Dumb question...where do you keep *dirty* clothes?

[bangzoom6877]

We are staying at BWV for 10 nights next month , but we're first driving from NYC to Boca raton and then up to WDW. So we actually leave 5 days before we arrive at BWV. The entire road trip is 18 nights total, and after 9 nights, we will have a day without a theme park. So I figured that since this is right in the middle of the trip, I will do laundry that day in the villa (we have a 1BR).

In the mean time, what would you do with the dirty clothes? We will be staying over 2 nights on the way to Boca, then 3 nights in Boca before getting to BWV. Then we will have a few more days worth of dirty clothes before I do laundry. Then of course there is the ride home afterwards! I can't remember for the life of me what we did on our last Disney trip in 2008, which was a 14-night road trip, and I didn't do laundry (we weren't DVC members yet and we were staying at Pop Century). Any tips? Thanks, and sorry if this seems like a sumb or weird question to ask!

 

[joandegennaro]

Everyone has laundry so not a silly ? to ask. What I do is take along a XXXL ziploc bag or even a lg space bag that I can load up and push the air out to make it more compact for travel.

This past year was our first trip to Disney from Ontario by car. We loaded everything into storage buckets(rubbermaid) Everyone had their own bucket and I had one that was just for our 3 day trip down with the cloths we all would need as well at tolietries. These buckets were also great as laundry baskets untill the day I did the laundry.

If your in a 1 bedroom then you will be able to do laundry before you leave then only have the travel days of dirty laundry to deal with.

 

[gerberdaisy1234]

I always pack a couple of those spring action type pop-up laundry baskets. Depending on how we are traveling, I either stick it as is in the car or transfer clothes so we have an empty suitcase and use that for the dirty clothes. Remember folded clothes take up less space so fold your dirty too.

Be careful using ziplock for dirty clothes in case there is any moisture. I do use ziplock for packing clean. I will sometimes stack outfits for kids (i.e. t-shirt, shorts, socks, underwear), roll, put in ziplocks, and label with an address label (name and type of clothing-i.e. bed, daytime, swim).

Last 10 day trip was awesome. The only dirty clothes we had were the clothes we wore home. We stayed in a townhouse in Windsor Hills and did a quick load everyday!

 

[Muhlenberg]

I use trash bags for storing dirty laundry temporarily. Maybe you could throw a load or two in before the middle of your trip to try to stay ahead of it. When we've stayed in 1 BR's, I've done laundry much the same as when I'm home...a load in the morning most days...works for me! I also had most of the laundry done before we went home...following the same pattern of a load a day.

 

[Inkmahm]

We have a pop up hamper that we keep in our Owners Locker. Dirty clothes go in the hamper at the end of the day, just like at home.

 

[vicki_c]

Ditto on the pop-up hamper - we keep our in our OL too, but it's all flat when it's folded up so no big deal to put into a suitcase on the way down and back.

 

[Donna M]

We use a trash bag.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You will have a laundry basket in the villa that you can use for dirty clothes. Or if you are coming from someplace else, just fold them up and put them in one suitcase. We also have a pop-up hamper that I use for dirty clothes. When it is full, I do laundry. I've done laundry twice since we arrived last Sunday. Four loads each time (smallish loads). We'll go home next week with clean clothes in the suitcases.

 

[kristenrice]

I have a "tote" bag that zips up into itself. I got it from Eddie Bauer a few years ago and I love it. When we aren't using it (en route, for example) it zips into itself and it is about 6"x8". When we unfold it and stuff it, it holds an average size load of laundry. It has a zipper top (which helps us avoind airing our dirty laundry)and a handle so we can hang it in the closet or on the doorknob. An added bonus is that it has a pocket on the outside that I can slide a package of detergent into and head to the laundry room.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Thank you everyone for all the great tips!

I think I will do this...we have 2 HUGE duffle bags. All of our boys' clothes fit into one together (they're only 3 and 5 years old, so small size clothing!). We can bring the other one empty, and fill it as we go along. I am going to also bring a large trash bag though, because I don't like the idea of putting dirty clothes directly into a suitcase without some *protection* for the suitcase! So, I will fold them and put them into the trash bag everyday on the way down, then do laundry in the middle of the trip. I am also considering doing a small load a day since it is very little to fold and put away at one time. I bought a box of the Purex sheets that go in both the washer and dryer, so there will be plenty for me to do a load a day if I want.

For those of you who do a load of laundry a day, do you just put it into the washer in the morning, get ready, then throw it into the dryer and fold it when you return from the theme park? We take an afternoon break everyday and I am wondering how to do this so it isn't a pain but is efficient. I worry about leaving wet clothes in the washer for too long because of the Florida humidity.

 

[vicki_c]

Wet clothes in the washer for the day isn't going to be a problem - the rooms aren't that humid because of the a/c. That's what we normally do, wash them in the morning, take them out and dry them on our afternoon break.

 

[javamom]

I usually pack some plastic bags or trash bags, to stuff the stinky clothes. Either way, a plastic bag is good in case you end up with wet swimsuits to pack.
Personally, I would just toss loads in the washer and dryer as I come and go from the villa so that it doesn't stack (and stink) up. Easy peasey, and no stress.

 

[dis-happy]

We do a lot of traveling and with a family of 6, you have to save space! Whatever is dirty gets folded inside out and rolled back up into the 2 gal. ziplock baggies in our suitcase. Whether it's shirts, undies, whatever it's easy to tell at a glance what's been already worn.

 

[Muhlenberg]

I do the wash/dry/fold all in the morning. BUT I am a morning person and I'm up and an unmentionable time. You could do the dry/fold in the afternoon when you have your break.

I'm with you on the dirty clothes in the suitcase...hence the trash bags for dirty stuff.

 

[Simba's Mom]

You will have a laundry basket in the villa that you can use for dirty clothes. Or if you are coming from someplace else, just fold them up and put them in one suitcase. We also have a pop-up hamper that I use for dirty clothes. When it is full, I do laundry. I've done laundry twice since we arrived last Sunday. Four loads each time (smallish loads). We'll go home next week with clean clothes in the suitcases.

We always use that laundry basket for dirty clothes.

 

[Brancaneve]

We use a large cloth bag with a tie at the top that I purchased at Walgreen's years ago. It folds nicely into my suitcase, but I can fill it, pack it and then wash it with the clothes. Not a silly question at all! One of the best things about DVC is being able to wash your clothes!

 

[Tara]

Ditto on the pop-up hamper - we keep our in our OL too, but it's all flat when it's folded up so no big deal to put into a suitcase on the way down and back.

We have a pop up hamper that we keep in our Owners Locker. Dirty clothes go in the hamper at the end of the day, just like at home.

Same here. We used to always pack it in a suitcase BOL. (that's Before Owner's Locker to the newbies)

 

[ercrbc]

I always use a large easy to carry laundry basket when I pack. We have small children so it comes in handy to hold things like booster seat, sippy cups, wipes, small toys, ect.

I typically empty it when we arrive and use the laundry basket for dirty clothes during the week. When we leave clothes are clean and I pack all my stuff back into the basket to travel.

 

[Brian Noble]

We also do small loads frequently. It's somehow easier than "laundry day", and works well with the stackable machines in most of the resorts. We usually come back to the resort mid-day, so a load goes in in the morning, gets swapped in the afternoon.

 

[SnowWhite2]

Are all the villas with a w/d supposed to have a laundry basket? I think I'm 1 for 5 on having one in the villa. Can I call mousekeeping to get one if it's not in the room? I hate calling about things I'm not supposed to have anyway.