You say you don't like doing laundry???

Have you ever complained about doing laundry?  Well, these types of statements likely won't be coming from me anymore.  There is a laundry service at our hotel, but everyone who has used it has had their clothes come back a little bit smaller as they shrink.  Therefore, I decided that I won't use the hotel laundry service.  There are not laundromats like there are in the US or other countries.  That left me with one option - doing laundry by hand.

My friend, Tom - on my team, let me use a bucket and plastic washboard that he bought specifically for doing laundry.  I did bring along a packet of Tide, so had some soap to use.  I started sorting my clothes thinking that I didn't need to wash everything, but I still ended up with a pretty big "dirty" pile.  Then, I realized that I have never done laundry by hand before (other than maybe a hand-wash-only delicate item where all you do is soak it).  I started putting some water and soap in the bucket and was washing my clothes on the plastic washboard, but I wasn't sure if I should do them one-by-one, or put a bunch in all at once, or what.  So, I turned to my trusted source of information, the internet.  I found a great video with lots of hints and tips on how to do your laundry while traveling.  Here is the link:  http://www.ridiculouslyextraordinary.com/15-minutes-clean-clothes-anywhere-in-the-world/

The hard part of this process was finding a spot to dry my clothes.  There is no dresser or anything in the room.  The closet is about 16" wide and not by any airflow (plus I have some good clothes hanging in there).  I have one chair in my room, one sink (free standing), and the shower/toilet room.  I feel like I have clothes draped wherever possible such that hopefully they dry by morning.

The process I used was as follows:

1. Wash as many clothes as possible in the bucket at one time (adding one by one and using washboard for each one)
2. Churn them around in there (like an agitator) for a minute or two
3. Let soak for 10 minutes
4. Wring each one out and put in sink full of water to rinse
5. Start step 1 again with the next "load" to get them soaking
6. Take the ones out of the sink and wring them out
7. Put between two towels (or fold a towel in half on them) to take out as much excess water as possible
8. Find a spot to hang them
9. Wring the second load out and move to sink
10. Repeat

The process took about 2.5 hours for me - I did do a lot of laundry.  This seems to have worked (although clothes are still wet right now) and my room smells very fresh and clean!   I will not complain about having to put laundry in a washer or dryer again.  If you are one of those people, you should try doing it by hand sometime!

#ibmcsc