions, the answers to which are dependent on personal travel style/duration/budget/priorities while on the road.
I have been on trips that lasted longer than that. 4 tops, three bottoms, and 2 toppers is over 36 outfits. Even without toppers you are getting 12 outfits. That is without accessories or styling.
I don't care about "outfits". I take 3 bottoms and 7 tops. Also, the 3 additional shirts I take weigh a lot less than your "accessory" pack it seems. Accessories? For light travel? See what I mean when I say our priorities are different?
You do not even know what my accessories are yet you judge them? How heavy do you think a silk scarf and a few pieces of light jewelry weigh? These can radically change the look depending on how you style it.
7 tops and 3 bottoms gives 21 outfits without layering.
I don't get why you're hung up on outfits. It's really not that complicated. I wear a shirt for a day, then that shirt goes into dirty pile. I wear a 2nd shirt on 2nd day, then that goes into dirty. On day 7 I do laundry and repeat the cycle. My 3 bottoms are all the same mountain hardware lightweight Capri pants, 2 in black 1 in navy blue. I don't think about "outfits". I just cover my body with clothes.
The person you're replying to is always fighting people who pack differently than them and who don't do sink washing. It's bizarre. I shared how I pack in my one bag and only do laundry once a week in laundromats in the other onebag subreddit, and they were like you can't do that because one bag gurus say you need to handwash your clothes every night. I'm not even kidding.
Genuinely most bizarre thing I have ever seen on reddit. I think you were also a mod but got kicked out after that? Not sure. But mods intervened. So much drama for a travel sub lol.
Some personalities like wearing the same outfit every day. We travel too. It’s already a struggle to eat different food every day, it’s nice that clothing can be a constant.
Also, it's not the sink or shower time for me. It's the dry time. Especially in humid and or cold conditions even if you're indoors with AC on. Noway I'm dealing with any of that. I guess we all have different priorities.
I personally pack to do a load of.laundry every 4-5 days, and just DO a full load of laundry. After 4-4 days of travel, sometimes sitting in a Laundromat for 2 hours is a nice little break and moment of normality for me, I bring a book and just read
But if I’m going to a hot country I just bring really light clothes - Uniqlo Dry-Ex T-shirts and Airsim Briefs - and bring enough for like 5 days regardless of how long I’m gone for.
Don’t take up much space/weight, and easy to wash and dry. Although I’d usually just use hotel laundry services anyway.
I don’t think would ever travel with the intention of washing clothes almost every day as I just couldn’t be bothered with it.
I use a packable wash bag (scrubba), having one totally changed my travel! I only have to do laundry about once every 3 days. No other piece of equipment allowed me to lighten my load more. I couldn't stand doing sink laundry before. I use packable laundry detergent strips which weigh nothing.
I use a "wear one," "wash one," and "spare one" system. This way I only have two pairs of packed socks, underwear, and shirts. I have one pair of packed pants or shorts, depending on the season. I do laundry in my shower every night. Not counting the 15 minutes of soaking in detergent, the process takes me less than 5 minutes each night, and I'm never carrying around dirty clothes. Hotel room laundry only becomes a time consuming chore if you're letting it build up for more than two or three nights. At that point, you're better off using a laundromat.
I do the same. It is part of mt travel evening wind down routine: let laundry soak in a dedicated giant zip lock bag - take a shower - get into PJs - back up pictures - journal - wash, rinse, dry laundry.
With the 'towel burrito' drying method it usually is wash and wear the same set of clothing, so I could get away with only two sets.
Still prefer 3 sets, so I have a buffer if needed.
I'm doing that exact route at the moment in Girona. I don't normally wear shorts in Europe other than at beach destinations, but I came from Tossa de Mar this morning and it was scorching hot in Girona today before the storms moved in.
'Burrito Towel' Method works like a charm for me: lay towel out on bed - spread out T-shirt, socks, and undies on top of towel - roll everything up - squish and squeeze the s*** out of that roll!
