Sink Laundry
Sink laundry is just as glamorous as it sounds, but worth it to have a smaller suitcase! Carry on packing for life!! ✌🏼
Easy Sink Washing
Pre-soak your dirtiest clothes in water (or a soap and water mix).
Add your detergent, fresh water, and clothes to the sink and then go to breakfast—letting them soak for a slightly extended period of time gets more dirt and odor out of the clothes without agitating.
Rinse until clear.
Wring out as much water as you can; roll up in a towel and wring further (a partner is helpful but not required for this step).
Lay on a clothesline or towel bars to dry.
My husband and I both HATE laundry. I probably hate it because I’ve been washing my own clothing since age 7 and Dantan hates it because he’s a bit of a perfectionist so he reads each tag and follows the instructions. So why would we choose to do laundry pretty much every day when we travel?
COO Packing (Carry-On Only) is the best thing since sliced bread… and pretty much requires washing some items.
I’m cheap and don’t like to pay $10+ per clothing item for the hotel to do our washing.
It’s really not that bad if you do it in small quantities.
You can decant detergent into a little bottle if you like, but Tide Sink Packets take the mess and guess work out of sink laundry. You can also just use the hotel-provided soap, but I l use that as a pre-rinse and soak in Tide for clean laundry smells. ✨
At some point, you will need a universal drain stopper. I laughed at my favorite packing list for years… until I needed one on a dahabiya… on the Nile River in Africa. Yeah, that would have been nice to have. It takes no space, just pack one. I pack a little bit of string too, in case I need to improvise a clothesline.
My top sink laundry tips: don’t wait until you’re out of clothing (wash your airplane outfit as soon as you get to your destination), don’t wash less than 24 hours before a travel day (wet clothing doesn’t pack well), buy wool clothing which never smells and only needs washed if it’s soiled, and if it’s in the budget treat yourself to a laundry service sometimes! Consider an Airbnb with a washer/dryer for a night or two midway through the trip.