When I was traveling through Iceland in November, I tried to travel as light as possible. I did this by handwashing my clothes: long johns, shirts, socks and underwear. If I could go 14 days without having to do laundry while traveling, could I go a whole month without doing laundry. This Saturday, I started in earnest and am on Day 3 of doing no laundry and just handwashing.
Why handwash?
Laundry can be a negative suck on time and energy. By handwashing items that can dry overnight, I am totally saving time. Instead of having that 2 hour block of time devoted to laundry each week, I can instead, put my clothes to wash in the sink with soap, take a shower, and then dry me and my clothes.
Here is what I’ll be wearing this month:
- I have a blazer from Everlane as well as a wool scarf.
- A jacket from American Giant.
- Levi’s Jeans
- Smartwool socks
Lots of gear from ExOfficio because this gear can hang dry from anywhere from 2 hours to 8 hours. This is perfect for travel.
- Shirts that dry over night,
- A hoody that I don’t know how long it takes to dry yet,
- underwear,
- pants that surprisingly dry over night,
- socks with insect repellant
On top of saving time, I’ll also be saving money. I usually spend about $10 / week doing laundry, so by handwashing, I can save $40 per month.