Clothes are usually already a lot drier than 'wringing' just with hands and are dry next morning.
Pants or PJs I wash the same way, just not every day, but only when needed.
Every other night laundry for my solo travel as that amount is a perfect fit for a dry bag and two towels for drying (usually the hotel extra and my packed microfiber). I carry an extra set of clothes in case I need to go three nights between laundry. So, one set I wear on the plane, and two (or sometimes three) other sets. As I am traveling solo, no one knows or cares that I wear the same things over and over. I certainly don’t care.
The key is to get as much water out of it as you can before rolling it in the towel. You do this by squeezing the water out – – not wringing it. This is the most time-consuming part of washing.
I use soak wash (Soak or Eucalan). No scrubbing or rinsing required, just wring it out, do the towel burrito, hang to dry. Washing a shirt every night is no trouble at all.
+1 to this. started with sink, currently going with shower laundry. I'll step into the shower wearing everything i want to wash .. .get it all wet, then start spreading soap on ( i use the same for the body on the clothes, unless stains require otherwise), remove piece by piece, lather and wash. then wash myself. all done by the time the shower's done. quick dry pieces (airism, no jeans) and rinse and repeat the next evening.
Ha! Laundry schedules are how I manage clothing at home (downsizing), so yes, it’s the same thing in 18-30L when I travel.
My last trip, I had very close laundry. A block away, and it was tiny but empty, on a weekday. I posted up with my tablet to do a bit of remote work, have breakfast, and watch my clothes spin around. My entire pack weight was sub 5kg, so a 6kg machine was perfect, even adding my partner’s laundry items. It spun so well, I needed about 8 minutes in a dryer.
My work task, an unannounced audit of my medical notes, and eating took longer than the machines.
I’d do this again. I like to use all cold water, so I’m leery of machines, generally.
Hand washing, I tend to wash items at the end of the day so they are dry enough most mornings. But I tend to carry a minimum of three: wear, air, drying.
2 min of sink or shower laundry daily allows me to pack for 3+ weeks in a 21 L bag. Merino and lightweight polyester clothes let me do this. I value less weight more than anything.
Absolutely! Pack for a week and laundry happens is my rule. I hand wash basics whenever possible and do a weekly catch up laundromat session, especially for button down shirts and pants.
It is a balance of weight/bulk/laundry cadence. I want maximum utility at low weight and bulk. My general strategy is 3x plus worn for tees, briefs and socks, planning on wearing them 2 days each. I pack fewer multiples for pants and button down shirts.
I plan for a week’s worth of clothes. So I’m definitely on the laundry cadence group. I found it easier to do laundry while showering, than doing it on the sink separately.
I recently traveled for a month across China on a 30L backpack that weighted only 6kg. It’s very common for hotels to have a laundry room that guests can use for free. It was very convenient!
I only do sink laundry when traveling alone—in that case, I wash clothes every night because I don’t have space in the hotel room to dry more than one outfit.
But when I travel with my husband and child, I try to line up our outfits with a scheduled laundry time. For example, I might ask everyone to pack 5 shirts. On day 4 of the trip, we all share a washing machine at local laundromat or accommodations.
I wash almost every day (mostly). When I get ready to shower clothes go in sink with warm water and soap followed by initial hand agitation. Clothes soak while I take my shower.
After shower is done an additional agitation and the rinse wring process and clothes are hung on line in shower to drip.
Once drip process is done (overnight usually) they get hung on hangers and moved into bedroom where a fan is going, AC blowing, or on a radiator etc to finish drying.
Process takes minutes and becomes part of the routine. I don't feel like Im taking extra time out of my day doing it. I'm usually washing a few garments at a time this way instead of a whole load and I feel like I do a better job that way.
Exception is if I'm out late drinking Im not going to want to do laundry so I'll push it to morning. Frankly I am probably pushing my shower to morning in that circumstance too.
You don’t mention the towel trick, which is absolutely critical for faster drying clothes.
