Doing Laundry In Your RV

Many RV owners are always looking for ways to reduce weight in their vehicles to improve gas mileage and stay under weight limits. Your RV has plenty of storage space, but it’s best to maximize your usage of it. A good way to do this is to pack less clothing. Everyone has, at some point, significantly over-packed for a vacation and found themselves returning home with clothes they never wore, still neatly folded. Save yourself the bother and only pack the bare minimum instead! After all, camping isn’t a fashion show.

However, you will need to do laundry more often when you’re bringing a smaller cache of clothing, and that can be tricky on an RV. Here at Allan Dale Trailers & RVs, with locations in central Alberta serving Edmonton and Red Deer, we want to help you minimize the stress of doing laundry on the road by providing you with this list of methods for getting your clothes clean quickly and easily.

Using Laundromats

One option for getting laundry done is to use a laundromat that’s local to wherever you’re staying. This is ideal if you only need to do a load every so often, and it can help you to reduce how much you pack. Sometimes, RV parks even provide laundry facilities, as do some truck stops. You’ll simply need to ensure that you have sufficient quarters for operating them, as well as your own laundry detergent and dryer sheets. You’ll also have to set aside a chunk of time to get everything laundered and folded.

Portable Washing Machines

Small, portable washing machines come in a huge variety of styles with different means of operation. These can be good if you find it impractical to sit in a laundromat for an hour or two. Portable washers are great for very small loads of underwear and socks that don’t necessitate spending money on a full load of clothing, too.

Washing Clothes By Hand

Another choice you have is to wash your clothes by hand. This is probably not very appealing, as it’s more like roughing it than you may want your camping experience to be. But it’s easy to do, cheap and you can do it anywhere reasonably quickly. If you only have a few garments you’ll need to launder, a bucket of soapy water and a clothesline can get your clothes clean.

Installing Combination Washer/Dryer Units

If you’re a full-timer or simply spend a lot of time in your RV, you may feel it’s time to invest in a combination washer and dryer unit. Some rigs have the hookup necessary to do this, along with the space to put the machines. You can choose between stackable units or a combination washer and dryer to save space.

Doing Smaller Loads

However you’re getting your clothes clean on the road, you’ll want to do small loads often, rather than large loads every week or so. A large load will take a long time to work through, whether you’re handwashing, at the laundromat or using a unit in your RV. Break up this task and save yourself some effort by laundering smaller loads more frequently. This will also prevent you from overloading your machines, which can result in clothes not getting as clean or worse, a total breakdown.

Laundry is just one of the necessary chores you’ll have to incorporate into your RV lifestyle, but it doesn’t have to feel like drudgery! If you’re still in the market for the perfect RV, maybe with that washer/dryer hookup to save some time on the road, visit one of our dealerships today. Allan Dale Trailers & RVs proudly serves the cities of Red Deer and Edmonton, Alberta, but we’re happy to help our customers coming from anywhere in the province!