OK seems like it’s been awhile since the last packing cube discussion…
So I’m accumulating 4 sets of Amazon Basic medium packing cubes, that’s a different colour for each of us… or maybe a different colour for each resort… or… anyway the subject is:
Laundry.
What’s the pro tip for stowing dirty clothes?
If we’re going 5 or 6 days without doing laundry and there’s 3 adults and 1 kid… that could be a pretty big bag of dirty clothes and it’ll need compression. (Two bags obviously, separating out the whites)
Thoughts?
Same. The idea of coming home with a bag of smelly park clothes for 3-5 people does not excite me. I do laundry at least once during a trip. Except I probably won’t on my solo trip.
We have these giant cloth bags (easily fits 2+ loads of laundry, also great for packing towels/sheets/pillows for our annual family camp trip) with drawstrings that we use for laundry bags, they fold down to virtually nothing. Or we empty a luggage piece and designate it the dirty laundry bin.
At some point, one suitcase becomes the dirty clothes suitcase. If I need to put both clean and dirty into the same one, I separate it either by the sections of the suitcase, or with other items (shoes, etc.)
I also avoid odors by placing dryer sheets among the dirty clothes.
I combine clean stuff into 1 cube and use the other for dirty or just shove the dirty in a bag of some sort and squish the half filled packing cubes into the remainder of the space in my suitcase.
When my sister and I were young we used to dump all of my family’s dirty laundry into one suitcase at the end of the trip. Then one year when there was heightened security at MCO after 9/11, they were selecting checked bags for random searching and we had to watch them dig through our bag full of only dirty clothes and a giant dinosaur we won in Dinoland at AK. Like, picking up pieces of our dirty clothing one by one to go through the suitcase where anyone could see So now I always put my dirty clothes in bags (usually use a couple of the huge plastic ones from Disney).
We have been huge fans of packing cubes for more than a decade, a color for each person. We tend to pack the top for the day together with the bottom for the day. This makes it easy to grab clothes each day. Everything stays organized. At the hotel, the cubes go right into the drawers, making unpacking easy.
We use pillow cases for dirty laundry: whites, darks, mix, and delicates. This makes it super easy when we do laundry and the pillow case goes in with the load.
I bring a white kitchen trash bag and a larger black trash bag. The stuff we wash on normal goes in the smaller bag and the stuff we wash on delicate goes in the larger bag. When it’s time to pack, I get as much air out as possible, twist the top shut, and put all the dirty laundry in one suitcase. I sort whites from darks after we get home. Oh, and side note - I make sure everything is dry before it goes into a plastic bag.
If I need to I’ll do laundry on vacation, but I generally wait till I get home. For me, part of being on vacation is getting to avoid doing chores like laundry. (Though I’ll admit that when we go to the beach, I do wash swimsuits and towels. But it’s harder to bring enough suits and beach towels to last the family the whole week compared to shorts and tees!)
Disclaimer - I’m not a packing cube person, so I don’t think I qualify as a “pro.”
One thing to keep in mind. When moving between hotels you don’t have the luggage size restrictions. I wouldn’t recommend putting them in a trash bag and then NOT putting the trash bag in something else. Because then your clothes would be likely tossed from the luggage storage area. But do you have a duffle or something?
Thanks. That point did occur to me.
But then I was thinking: at the end of all things, we’d have to pull up our socks at the 11th hour to find a place for everything back within the confines of our flying luggage.
I still might do it, I think I have a compression sack for canoeing that might fit the bill (drawstring compression, handles, close securely, flattens to nothing for stowing).
I love my packing cubes! Helps me keep my luggage neat & organized. Also, to keep me from overpacking too many clothes, I limit myself to 5 tops, 3 shorts, 5 days of undergarments, & 10 days of clean socks (change them 1/2 way through the day to avoid sweating & blisters) then do laundry 1/2 way through a 10-15 day trip. This also allows room for more gifts, souvies, etc. to bring home without overweight luggage.
In regards to dirty clothes, I dedicate a dresser drawer for dirty clothes, so all items worn that day go in that drawer (typically I fill fold them to save a step at the end of the trip).
I use a collapsible hamper while we are in the room for dirty clothes and then I have an extra large Vera Bradley duffel bag I bring with me and dirty clothes go in it for the way home.
Unless I’m away for several weeks, I won’t spend any time doing laundry.
I just use plastic bags / empty shopping bags for laundry, and being the slightly ocd person that I am, I divide them by laundry type, so that I can just empty an entire bag into the washer back at home without sorting.
anyway the subject is:
So now I always put my dirty clothes in bags (usually use a couple of the huge plastic ones from Disney).