Laundry on VACATION!? Do you...?

[Jeanny]

I absolutely LOVE doing laundry! Yes, it's a sickness. Want me to tag along??

 

[Pixiedust34]

We buy the travel sized liquid Tide at Target and bring some dryer sheets in a zip lock bag. We also carry a bunch of quarters in an old 35 mm film container. I bring Shout wipes, too.

We are going to WDW in August and we usually use 2 outfits each/day, as we'll usually shower late afternoon to freshen up for dinner. Laundry is necessary for us, and I plan on doing it a few times during our trip. We'll fit it in while we are swimming anyway, as the laundry rooms are near a pool.

 

[MushyMushy]

I did my first load of laundry on vacation last week!

It was my first trip home to DVC's OKW and I decided before leaving home I'd wash clothes this time. I had dirty clothes plus I had both my and DH's running clothes from marathon weekend. It was great to get the wash done and pack clean clothes to bring home! Both times we did laundry we used the pool and hot tub ('cause I had a studio and studio's don't have w/d in them). It didn't even take as long as I thought it would.

It was funny though. There was a lady in the laundry room with me and she was just starting her clothes also. I turned on the water, dumped in the liquid detergent and threw my clothes in and shut the lid. She looks over at me and says, "Well, I'm gonna do it just like you did and just heave it all in there!" LOL

I know I must have had the dumbest look on my face because this is the way I ALWAYS do laundry, lol, and I think from what she said, maybe I'm not doing it right!!

That made me You don't separate your clothes at all?

I'm not overly strict with separating, and there are times when I'm not feeling well and just want to get it done, that I'll throw it all in at once, but normally I do jeans together, dress slacks together, dress shirts together, tee shirts, towels & undies. I don't normally separate by color except for whites, and we don't wear a lot of whites.

 

[Chattyaholic]

Our trips to Florida usually consist of a week to 10 days in Florida, and a week-long cruise. So we do the laundry between the cruise and our extra time in Florida. Either at the hotel, or at the laundry mat in Port Canaveral.

We are taking a mid-winter vacation this year to the Smoky Mountains and have rented a cabin for 6 nights in Pigeon Forge, plus another 4 nights in a hotel. The cabin has a washer/dryer so we'll probably do a couple loads before we check out of the cabin.

I don't mind doing laundry on vacation. I'd rather do it once instead of taking so many clothes that I need an extra suitcase.

 

[Christine]

I pack lightly and then do some laundry while there.

I normally *HATE* doing laundry at home, but after a few days of being in the hotel room with all the kids, I'm looking for a quiet break. Believe me, no one EVER follows me to the laundry room.

We usually stay at the Shades of Green. They have a large laundry center with a TV. I kind of enjoy it.

 

[Nancyg56]

That made me You don't separate your clothes at all?

That's what I asked my DD! " Nope." So I'm laughing now too.

I am a laundry freak so I separate everything right down to the pinks and blues . I can't wear clothes that have been in a suitcase once I get home, so I need to wash and iron them again. So....I avoid doing laundry on vacation at every cost. My DH has been begging me to cut back on the bags, but I figure that if I can pack 'em he can carry 'em .

Seriously, I try to pack enough so that we don't need to use the laundry but with a 10 day trip planned, I am sure that I am heading to the laundry with my book and coffee. DH does not have enough jeans and I don't want to pack that many outfits for me. We have some of the travel Tide from Target also as well as some dryer sheets. I also have some wrinkle release because I don't want to spend to much time ironing. It also is great because after I hang my clothes I give them a spray and most of the travel wrinkles fall out.

 

[MrsPete]

I don't mind doing a couple of loads of laundry mid-week. I can't stand seeing dirty clothes lie around a hotel room (though they don't bother me much at home). If we're in a condo with laundry facilities, I wash everything and take it all home clean. When we have just the few things we've brought on vacation, it doesn't seem like the same monumental chore that it seems at home -- and it's not because I don't have sheets and towels to wash, and there's not so many clothes as we'd have piled up at home.

A couple hints:

An M&M minis tube holds about $10 in quarters neatly.
Measure out your detergent into small ziplocks, and put the small ziplocks into a larger one --you dont' need to spill detergent in your bag.

With kids, I ALWAYS bring detergent, even if it's just a weekend trip and I think I won't do laundry -- occasionally a child'll throw up or have an accident, and it's very nice to have the materials ready to wash those clothes. Otherwise, the things'd probably be ruined by the time you get back home.

 

[CEDmom]

I usually have to do laundry on vacation but on our last trip in Nov it wasn't necessary. We lucked out and it was hot while we were there (low to mid 70's the whole week) so we didn't sweat at all.

Along with laundry supplies I also brought a small bottle of Febreeze. I found that spraying DH jeans and my capris and letting them dry left them smelling very clean. We were able to wear them twice and I didn't need to do laundry. I brought enough tops for the whole trip but pants really do take up so much room. Just an option for those traveling in the cooler months.

