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Wearing your clothing more than once may be out of the question at home but for seasoned travelers, it’s our secret to packing light. We pack less of the right things and re-wear them as needed until we have time to do laundry.
Let’s just say that long-term travelers and backpackers especially get to know themselves on a whole other level and are accustomed to the classic “sniff test” to ensure clothing is still wearable for one more day.
If you’re not used to wearing your clothing more than once and are wondering how to make clothes smell fresh on the go, here are six dirty little secrets travelers use to re-wear clothing and pack light!
How to Make Clothes Smell Fresh on the Go
Travel Fashion Help! Reader asks:
I’m traveling to Spain and Italy for 11 days and want to travel light and only pack in a carry on suitcase. With this post on mixing and matching outfits I’m assuming you wear clothing several times without washing them. Do you have any tips on how to keep clothes smelling fresh on the go? I know it’s an odd question but just thought I would ask. This is going to be my first travel experience.
This was a great question and I’ve been meaning to address this subject for a while. The answer is yes. You would re-wear some clothing from your travel capsule wardrobe but you can also do laundry half way through your trip if needed.
Start by reading these tips on how to make your clothes smell fresh on the go:
- How to do Laundry while Traveling
- How to Hand Wash Clothing when Traveling
- How to Pack Clothes Without Wrinkles
- Use The Best Packing Organizers
Next, follow these steps to help you learn how to make your clothes smell fresh!
Hang Up Your Clothing
One of the best ways to help avoid scents when re-wearing clothing is to hang them up and letting them air out. I find this works particularly well when you have to re-use clothing in hot climates or when being active.
Sometimes you just don’t have the opportunity to wash your clothing in these situations, so this is a great tip for making clothes smell fresh.
Spritz a Bit of Freshener
If you have a bit of room for liquids, take a travel-size bottle of Febreze for a quick fix. Don’t spray delicate fabrics or clothes that can stain easily. Do a spot test just case! However, if you don’t have any room or weight to spare, the next item is a good option.
Use Fabric Softener Sheets
One of my favorite tips to share on how to make clothes smell fresh is to add a dryer sheet in between each piece of clothing. This helps dirty laundry smell better, clean clothing can still smell clean, and it also adds a fresh scent to your luggage. I put one in between clothing and one loose in my luggage. Remember, be careful with delicate items!
If you do plan on doing some laundry on your travels, check out these picks for the best travel laundry soap according to TFG readers!
Shop in regular, petite, and tall sizes: Eddie Bauer Departure Ankle Pants
Wear Athleisure
Some of the best fabrics for travel are athletic-inspired pieces that are made to repel sweat and have antimicrobial properties. Do your best to choose at least a couple of items like this that don’t absorb sweat and scents so you have at least one “emergency” travel outfit.
For more tips read this guide on how to choose the best fabrics for travel!
Pack More Tops Than Bottoms
As a general rule, packing more tops than bottoms is helpful when you’re creating a capsule travel wardrobe. It helps you maximize travel outfits while giving the illusion of completely different looks.
As a bonus, it’s easier to re-wear bottoms without washing just avoid light colors. While it can be tricky to know how to make clothes smell fresh when you’re dealing with delicate silk tops, jeans are easier to keep smelling odor-free.
White t-shirts are classic, and a capsule wardrobe staple!
Take Dresses With You
If traveling in the summer, take dresses! They’re an easy, breezy travel outfit solution and a great secret for ensuring your clothes smell fresh. Look for light fabrics not heavy ones that won’t cling to your skin making them easier to re-wear.
And because they make a full outfit on their own, you can easily pack seven pieces for a one week trip and not have to wear anything more than once!
It’s the season for easy breezy vacation style! We’ve got a round up of twenty beautiful summer maxi dresses!
If you’re only spending one or two nights in each city and doing laundry is difficult:
For cold weather travel, wear merino wool thermals under everything – they can be worn for days and won’t absorb scents so you’ll only need one or two pairs. This is a great trick for how to make clothes smell fresh when traveling. Since they’re closest to you skin you won’t need to wash the rest of your clothing.
The secret to cold weather travel is thermal underwear! Read this to discover our top ten brands for the best thermal underwear for women!
Compass Rose Compression Packing Cubes
For two week trips in hot weather travel, clothing is lighter so you can pack 3-4 bottoms and 11 tops and not do any laundry at all. That’s the Maximista size capsule wardrobe and should still fit into a carry-on with packing cubes.
Watch the packing tutorial on Youtube!
In 2017, I launched Compass Rose Travel Accessories and my very first product was a 4-Piece Set of Carryon Packing Cubes. These are the only packing cubes sized to fit the exact width of a carryon suitcase and they also have a unique color-coded and numbered organization system – the only kind currently available anywhere on the market.
I put together a five-part YouTube series showing you the different methods to use packing cubes. If you use this specific packing strategy, they can also compress your belongings. This is the secret to traveling carryon only!
For a one week trip (depending on the time of year you’re traveling) you could take 3 bottoms + 7 tops and wash at the end of the first week if your trip is longer without having to re-wear tops.
What are your tips on how to make clothes smell fresh on the go? Please comment below!
For more packing tips, please read:
- Plus Size Packing Tips: How to Rock a Carry-on Wardrobe
- Traveling With Jewelry: 10 DIY Packing Tips & Tricks
- Top 7 Carryon Luggage Packing Tips for Women
- How to Avoid Overpacking with 20 Awesome Tips
Hope you liked this post on how to make clothes smell fresh on the go. Please share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Thanks for reading!
all your links to the Compass Rose Packing cubes says currently unavailable.
Maybe you should change the links or delete them.
They look wonderful but discouraging when you click on the link.
