Laundry EVERY Day (It's Not as Bad as It Sounds)

If you've read more than two posts on this site, you've probably noticed I keep saying the same thing.. do laundry every day. It sounds awful. It's not. This post is the "how" behind that advice, and an honest look at what it actually costs you.

Why does daily laundry make a three-set wardrobe work?

Because the only things that actually get dirty every day are the things touching your skin. A shirt, a pair of socks and a pair of underwear. Everything else - shorts, pants, a jacket, a hoodie - can go days (or weeks) between washes without anyone noticing, including you.

So if you wash those three small items every night, you only ever need a few of each. I pack three quick-dry t-shirts, four pairs of socks and four pairs of underwear, and that's plenty. One set on my body, one set drying, one set in the bag. That's the whole system, and it's why my entire wardrobe fits in a 21L backpack with room to spare.

Flip it around and the math gets ugly fast. If you only do laundry once a week, you need seven of everything, and seven of everything is a suitcase.

What's the five-minute routine?

Wash, wring, hang. That's it. It takes about as long as brushing your teeth, and after the first week you stop thinking about it.

1. Wash it while you shower (or in the sink): I wear the day's shirt, socks and underwear into the shower, soap them up as I undress, and rinse them under the water. If shower washing is too weird for you (fair), a sink with a universal sink stopper, a portable wash basin or a wash bag works just as well. I go into the details in Washing Clothes in the Shower.
2. Use whatever soap is handy: Body wash and bar soap are gentler than detergent and work fine for a daily rinse. If you want to be a little more prepared, a small bar of laundry soap or a bottle of general purpose camping soap takes up almost no space and lasts for months.
3. Wring it out, then roll it in a towel: Wringing gets most of the water out. Laying the wet clothes flat on a dry towel, rolling it up tight and pressing on it gets most of the rest. This one step is the difference between clothes that are dry by morning and clothes that are still damp at checkout.
4. Hang it anywhere air moves: I carry 10-15 feet of paracord and a couple of clips, which is enough to string a line between bunk posts, a towel rack and a door handle, or two hooks that were clearly not meant for this. More ideas in Tips for Drying Clothes While Traveling.

Will it actually dry overnight?

Yes, if it's quick-dry fabric. This is the one part of the routine that isn't optional. Polyester, nylon and merino dry in a few hours; cotton doesn't, and heavy cotton (jeans, thick hoodies, big towels) can take days in a humid room. If you're going to wash every day, buy clothes that are built for it; see 9 Tips for Packing Fewer Clothes for what to look for.

A few things speed it up: hang items with space between them, put them near an open window or a fan rather than under the air conditioning, and if you have a sunny balcony, use it. Sunlight dries clothes fast and helps kill the bacteria while it's at it.

A few things slow it down: humid climates, bathrooms with no ventilation, and hanging everything in a wad on a single hook. If you know it's going to be a slow-drying night, wash early (right when you get back to the room) instead of right before bed.

When do I skip it?

More often than you'd think, and that's fine. The point of daily laundry is to have a system you can fall back on, not a rule you have to obey.

• Cold weather: When you're layered up, the shirt and underwear still get washed, but the pants, hoodie and jacket almost never do. Daily laundry is actually easier in the cold because the pile is smaller; see Cold Weather Travel.
• Laundromat days: Every couple of weeks, everything gets a proper machine wash. Hand washing keeps clothes clean enough, but a real soak and rinse in a washer keeps them clean. I'll usually skip the hand wash for a night or two on either side of a laundromat run.
• Merino days: A merino shirt can go two, three, even four days between washes without smelling. If you wear wool, you'll wash less often by default.
• Lazy days: Sometimes you're tired, the bathroom is gross, or the hostel bar is calling. Wear the shirt again. No one cares, and now you know why I pack four pairs of socks instead of three.

Why does it feel harder than it is?

The mental hurdle is bigger than the physical one. At home, laundry is a chore you batch up and dread: a full basket, a machine, a dryer, folding, an hour or two of your weekend. So when someone says "do laundry every day," your brain hears "do that every day," and understandably panics.

Daily hand washing is a completely different activity. Three small items, sixty seconds of soap and water, and a bit of wringing. You're already in the bathroom, you're already wet, and the clothes are already in your hands because you just took them off. There's no basket, no machine, no folding (you're wearing it tomorrow).

It becomes routine the same way brushing your teeth did: you do it enough times that not doing it feels weird. Try it at home for a week before a trip. If you hate it after seven days, you have your answer and can plan around laundromats instead; check out The 7 Methods for Doing Laundry While Traveling for the full list of options.

The honest downsides

• It's a daily chore. Small, but daily. Some nights you won't feel like it.
• Hand washing isn't a deep clean. Clothes need to soak and rinse properly to be truly clean, so you'll still want a machine wash every few weeks.
• Drying space is never guaranteed. Some hostel rooms have nowhere to hang anything, and you'll end up with socks on a bunk ladder.
• Humidity wins sometimes. In the tropics, "dry by morning" can turn into "slightly damp by morning." Quick-dry fabric helps, but it doesn't perform miracles.
• Your clothes wear out faster. Daily washing and wringing is hard on fabric. The upside is that cheap quick-dry shirts are cheap, and available everywhere.

Where to go from here

Daily laundry is the single habit that makes everything else on this site possible. Fewer clothes, a smaller bag, no checked luggage, no waiting on a laundry service. It costs you five minutes a night and a little bit of pride the first time you carry your underwear into the shower. I think that's a good trade, but try it at home first and decide for yourself.

Read Next: Washing Clothes in the Shower