Five Amazing Tips for Cleaning Backpacker Clothes by Harriet Williams
Keeping your tights brighter than white is a difficult task to accomplish while vagabonding across the continent. After all there’s a lot of dirt out there folks! But by following some of these classic laundry tips you might just help keep body odour at bay:
Sink Stopper
A sworn-by backpacker staple, the rubber sink stopper is your best friend in disguise. Easily picked up in shops and supermarkets across Southeast Asia, this inexpensive and primitive little gadget, pops handily into any hostel bath or shower, holding water for longer than the usual five seconds. As budget hostel sinks are often more dirtier than the laundry, a sink stopper could stand you in good stead for that hot date where clean undies is a must.
White Soap
Passing through Argentina? Pick yourself up some “white soap”, a big bar of multi-purpose soap that’s amazing for washing clothes with. All that’s needed is a little sprinkle and your washing water will bubble up ready for stinky T-shirt dunking. Lacking a basin? Fill up a garbage bag full of water. That and the soap: the ultimate two-punch combo.
Plastic Hangers
Drying your clothes in a tired old backpacker hostel can be quite tricky. Packing two or three lightweight plastic hangers can be just the ticket for avoiding soggy jeans and underwear. They fit well in the back of a pack, don’t take too much room and are more practical than a line as they hang off stuff around a room without getting in the way. Stick them on door knobs, shower heads or open windows and watch your babies get crisper and crisper.
Disposable Clothing
Buying cheap T-shirts and shorts is easily done in the markets of popular gap year destinations. But how about never washing clothes and simply buying new ones. You can then throw the older, odorous garments away, waving goodbye as you do so. Wool shirts and nylon pants don’t require washing too often and can look sharp enough to help you pull. Also consider colours. Forget anything white as every little stain is going to show up. Once you go black you’ll never go back.
Do It Yourself
Allowing hostel services to take care of cleaning your clothes is dangerous territory. In Europe you’ll have no trouble finding a washing machine and doing it yourself, there’s no need to ever entrust your tight little y-fronts to anyone but yourself. Asia is a bit more difficult for a backpacker. Laundry services here are reputed to often destroy garments by washing on wrong heats or mixing colours. Lean towards hand washing as opposed to laundry services. It’s cheaper too.
About the Author
Harriet Williams is an avid traveller and travel writer, who particularly likes writing about gap year travel.
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