Many do think washing clothes while travelling within a week is a hassle considering the room’s space, sink and most of all, the place where they want to dry clothes. Some hotels do not permit their guests to dry clothes on the balcony or outside the windows.

Since you, as a traveller, want to save and have a practical and enjoyable vacation, you want to do your own laundry conveniently. Time is precious and you do not want to waste your opportunity to visit places so here are the tips for washing and drying clothes:

 1. Have a small bottle of liquid detergent

One can bring a powdered detergent but it may become moist when you open it again that is why it is better to use a small bottle of liquid detergent. A few liquid detergents are often packed in small sachets so instead of buying one, you can just find an empty bottle of perfume or shampoo and fill it up. It will be best to use a liquid detergent with fabric conditioner.

2. Pack a zipped lock or a thick plastic bag in case there’s no pail or basin.

In some countries, a pail is often found inside the bathroom and you can wash your clothes there. A basin can also be used to do laundry but how about if you want to wash your clothes such as shirt and underwear altogether? Use a zipped lock or a thick plastic bag, put your clothes there and then do the hand-wash or if using zipped lock, lock it and then shake. After that, you can rinse the detergent; fill it up with water and then rinse.

If you want to wash your pants but a pail or a bath tub is not available, get a big plastic and place it on a big container such as an empty trash can, biscuit can or any other alternative as long as you can wash your clothes with the plastic holding in place.

3. Ask the hotel if you can place a clothesline.

It does not hurt to ask the staff if you can put a clothesline even just on the leftmost or rightmost side of the balcony.

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4. Use a microfiber towel

If the hotel does not allow you to dry clothes outside, have your wet clothes be put with hangers and place these behind the refrigerator without the clothes being too near to the machine. If you notice, you will feel the heat there. If there is no refrigerator, use microfiber towel or any light towel. Aside from being light and can be packed inside a small bag, using these will absorb much water than any ordinary towel.

After wringing your clothes, wrap these inside the towel and wring it again to let the excess water out. After that, unwrap the towel, get the clothes and leave these on top of the towel until dry.

5. If you have a spare budget, try coin-operated Laundromats

Lucky for you if you can find coin-operated Laundromats in your destination. Using this may cost 2 to 5 dollars. If on nature destinations especially on the rural areas, at the same price or depending on the scale or type, you can take the folk’s (usually a laundry lady) service or an established laundry shop to wash your clothes but do not left expensive clothes there so you can be sure that these will not be stolen by someone.

Hotel laundry services are expensive and you have now an idea that doing laundry on your own while travelling is possible. It will be more fun if you will save more and spend excess budget on your travel experiences instead of buying services or things that you can also find on your neighbourhood.