Hi Carrie, sadly as a small business our Compass Rose product line was massively impacted by COVID and we’re still recovery. but we do have a small batch of our compass rose packing cubes coming available in April/May (fingers crossed) so if you’re interested, we’ve created a waiting list here: https://forms.gle/3W1xXDwyYwPyof4M7
With over 2000 articles on the blog and hundreds more in email and social, it’s challenging for us to update all the links. We’re just a small team, but you can find additional recommendations for packing cubes on this popular post: https://www.travelfashiongirl.com/packing-cubes-video-tutorial-learn-how-to-pack-light/
Happy travels!
If you are doing something that may cause more odor, wash your underarms with hand sanitizer midway through the day. This cleans up most odor and it won’t transfer to your clothes. Thanks for the other tips, I am going to try some.
That is a really helpful tip, thanks for sharing Diana!
Hi! I love all your tips it’s been really helpful for me as my hubby and I are starting to travel more!! What do you use for dirty laundry? Should I use a packing cube or any other ideas?
Thanks!
Laura
Hi Laura, I just put dirty clothes in a plastic bag and back into a packing cube. ?
Thanks Alex! Your suggestion to use cubes has been a lifesaver! I hope that I can snag a set of your cubes they look amazing! ?
Thanks Laura ?
I spend a lot of time at AirBnb. I rinse only panty crotch each night, and under arms of tops.
I dab a little vanilla or lavender water on a disposable face cloth and drag over items. Naturally if there are stains, I just wash the stain. Hang up clothes and put underwear over hangers.
Here’s a tip that works for us: Most suitcase linings have a zipper (between the lining and outer suitcase). We just spread out all of our laundry there; so none of the suitcase contents is in contact with the laundry. Has the benefit of cushioning the contents too (for rough airline handling).
Another idea is to stick a disposable panty liner into the armpits of delicate tops and dresses to protect them from sweat stains!
I read somewhere that used and dried tea bags are good for getting nasty smells out of shoes – I had some Birkenstocks get gross and stinky after getting caught in the rain so I saved a couple of used tea bags, let them dry, and then put them in the Birk sandals overnight. Absorbed all the smell, and they were nice and fresh the next day.
Probably would work well on luggage as well!
I’ve also mixed baby powder and baking soda to freshen shoes and sandals, but that’s a little messy for inside luggage.
Hanging clothes to air out has been my best strategy for keeping clothes fresh. Also have a look at Smartwool socks–the kind that don’t show — they can help prevent food odor and are easy to wash and dry out. They are pricey but well worth it IMO.
Check out using vodka in a spray bottle to remove odors.
Yes the vodka spray works. I did add some Young Living Purification essential oil to it.
Hey Kim, what is the ratio of vodka to Purification oil? What a great idea!
Hi! I need some help. My suitcase smells bad i wash it many times bit it still smelly so my dresses smell the same too. Does anyone has an idea or just give any suggestions please!
How about adding in some dryer sheets? This always helps 🙂
Use a mixture of water and tea tree oil. Has anti-fungal properties and smells more natural. Chemicals in fresheners such as Febreze are way too harsh and overpowering.
Thanks Katie, good tip!
Or try coffee grounds (fresh or used) wrapped in nylon bag. Will absorb odors without leaving a fragrance others may find offensive.
Thank you Google. You helped and answered my question.
Happy to help Jaime!
I normally hang my things up and DAB ( i.e. a teensy bit) of essential oil onto the stinky bits. My favourite is a 5% dilution of Rose Otto from Amphora Aromatics – thus, I smell divine in 2-day-old crumpled clothes. Simple!
Great tip! I think sometimes I’ve pushed clothing way too far without washing. Probably this is much needed!
Shaking garments out and hanging up in the sunshine really helps – I’m not an expert, but as I understand it, the UV rays actually help to break down the smells in the fibres of the clothing and the breeze blows them out.
A weird suggestion, but I’ve found that a quick blast from a hairdryer can freshen up a garment (ideally on a cool setting, if hanging outside isn’t an option) and hair dryers are also great for getting slightly damp things dry enough to wear or pack!
Hi Zoe that’s a great suggestion! Hadn’t thought of using a blow dryer before – good tip!
Here is a tip from experience. Keep the hair dryer a good distance from your clothing. If too close, you can scorch or burn your item!
I totally agree with Phebe – make sure you’re clean, and your clothes will smell nice longer 🙂 I also pack more tops than bottoms – great way to create new looks without being noticed that you’re actually wearing the same pair of shorts. The idea of a used dried tea bags is quite strange, but if it worked for Phebe, we would have to check it out 🙂
http://www.travelekspert.com/2015/09/the-sisterhood-of-world-bloggers-award.html
Definitely more tops than bottoms – great tactic!
Tons of tricks to avoid doing laundry constantly!
Carry Tide stain remover “pens” – they take out almost all stains from clothing so you don’t have to wash a top if you drop a little marinara.
Baby powder helps freshen white tops – just a tiny sprinkle! Also can freshen shoes – sprinkle, leave over night, shake out in the morning.
Room freshener, Febreze, Downy de-wrinkler, laundry lavender all can help freshen clothes. They can be lightly sprayed over most clothes, or used strategically for the more, well, aromatic areas of say a pair of jeans.
Weird as this sounds, used and dried tea bags are great at getting shoes to smell fresh. I’d think they’d also freshen luggage, jeans, jackets, etc. Be very careful with light colors, and make sure the tea bags are very dry. (I was amazed by how well they freshened wet sandals!)
You can always spot wash clothes as needed – as in just wash the underarms of a top and dry overnight if you really have nothing else to wear.
And taking daily showers, using baby powder and deodorant, making sure you’re clean and not stinky can definitely add to the time between washing clothes.
Love it! Awesome tips 🙂 Thank you these deserve their own post!