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Doing laundry while traveling is one of the best ways to pack less clothing. While there are laundry facilities on the road some travelers prefer the flexibility of hand washing. Take a look at our hand washing tutorial (updated in 2024)!
How to Hand Wash Clothing when Traveling
Unfortunately, one household chore still remains whist you blissfully travel the world – washing your clothing! Doing laundry on the go is the smart traveler’s secret to packing light!
The following tutorial will teach you the best way to wash and dry your dreaded laundry and assist with some helpful tips and tricks to make the chore simpler.
Even though you have three different options to do laundry while traveling, it’s inevitable to handwash your clothing at one time or another. Follow this easy step-by-step tutorial!
Travel Laundry Liquid Soap | Travel Laundry Clothesline Kit
Plan Ahead
A few convenient travel tools will help make hand washing a bit easier. Pack a universal sink plug such as this one and a travel laundry line such as one of these portable options so you can easily wash your clothing anywhere.
It might help to start by trying to pack lighter clothing that are quick drying and wrinkle resistant, choose fabrics such as rayon or polyester that are pretty wrinkle resistant and dry very quickly.
Note: merino wool is the best fabric for travel because it can be re-worn several times without washing. If you attempt to wash this while traveling it may take forever to dry! Learn more about merino wool here.
Please read this post on how to pack for long term travel for more tips!
It’s not only classic laundry detergent that can be used for hand washing – you can also utilize your shampoo or even a bar of soap.
It would be beneficial to invest in a multipurpose product on shorter trips that can be used as a washing liquid, dish detergent, body wash AND shampoo but on longer trips you have to use what you can.
On shorter trips, you can also pack a few single use detergent packets such as these for a quick wash on the go. Check out these picks for the best travel laundry soap according to TFG readers!
Bring an extra packing cube and dedicate it just to your dirty laundry.
Step 1: Fill Up
Add your chosen detergent to fill the sink, tub, bucket, or even ziplock bag with cool/warm water. Follow the instructions from the garment care label, most will say hand wash in cold water.
Remember to stick to garments of similar coloring if washing newer clothing, colors can still bleed!
Step 2: Wash and Soak
Wash the clothes by swirling them around in the water. Apply extra “detergent” directly to any stains or particularly dirty spots, rubbing the fabric against itself to help get a thorough clean.
Leave the garments to soak for 20-30 minutes for a regular wash or 1-2 hours for dirtier items. If your clothing is very filthy, an overnight soap soak might be in order.
Step 3: Drain and Rinse
Drain the soapy water and rinse the garments under the tap to get rid of the excess soap and detergent. For an extra clean feel, let the clothing soak for 5-10 minutes in clean water to remove the soap with ease.
Step 4: Twist Out the Excess Water
Squeeze and ring out the water with your hands, removing as much water as you can before step five.
Step 5: Lay It Out
Step five and six are optional but are highly suggested as they will help your clothing dry much faster. Lay the wet garments in a single layer on a bath towel. A travel towel like this one works great for this!
Step 6: Roll and Squeeze
Roll the garment up in the towel, squeezing out the excess water as you go. For thicker garments, walking back and forth on the rolled towel works well, eliminating dripping in step seven.
Step 7: Hang to Dry
Hang the clothes overnight to dry ideally outdoors if the weather permits. Alternatively, the bathroom is a good location when you can’t hang the clothing outside.
When possible, hang garments close to the air conditioning, fan, or heater or leave the windows open (if suitable and safe) to allow air circulation.
Backpackers, budget travelers and long term wanderers love the Scrubba Wash Bag. It saves you money by allowing you to efficiently and effectively wash your clothes anytime, anywhere. This works especially well for adventurers getting off the beaten path with limited access to laundry facilities or those that would prefer the convenience of doing it themselves.
For delicate clothing, Scrubba has a new, more gentle wash bag called the Allurette.
Top Travel Washing Tips
- Keep humidity in mind, garments will take longer to dry in jungles and rain forests than in deserts. Keep an eye out for sunny spots to ensure clothing gets as dry as possible but even “quick dry travel clothing” can feel moist on the skin in this climate.
- Utilize your shower time – wash smaller items, such as socks and underwear. When you shower shampoo works as a great detergent.
- It’s important to ensure your clothes are fully dried before you repack, if not you could end up with feet stinking garments, gross. A handy dry bag such as this one can keep any wet clothing from stinking up the rest of your belongings.
- Don’t let your laundry pile up! Wash as you go.
Use a capsule wardrobe to pack light but create many outfits. Learn more in my guide!
Do you hand wash clothing when traveling? Share your tips in the comments!
For more travel tips, please read:
- Which Packing Organizers Should I Choose?
- The Best Travel Backpack
- Top 20 Suitcase Recommendations
- Travel Experts Reveal the Best Carry-on Bags
- Money Belts and Anti-theft Travel Accessories
- Top 5 Travel Bags for Women
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Be careful with using a hair dryer! I once was in a hurry and melted a spot on a polyester tank top🙄
I was nervous about rewearing items on our recent trip to Europe since I was bringing a limited number of pieces . This info about sink washing items was super helpful and made it a breeze while traveling!