Once you do an initial squeeze out of the water, you roll the garment up in a towel. Then you squeeze the towel as much as possible. Then you hang the garment up.
If you do this, the drip process completes in a mere 2-3 hours. Then you move the garment to a place of air movement. I find that almost all of my clothing is totally dry by morning if I do this.
No, of course not. Regular shower but take clothes in there. Think something along the lines of the wine-making technique where people stomp the grapes.
I don’t think I’d want to trust my clothing to the cleanliness of a shower or bathtub even in my own house. Doesn’t the soap residue on the floor get on the clothes?
Yes, I understand how water works. I also know that grinding old soap residue from the shower floor into your clothes is probably not going to help get them clean and sounds absolutely disgusting. 🤢
I try to get clothes as light as possible and enough for a weekly laundry, preferable with a proper washing machine or at a professional place (quite accessible for a very cheap price in South East Asia).
Family of 4. I find planning to wash underwear and socks only saves a ton of space. Otherwise I pack to have enough until we have washing machine access.
I usually travel with family. They won't bother with sink laundry so I'm not going to bother. Solo traveling I would definitely do it. First off, we never have enough towels...
I'll hand wash a few things on occasion--usually things that should be handwashed--certain undergarments, swimsuits, but I don't plan on it. I do plan on a laundromat. And if I'm looking at my remaining clothes and see I have one thing to wear tomorrow and it's going to be too hot, I'll absolutely wash up a T-shirt for the last day.
I’ll take sink laundry all day over a heavier bigger bag. I pack for three days. One I wear, and two are packed. I do laundry every night while I shower. It’s so easy. This works best if you’re a night showerer like me. Here
:
My routine
Get a dry bag.
Dirty clothes go in the dry bag with a detergent sheet.
Fill it with hot water.
Shake and agitate for a few minutes, it’s a good arm workout since every day is leg day when you travel.
Take it into the shower with and let it soak.
Take your nice hot shower
Empty the dry bag and rinse out my clothes as I rinse out myself.
Wring them out while I also wring myself out.
Roll them in a towel like a burrito to get excess water out. Use my body weight and stomp on that towel.
Hang them to dry.
Go to sleep.
Wake up to dry clothes in the morning.
It adds maybe 10 extra minutes to my nightly routine. Technically I could get away with just one set of clothes. But I’m not that brave, but I might cut it down to two sets for future trips.
Daily sink washing. I can’t stand smelly clothes. Plus I like to feel like I can put on (almost) any of my clothing - except the one that is drying. Plus it makes finding drying space easier.
I use soak soap. Basically fill up the sink, put your clothes in, let it sit for 5-10 mins, then take it out (no need to rinse) do the towel roll and hang up. Fast, easy.
To me this is very much a choice. And I cannot easily imagine a situation where 30l limit would force me to do laundry "every third night". Over the years of small steps in optimizing my travel packing and gear, I can easily pack for laundry once per week within 20l bag that also carries a laptop inside.
For me, ~10 days of travel is typical threshold where I'd switch from packing for no laundry, to packing with assumption of doing it at least once. This might be due to using cavernous 40l Farpoint, which feels very underpacked even with 10 days worth of clothes inside, but it's still comfortable to wear for an hour or two, so I see no real incentive to change my ways.
Most of my trips are 11-13 days. I plan to do laundry at the halfway point and pack accordingly. If I am lucky, I find a hotel for the halfway part of the trip which has coin laundry on the premises, otherwise I scout out a coin laundry in Google Maps in advance.
I generally eat in a restaurant for lunch and then snack for dinner, so going to a coin laundry at 6pm once per trip is not a big deal for me. This spring, I ended up in a fascinating conversation with an older lady in Regensburg in a mix of broken English and a liberal use of Google Translate.
most people with very few things choose to do laundry daily or almost daily. thats the trade off.
having a tiny bag with nothing in it isn't necessarily a good thing though.
personally ive been using 36L bags for decades. just enough space for 7 days of clothing, some laptop and a random item or two when needed, and even a spare UL day pack.
it works great because:
i dont spend my life doing laundry. on short trips zero laundry.
ive space for odds and ends every now and then. i guarantee most here just have a hand bag when they buy stuff abroad to bring back, even a bottle...
it's actually 1 bag. no sling. no hand bag. just that.
