The last thing you want to think about whilst travelling is laundry but sometimes we need to get our clothes clean.  The laundry services offered in hotels are handy but looking at prices in the majority of hotels, who wants to pay more than the item cost to buy new?

Of course, you can pack enough stuff so you don’t have to launder at all whilst you are away, but if you want to keep your packing light especially if flying, keeping in mind those airline fees for hold luggage then follow these simple rules:-

1)     Pack some laundry powder or tabs.  They don’t take up much room and you can break up the tab to use a small amount.

2)     Ask housekeeping for an extra towel. Once you have washed and rinsed the clothing, wring them out, wrap in the towel then wring and squeeze the towel for as long as you can.  This will take the excess water out and the clothing will take a lot less time to dry.

3)     Now the drying.  You can buy travel clotheslines for a couple of pounds.  Most have suction cups at each end; hang them over the bath to catch any drips, although if you have wrung them enough in the towel, there won’t be any. 

4)     If they are drip less and the room has a radiator, place the clothing on here and it will soon dry.  If not, a windowsill works fine.  Make sure the window is closed at the bottom, we don’t want your undies flying through the air.

5)     You can also hang shirts, pants, skirts on hangers suspended from the shower head or the top of the shower stall.

6)     For emergencies, use the hairdryer to dry socks or undies.  But remember to keep it on a low heat so as not to trigger shutdown due to overheating.

7)     If undies do not dry, then wear them one day and then inside out the second day.  Not ideal but preferable to going commando. 

 When travelling with children, the amount of dirty clothing soon piles up.  Here are a few tips to reduce the stress:-

1)     Pack easy to wash and dry clothes for children, they are more likely to have spills and accidents and may need more than one set of clothes a day.

2)     If you are staying in one place, look for a local laundry that offer a wash and fold service, most cost under a tenner for about 12lbs and some offer a same day service.  Worth the money if it allows you to de-stress.

3)     When packing at the end of the trip, put all dirty washing into 1 or 2 suitcases to make it easier to start the washing as soon as you get home without having to sort through everyone’s clothing to find the dirty laundry.

All in all, don’t let thoughts of clean clothes spoil your trip.  They are always ways to get through and clothes are rarely dirty after just one wear, don’t stress it.