Jennifer’s Tips: Avoid the Laundromat

Though convenient, hitting a laundromat isn’t always everyone’s favorite necessary chore when RVing.

Our friend Tom, of Ottawa, offers a tip that might come in handy – at least for smaller loads of laundry.

“You can wash your clothes as you go,” he says. “You put your clothes in a covered pail with a lid and put them on the back of your vehicle. Then, as you go along, the bumps and sways of your RV will wash these.”

The idea is that the movements will create an agitator-like motion that will effectively wash your clothes (though, obviously, it won’t be exactly like a washing machine).

To dry clothes after they’ve been rinsed – and you’re off the road – Tom suggests double-wrapping a rope around two trees and twisting the rope once or twice so you can hang clothes up without bothering with clothespins.

“You can just put bits of your clothes in the twists and it will hold it up,” he said, adding that the benefit is “you don’t really need to go to the laundromat.”

Hmmm. Im not so sure about that covered bucket method.

On Amazon, there’s a gizmo called the Laundry Alternative Wonderwash Non-electric Portable Compact Mini Washing Machine that uses a hand crank to supposedly wash a 5 pound load clean in just a one to two minutes. It needs very little water and needs no electricity and sells for $42. It weighs about six pounds so it’s not too big and would easily store store in the back “basement” area behind the sofa bed in a Class B RV.

We haven’t tried either this or Tom’s suggestion. On long boondocking trips, both ideas could come in handy, I suppose.

I hate going to the laundromat as much as anyone else but when we’re on the road for extensive periods of time and the dirty clothes start to pile up, I’ve found most state parks and commercial campgrounds have washers and dryers. Getting it all done at once just seems easier to me.

But on those rare occasions when an emergency wash is needed, the above ideas offer a couple of alternatives.

 

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For a complete list of all the products, gear and apps mentioned by Mike and Jennifer on their podcast, YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel and here on the blog, go to https://rvlifestyle.com/gear

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