BootsnAll Travel Community

This is one of, what I expect to be, a long running series of logistical questions. so bare with me.

What do you do with your dirty laundry when your on the move. How do you sperate it from your clean clothes. I was thinking of stuffing it in the bottom part of my bag. But thats a bit large to use exclusively for dirty clothes.

I had this problem when I was away in Europe and never really solved it.

Any suggestion?

In countries where I can afford my own room, even if it's only in hostal/pensione type places (shared toilet), I will often have several items washed and drip-drying overnight. A universal flat-sink plug and wonderful, stretchy cord with hooks are permanent parts of my travel kit. I find that I enjoy washing clothes SOOO much more on the road than I do at home. I also sometimes use on-site laundry services.

So, to answer your question, once I'm on the move from place to place, my limited wardrobe is usually all clean. If, for some reason, I don't have the time/space/means to do laundry, I just put the dirties in a small plastic bag.

quote:

How do you sperate it from your clean clothes.

I bring along two pillow cases. One for clean clothes, one for dirty ones.
Pillow cases weigh next to nothing.

I'm a believer in the bin bags....a couple of black sacks come everywhere with me....I normally use one for my dirt laundry to separate it and then just do a wish either in the sink and dry overnight or next day or do a laundry at a hostel if tehy have one but that can be a pain sometimes and takes time.

Oh...and the other bin bag comes in very handy to just separate stuff sometimes or as a rain cover....They come in handy in the strangest of places!

zip lock bags, several for different types of clothes (one for underwear and socks, one for t-shirts and tanks, etc., and one or two for dirty clothes). Then hand wash in a sink (don't forget your universal plug). Hang it up to dry either in the room, next to the tent, or strung along your bunkbed in a dorm.

i usually just bring a plastic grocery sack for the dirties. twist the top and the funk is trapped inside.

if i have a stuff sack (from a camping store) handy, sometimes i'll put them in that, but i usually like to save those for clean socks and undies to keep them in one place.

Use plastic bags. At the start of my last trip, I tried that and EVERYTHING STUNK! So, I recommend using plastic bags. Keep a couple and chuck them when they get ripped, etc. Tie the top too.

So *YOU* were that person crinkling the plastic bags while the rest of us were trying to sleep! I knew it was you!

quote:

Originally posted by static:
So *YOU* were that person crinkling the plastic bags while the rest of us were trying to sleep! I knew it was you!

That brings up a very good point. When you're hostelling and arriving latealot of people aren't prepared and don't have the stuff they really need handy so for about half an hour everyone is awake and waiting for that person to get to sleep, then about 2 hours later their cell phone starts making an obnoxious noise (like a howler monkey) at full volume. (True story, happened to me in S.Africa). Makes it difficult for your roommates to be friendly to you.

I'm liking the pillowcase idea.

Going to amsterdam tomorrow so I am gonna test it out.

I'm a big fan of noisy, plastic shopping bags to put my dirty clothes in - sorry Joe, but I promise I NEVER crinkle them when people are trying to sleep (unless it's noon). Plastic shopping bags are cheap, plentiful and easily replaceable and, as someone already pointed out, keep stinky stuff from making other stuff stinky too.

Pillow cases - used one, but found that it held too much to pack stuff really efficiently.