Clothing care

by rc

Unless you like traveling dirty, the issue with having just 3 sets of clothes is they require a lot of hands on TLC. This is my 3 part system (version 1.0) for keeping it all together.

Problem: Paying for laundry costs at least $1/kg (!?), and their turnover is usually >24hr. Not good enough.

Solution: Hand wash everyday. Usually that’s a pair of socks, boxers, and T-shirt. Guest houses provide soap and, if you’re lucky, shampoo. I use them to scrub down my clothes after I shower. If you’re lazy, focus on the bacteria-philic parts, i.e. crotch, armpits, and neckline.

Problem: It’s difficult to dry clothes in a time and space efficient manner, especially in humid places.

Solution: Use the “California roll” (Figure 1). The key is to use your own towel to dry off and use the large towels that the hotel provides for roll-drying your clothes. Afterward, don’t hang your clothes to dry in the damp bathroom. Hang them in front of the fan or AC (Figure 2). Your clothes will be dry in no time!

Problem: Your clothes have holes in them.

Solution: Patch them and bombproof them. Needles, thread, discarded cloth, and shoulder pads (stay tuned for a backpack improvement project!) cost me 50 cents in Vietnam. The parts that first start to go are pants (Figure 3), backpack, and socks (Figure 4). Go online. Learn. Try. At the very worst you muck up everything and have to replace your socks for a buck or your pants for 2. Travel slowly. You have time to perfect your art.

Figure 4. Sewing technique. A. Smartwool sock over Nalgene bottle. B. Sewing patch. C. Reinforcement complete. D. Good to go!