I’ve been gone for less than a week and I’ve already worn nearly all of my clothes, and many of them multiple times. A 40L backpack is just not that big, and I can only commit a very small amount of space to clothing. Add to that the 85+ heat and an apartment with no AC and you end up needing to do laundry quite frequently.
I wanted to share how I have been doing laundry on the road. I have found this to work pretty well without taking up much time and still leaving my clothes clean and nice smelling!
Materials
- Fels Naptha laundry soap bar and/or detergent soap sheets (these are both great non-liquid options which means they don’t take space in you 3-1-1 bag for airline security)
- Dry Bag (4L will wash a pair of socks, underwear and a shirt, but if you want to do more at once, you can getter a bigger bag)
- Access to warm, clean water
- 15 minutes to kill
Directions
- Run each item under hot and rub with the Fels Naptha bar until there’s a fair amount of soap on the item. If you’re using detergent sheets, skip this step and throw a few sheets per item into the dry bag with a little bit of water until they dissolve.
- Place the items in the dry bag and fill with hot water until the clothing is submerged.
- Seal the dry bag.
- Shake the bag vigorously for about a minute.
- Let the clothes soak in the water for about 10 minutes.
- Empty the bag and take the clothes out. Rinse thoroughly with water until all the soap has come out and water runs clear.
- Hang to dry.