Laundry Day

Since I take a lot of extended trips, 3 weeks or longer, I knew I would need to think about how to handle laundry. At first I figured I would just use the laundry facilities at the campground or find a laundromat somewhere nearby.

Clothes Washer in a Van

Then I thought about the little portable washers I’d seen on Amazon and gave it some thought and decided to try it. I only take it with me on longer trips (3 weeks or more) and it stores nicely in the bathroom during travel and then I move it to the driver’s seat when I’m stationary. I use it when I have full hookups so that I don’t have to worry about how much water I use or how quickly the gray/black tanks will fill since I can dump the tanks as needed.

The washer has a washtub and a spin tub. The spin tub gets the water out extremely well and I just hang the items to dry. I just got a portable travel clothes dryer that is basically a tent with a hair dryer, and it takes up very little space when put away. I haven’t tried it yet though.

When I’m ready to do laundry, I put the washer near the sliding door. I have a collapsible bucket that I use to fill it. I fill the bucket with water - usually hot water, then I pour it in the washer. I add a very small amount of clothes soap (since its so much smaller than a regular washer you don’t want to have suds everywhere! Then I add clothes. I don’t add too much at one time, maybe 2-3 t-shirts and a few under garments. The water needs to cover what is in there. So, depending on how much laundry I have I may do 2 to 3 loads. Once I have the water, soap, and clothes in there I turn the wash cycle on for 15 minutes and it does its thing. I drain the water into the bucket then empty into the black tank and/or gray tank then fill it again, run it for 15 mins again as a rinse cycle then drain again. Depending on how many items I have in the wash I may do a couple spin cycles since the spin tub is smaller and not as many items fit in it at once. After that I just hang the clothes to dry. I found some great foldable hangers on Amazon, and they store inside the washer tub when not in use.

This has worked out so well that I have not needed to use a laundry facility so far! I probably will reserve using a laundromat or campground laundry for large or heavy items like bedding.

I actually enjoy laundry day in my van, it’s very relaxing and makes it feel like home!