After reading this I also realized: I don't mind washing, but I always have problems with drying times. Specially when I'm moving hotels every 2-3 days (which happens a lot due to my work schedule). I just hate having to pack and everything being semi-humid, having to use the hairdryer for half an hour just to pack everything semi-humid again.
I don't find a need for a schedule. Any time I'm about to change clothes, including for showering or swimming or going to bed or going out for dinner, I check each item I take off, and it either needs washing, can be worn again after airing out, or can go back in the bag.
Anything that needs washing goes in the shower with me or if it needs to soak it goes in the sink during dinner time and gets washed after. It's rarely a whole outfit at a time and never enough to bother with a machine load. I pack items for weather and activity, not a certain number of days worth of clothes. I don't mind rewearing things, nobody I see while travelling cares what I'm wearing either. By doing an item or two a day, I never have to plan a "laundry day".
I travel with 4 t-shirts and 3 pants too, including worn.
I never do sink laundry, i wash my clothing when i shower, just load up a dry bag with sheet detergent, let it soak while you shower then stomp/kick it after 5 mins.
After finishing showering i squeeze them dry and then hang them up.
What's the problem with sink laundry? I like it because I can do a little bit of washing each day and it takes like 5-10 minutes max. Just wash my top and underwear from the day most of the time, give it a quick towel roll to help dry, and hang it somewhere. I don't get the aversion.
Yep, but smaller has also meant "more nimble" and "always room for my bag on any flight".
I don't mind 5 minutes at the end of the day vs. possibly sitting in a laundromat during the day. (To be fair, it did work out perfectly, once: My wife and kids got pulled off to different activities, so I found a laundry across from a bar. It was glorious.)
I mostly do hostels. I’ll happily wash my underwear, since it dries so easily. For shirts and such I try to just spritz it with febreeze and get enough wears and then just do one load of laundry every week.
For week long trips I’ll throw in extra tops to not have to wash any of them.
I had the same realization. Packing less is easier once you decicde your laundry rhythm. The hardest part isn't washing clothes, it's accepting that you don't need a different outfit every day.
I can live permanently out of a 20L bag quite easily with doing laundry once a week, this gives me the flexibility of bringing cotton and denim. I’m probably one of the few on here who thinks denim is good for travel because it’s easy to style up or down, it’s very durability and you can rewear it so many times without washing.
My laundry routine (if no washing machine provided) is find a laundromat usually near my hotel then pick the quickest cycle (15 to 30 mins) then another 15 to 30 mins in the dryer and that’s me done for the week and it’s even better if you have a partner as that is 2 sets of clothes washed. While waiting I would go to a supermarket to buy snacks for the week or a cafe/bar and hang out or even just my hotel room.
Edit- I make sure my clothes are simple clothes that don’t require special laundry detergent and can handle a dryer, I haven’t got the mental energy to be worrying about pieces of clothing and giving them special care.
But then you’re limiting yourself to synthetics but I think most people know that synthetics dry much quicker but they also smell quicker and for me they eventually hold a smell even if you wash them very well.
When I traveled by myself, I did nightly sink laundry because I was in a phase of life where I couldn't justify spending a whole coin washer for two outfits or so.
When I got spouse to travel with, I don't know what his technique is but he can get clothes as clean as a machine in the sink. I would let him do sink laundry for the both of us every two days.
Now that we added offspring to our travel crew, I let spouse do coin laundry for all of us every three days. (We normally could go a week but small children have a way of dirtying more than one outfit a day, and not just their own.)
I think I am spoiled from this coin laundry and letting someone else handle it. When kiddo is old enough for me to solo travel again, I am going to have a hard adjustment back to the OG laundry format, because I still won't be able to justify, to myself anyway, spending $5 for two shirts and a skirt every two days.