 

[N&B'smom]

I never had before our last trip in early Oct, but that time it was necessary. Because of the ban on liquids in your carryon, we had a larger sized bottle of allergy meds for my son. We packed it in two ziplock bags and put it in the little plastic toiletries thing in our suitcase and zipped that up as well. We arrived at Disney to find some of our clothes coated in the medicine. It leaked through all 3 bags. So, needless to say I had to wash a few things. But it was no big deal!! I don't plan on having to do it again unless something similar were to happen.

Shelby

 

[DisneyPhD]

To those who need to separate clothes, have you ever tried the die magnets, or color catchers? They come in sheets that you just toss in the washing machine. It collects all the run off colors, not your other while clothes. They work great. You can also buy one to reuse that looks just like a wash cloth. Very easy to pack along with you.

I use the Wisk laundry tabs to take with me. I think I remember people not being able to find them, but I have a big box of them at home and only use them for vacation. I also bring downy dryer sheets. I just leave them in my suitcase all the time so I don't need to repack them.

 

[Bunchkin]

We always do laundry on trips that are a week or longer.
It helps lighten the load in the suitcases and we just do it during pool time.

 

[hydster]

Oh man I hate hate hate doing laundry and I cannot fathom doing it ON vacation! I have gone for 2 weeks and haven't done a load of laundry. I'd rather pay for another suitcase than do laundry on vacation.

We use the big bags to use to pack our stuff in. At home we put all of the clothes we can fit in the bag and then suck all the air out of them with the vacuum. It takes the bulk and lessens it by 1/2. We can pack twice as much in 1/2 the space. Then coming home we either see if we can find the maid OR we just put them in and leave a corner un-zipped and roll the air out. Not quite as small as when we were leaving but way smaller than just packing them.

Not that there's anything wrong with doing laundry on vacation but it just is NOT for me!

 

[Freyja]

Wow. Usually I wear my jeans anything from 2-7 times before I wash them. I only own 2 pair of jeans (well that fit anyway )

However, I usually do laundry while on vacation. We usually take 2-3 week trips so there´s no way we (neither us adults nor the kids) have enough clothes to last us 20 days.

 

[Cool-Beans]

I use the Laundry Service. No extra suitcase, no laundry. Best of all worlds.

 

[tycopj]

No, I don't do laundry on vacation either. I try really hard to avoid doing laundry at home , luckily DH has taken on laundry duty and he won't do it on vacation either.

As hard as we try to pack lite, we always seem to over pack. Of course we would do it if necessary, but we certainly don't pack with the intention of washing clothes on vacation.

 

[Disney Doll]

We own DVC, so we do laundry on vacation. It's really no big deal to me. I prefer to pack light and not have to schlep a bunch of heavy suitcases.

I have also done laundry when we did not have the facilities right in our unit...usually the laundry is by the pool, so you can zip down, toss it in, relax by the pool, move it to the dryer and be done.

Usually I bring the detergent tablets or stop at a store and buy a small bottle of laundry soap. I always bring a few dryer sheets.

 

[disykat]

I almost always do laundry on vacation. We've been taking longer vacations and with kids, it's just a necessity. When we fly, we usually stay someplace with machines and I do it while swimming. DH gladly takes responsibility for the kids leaving me to read, swim, sunbathe, etc. between loads with no lifeguard duty.

If we're on a road trip we either specifically stop somewhere with machines or stop at a laundry mat in the middle of the day in a small town for a chance to have lunch and walk around exploring a bit while we do laundry. I love going to a laundry mat on vacations because we do several loads at once and we ALL participate in the work.

I'm still in awe over the idea of someone actually owning 5 pairs of jeans that fit! I'd have to get several of the same style in order to do that.

 

[Ms Marigny]

Yep, I always do laundry once during vacation- it's an excuse to run to the bar!
And I like going home with some clean clothes so I can relax for a day or two and not have to worry about doing laundry right away.

 

[aprilgail2]

We actually do all of our laundry on the last day that way we don't have any to do when we get back home.

I do too because the though of dirty laundry being packed into my suitcase grosses me out. When I get home I also don't want to have a mountain of laundry to do, I like to ease back into reality!

 

[Buckalew11]

That made me You don't separate your clothes at all?

I'm not overly strict with separating, and there are times when I'm not feeling well and just want to get it done, that I'll throw it all in at once, but normally I do jeans together, dress slacks together, dress shirts together, tee shirts, towels & undies. I don't normally separate by color except for whites, and we don't wear a lot of whites.

Oh no. I separate them. I had a dirty bag of whites and a dirty bag of darks. I just dumped my dirty white bag into the washer. I separate by "whites, darks and reds". If I have enough jeans to just wash jeans together I do that. DD wears alot of orange and garnet so I wash those colors together. I only wash towels with towels.

But, even though I separate, I still just dump it all in there.