Thanks for these great tips!
Great tips! I also travel with sink suds(found on Amazon!)
Leave the soap/woolite at home. A dap of whatever shampoo or gel is at hotel (or your supply if not provided) is enough. Usually adequate for stain removal, too.
Forget the sink stopper, stick a sock in it and wash that sock last.
Clothes line – dental floss, can re-use the line many times.
I use reasonable thick socks to protect against sores and a sweatshirt for warmth. Still looking for replacements for those that will dry even faster.
Hi Mark, thank you for sharing all your great tips for handling our dirty washing when traveling! ?
I always travel with a universal plug, a line, some pegs, plastic coated wire coat hangers, wool mix (Martha’s Wool Mix which is an Australian product) & a chamois towel. The top of these coat hangers can be bent to cater for what you’ve got to hang clothes on eg lamp shades, light fittings etc as sometimes there is not always somewhere to put your line up. The wool mix is highly concentrated so just a couple of drops & it soaps up well. The beauty is it has a eucalyptus fragrance which leaves everything smelling fresh. I do use the extra hand towels to remove excess water from the clothes but the chamois towel draws out so much more liquid & drys quickly. I also carry an old toothbrush with a small piece of sard wonder soap which will remove all sorts of stains. Everything (except the coat hangers) here packs down into a small travel pack. I’ve travelled quite a bit overseas & find laundromats few & far between & having laundry done at your hotel can be costly.
Hi Debbie, thank you for sharing how your travel hacks for washing your clothes when on vacation, this is awesome!! 🙂
I use a bathtub and happily stomp on my clothes. Wash and flick underwear can dry in under an hour in most hotel rooms. “One pair on, one off, one pair waiting for me” makes packing easier.
I take Woolite packets to wash clothes. They are fantastic!
Hi Cassie, thank you for sharing this with us, it is really useful!! 🙂
I find the unuversal drain plug almost never works. So i carry a 2 gallon ziplock bag and wash in it. It is large enough if you wash as you go. I carry a small bottle of euclan wool wash, which is great for merino and other fabrics and does not need to be rinsed.
Hi Jackie, thank you for sharing how you like to hand wash your clothes when traveling. This is really useful! 🙂
Goop is a great stain remover. A little goes a long way. I find it works much better than Tide sticks & is always in my travel bag.
Hi Kandie, that’s a great tip. Thank you for sharing it!
I use goop at home. This is a great tip! Going to put some in my travel bag now.
Thanks! I find Dr bronners peppermint soap is great, and I love my little washing board from muji to work on stains or really sweaty areas like armpits. I find my fabric lasts longer if I use the washing board instead of rubbing fabric against itself. http://www.muji.us/store/washing-board.html
I love Muji!
Good suggestions. I usually wash underwear & tops in the shower with shampoo. Use a towel to absorb as much water as possible before hanging to dry. Also a hair dryer can dry clothes.
Thanks for your feedback Sandy!
Thank you for these tutorial. Travelling a lot will necessitate the ability to maximize time spent cleaning laundry. I never knew you can dry clothes with hair dryer.
Thanks Charlice!
The most important part of the article is “don’t let it pile up.”
Wash nightly, or at least every other night.
For those of us who dry on racks year round, this seems simple, but that change of local climate can knock the smug off the most competent hand washer/home indoor dryer.
Going from desert to coast, or even much of a temperature change, tweaks the time and airflow needed.
Practice at home. Know the game will change.
And don’t skip the towel step for anything fluffy or thick.
I order shampoo bars for travel. I use soap based bars at home, but they require an extra step in hard water. So SLS wins for travel. Since shampoo is a detergent, and meant to remove sebum (skin and scalp oils), it’s a natural for laundry. Solid, lightweight, dual use. Score.
I travel with Zote soap – it is a laundry detergent bar that smells good and does a great job of cleaning. It should be easy to find in most cities here in the U.S. I cut a small piece from the bar and then put it in a small plastic bag. Since it is solid, it doesn’t take up space in my 3-1-1 bag.
That sounds great! I’ve found solid bars of detergent on other countries and wondered why we wouldn’t have it at home. Thanks for the tip!
Try adding a dash of plain vinegar! Vinegar, which is very inexpensive and widely available is an amazing addition to the laundry. Vinegar is a disinfectant, fluffs woolens, freshens and generally de-funks the wash. Vinegar is great for removing grime, deep cleaning washable fabrics, and can even get rid of yellowing of both blacks and whites. Vinegar is gentle, environmentally friendly, and effective. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons to the basin with water and detergent, and continue as above. I wash my DWR rainwear in vinegar and water in the sink, rinse well, air dry and toss it into the dryer on low for 5 mins to renew the water repellency (follow the manufacturer’s instructions of your own gear). Add 1/2 cup of vinegar to a load of wash in a machine to freshen, disinfect, fluff, reduce lint, remove manufacturing chemicals, remove smokiness or mustiness, de-funk, or just brighten the wash. Whatever you have remaining when it is time to move on can given away, or poured out to freshen the drains.
thanks for the tip!