How To Do Your Laundry In A Hotel Room

Washing clothes, even in the most favorable of circumstances, is decidedly an un-fun task. But when you add in the complications of being on the road, and not having a washing machine, the process can become a nightmare waiting to happen. But fear not, fellow traveler, because with a little preparation and our seven-step process, you, too, can become a master hotel-room clothes washer.

What You Need:

• liquid soap (like Dr. Bronners Sal Suds)
• sink stopper, or for a multi-tasking solution, duct tape (in case your sink doesn't have a stopper built in)
• dry towel
• a place to hang your clothes to dry

Recommendations

• To help your clothes dry faster, I'd recommend packing quick-drying underwear and socks. They dry much faster than cotton, so you can avoid wet-undergarment syndrome.
• If you tend to sweat a lot, and your clothes get stinky, I'd recommend bringing along a small vial of nice-smelling essential oil. Put a tiny bit in the water when you're rinsing, and it'll make your clothes smell sweet, even if your washing isn't perfect.

7 Simple Steps

1. Soak. Squirt some soap into a stopped sink, along with your clothes. Fill the sink with water as hot as your clothes will allow. Swish the clothes around to make sure they're sudsy. Let them soak for 5 minutes or so. Why not do it while you're showering?
2. Scrub. After you've let your clothes soak for a while, you've got to get scrubbing. Rub the fabric together vigorously in the water, making sure you've covered your entire garment. Spend some extra time scrubbing stinky or dirty areas. I'd recommend spending at least 2 minutes on each garment, and more for larger articles.
3. Wring. Before rinsing out your garments, I'd recommend wringing them out as completely as possible. I do this at home when I hand wash, and it helps to get all the soapy water out, making the rinsing process much faster.
4. Rinse. Drain the sink and fill it with cooler water. Rinse each garment by rubbing the garment fabric together, dipping it vigorously, and generally working the soap out in any way possible. When the water looks dirty or soapy, wring out the garment to remove as much water as possible.
5. Repeat. Repeat the rinsing step as many times as is necessary to get all the soap out. Usually, it takes me 1-2 times to get it all out, depending on how much soap I used in the washing step.
6. Wrap, fling, stomp. Once you've gotten all the soap and funk out of your clothes, you've got to dry them. Wringing out the water helps, but for bulkier garments, you need something extra to get them dry in a reasonable amount of time. Wrap your clothing in a dry towel, and proceed to swing around, stomp on, and beat the water out. Keep going until the towel is soaked. (The first time I tried this, I was amazed at how much water came out of a single pair of jeans.)
7. Hang to dry. Last, but not least, you need to hang your clothes up in a well ventilated location. If your shower has a bar, use that. Other good locations to try are the back of a chair or on the top of a door. (I've never had good luck getting portable clothes lines to stay attached, so I can't recommend them.)