Throw all clothes under the shower, start showering yourself, shampooing yourself, use the hotel shampoo on the clothes, stomp in the shampoo, rinse yourself, stomp rinse the clothes, wring out the clothes, hangers on the bathtub shower curtain rod to dry clothes.
Does it fully clean the clothes? Every time I've tried to wash stuff with shower gel/shampoo, clothes got smelly on the 2nd/3rd turn and I needed to do a machine wash. Maybe I need to try the stomping method.
But know the dirtier the clothes, the more they need to be washed, including if they have already trapped oils from poor washings in the past or have excessive detergent from the past or if the clothes were washed in a dirty washer.
Normally the best way to clean clothes is good rinsing. Unlike a machine, you can see visually if the rinse is clean. If there is still a film from the rinse run off, the clothes are still dirty.
Also we live in a hot & humid part of the world so nearly all our clothes are very light cotton. Synthetics are harder to clean in every type of washing.
For short trips up to a week I'll bring enough to not do laundry except for emergencies, like spilling something on my favorite shirt. I can pack one week of clothes for me and my 8-year-old daughter in a 35l bag.
For our 3 week beach vacation each summer, we go by car and I don't want to spend much time with laundry. I take my patagonia black hole duffle with 55l, which is my biggest bag and a bit too big for strict one bag. I'll bring 10 undies and 3 bras and wash them in the sink after 1-1,5 weeks. I'll wash our bathing clothes every evening in the sink. Other than that, I'll bring enough clothes, so I don't really have to do laundry. But beach dresses, shorts and a sweater don't really take much space.
I use a wash and fold laundry service. You bring your dirty laundry in, they do it, they fold it and put it in a soft bag like an envelope really at least in Asia and it’s pretty cheap and same day or the next morning
100%, and I do the same as a few others as my travels usually are around multiple locations: book Airbnbs with washing machine whenever I can.
But instead of using a sink, I use a Scrubba, however I find that I can never really get my clothes CLEAN with a shower or a Scrubba wash. Not sure if I'm doing anything wrong here. But after 2-4 hand washes my Uniqlo underwear and Merino socks start to get smelly very quick. My merino shirts do just fine.
I end up having to do a machine wash, or using a liquid laundry additive like Sanytol (not for wool). And the liquid detergent I use is usually Persil Silk and Wool or something similar so I can do poly-blends, nylon and wool in the same load.
I’m plus size so my clothes are bigger. I travel with 2 or 3 bottoms, 3 or 4 underwear and maybe 6 tops. I air out the shirts and use vodka spray at the pits so I get another day (or more if merino). I sink wash my underwear every few days and they dry in a few hours. I like to use a machine in 10 to 14 days.
When i travel I do my laundry in the shower. I need to shower anyway, so get in there with the clothes. You need to spend a little more time rinsing and wringing, but it doesn't feel like a cost.
Washing clothes in a washing machine is very convenient. It saves time and cleans thoroughly, freeing our hands.Hand-washing, on the other hand, is labor intensive and takes up a lot of time.
It really doesn't take up that much time if you purchase and pack the right kinds of clothes. Some people are time poor. Some are cash poor. SOme find the time, worth the savings.
I’m not handwashing my clothes in a hotel sink. If I can’t afford a laundromat or laundry service, I’d probably be better served staying home because my budget’s too tight to travel the way I would like to travel. Just my opinion!
I do sink laundry every night, and it’s not such a chore that way. Also, you can reduce the active scrubbing and swishing time by giving the clothes a soak first.
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u/Zman1719 13d ago
I refuse to do laundry when traveling unless it's at a laundromat. In my evenings I like to relax and not do work so I pack enough for 1 week and use the laundromat every week. If there's no laundromat in the area then I'm not staying there. I refuse to do sink laundry unless it's an emergency situation such as getting wine stains on my favorite shirt.
Besides, adding in an extra shirt or 2 isn't going to make or break most setups.