katzen

Hi All,
I apologize in advance if this sounds like the dorkiest question ever .... my husband and I were trip shopping the other night and we were looking for small packets of Tide to take with us so that we could wash our clothes .. but we couldn't find any in Target. Are small packets of detergent available anywhere? Or will some of the hotels have detergent for sell?

Thank you for your help!

blackduff

I doubt that the hotel will have small packets of detergents but why not make your own. Buy a box of Tide and put some into a ziplock bag. You can make you need for your trip.

This will allow the bags to lay flat in your suitcase and it won't take any space. Don't put the detergent into too small the size of the bags. Get a bigger bag, so it will flatten better.

Blackduff

smueller

Most laundromats have vending machines that offer small boxes or packets of detergent.

ellenem

For hotel-sink washing, I have one of those travel shampoo bottles in which I put Woolite--carefully labeled. I've found that regular liquid laundry detergent is too rough on hands.

Scarlett

If you plan to wash your clothes in your hotel sink, I second ellenem, shampoo works fine.
If you need to use a washing machine/laudromat, they have dispensers.
I love the laundry soaps in Paris, they smell sooo good, I bring some back with me each trip
* I have never been to a hotel that sells laundry soap*

katzen

Thank you for the quick responses!! blackduff, now why didn't I think of that??? I'm not exactly sure what we will be using .. we are staying in 11 different hotels so I guess alot will depend on whether the hotel has a washing machine or not. Thank you again for the help!

bettyk

Don't know where you are going or for how long, but in all of our trips to Europe, most of our hotels did NOT have laundry facilities for guests. There was one laundromat in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, but I swear that's the only one I saw during our 2 week trip to Germany and Switzerland in May.

What we do is take clothes that can be worn several times before being laundered such as jeans or slacks, along with shirts/tees and underwear that can easily be hand laundered in the hotel sink when required. We find this works well for us and doesn't require us to spend so much of our precious vacation time doing laundry.

With two pair of jeans and a pair of slacks, we made it thru a 2 week vacation without having to do major clothes washing. In May the temperatures are cooler and you don't really get dirty just walking around. We each took 5 or 6 shirts that we wore a couple of times. And I hand washed 1 or 2 of the tees to get us thru the 2 wks.

FainaAgain

Count me in! I too use shampoo for quick laundry.

I recommend to get a universal sink stopper - a flat round thin piece of rubber to cover the sink hole. Used it in one of the Swiss hotels where their stopper was leaking.

susanteach

Shampoo can work better when you're washing socks and shirts in the sink--rinses easier IMO. If ever travelling in the winter: Don't you hate that stiff feeling that air-dryed clothes get? I do, so when I am budget travelling, I lay the wet stuff on the heat vent overnight so it stays soft.

JAGIRL

shampoo...hmmm...never thought of that one.

I've always just carried Tide together with Downy Sheets in ziploc bags.
I have also bought laundry detergent from a local store while in Florence...ended up leaving the box though.

suze

Sure, I always use hotel provided shampoo to do hand-wash in the hotel sink (because I bring my own brand of shampoo for my hair).

katzen- I would check with each of your hotels. I have never stayed at a hotel in Europe that offered self-service washing machines.

If you go to a public laundry matt, soap will be available in vending machines as mentioned above.

BTilke

If you go to a regular laundromat, you should easily find detergent for sale in packets. I tend to go easy on their use, however, one packet seems to be more than enough for a load, it gets too soapy and then doesn't always rinse properly. You can also (usually) buy small packets of fabric softener.
What is harder to find in laundromats, are dryer sheets. So if you like to use those, tuck a few into a ziploc bag.
If you're just going to handwash stuff in your hotel room, the bath/shower gel or shampoo will work fine. One of the top lingerie shops in Paris advises their clients to wash their custom designed lingerie only in shampoo.
The Sofitel chain supplies wonderful smelling Roger & Gallet products. I use them at home for my handwashing.

nytraveler

If you're going to be washing things out in a sink I would't be dragging Tide around - or any sort of powder. To work in a small sink you need a liquid - I usually bring a little bottle of woolite to rinse out bras, etc and it works fine.

If you're going to be washing lots of heavier stuff either have the hotel do it or go to a landromat - which should have detergent for sale.

nytraveler

Oh - and don;t try to wash anything big or heavy in a sink - it simply doesn;t work. (If you put jeans in a sink of water they just get wet - and stiff when they dry. There's no cleaning involved unless you drag them out and beat them against a rock.)

Carrybean

I don't think I'd travel with zip-lock bags of white powder. You might get your bags checked more thoroughly or arrive to find those zip-lock bags "gone."

During reconstruction after a hurricane I had a clear bag of baking soda stolen from a closet by a worker.

katzen

Thank you for all the replies!! I will check with each of the hotels. My husband was the one pushing to wash his clothes. I wasn't thrilled at the idea only because the last time I was in Europe my friend and I washed our jeans and then hung them to 'air' dry ... and to make a long story short we ended up wearing wet jeans the next day. I don't plan on taking jeans but nonetheless washing clothes isn't too appealing.

schnauzer

Carrybean, maybe the thief was just wanting to make a sticky toffee pudding or something and had just run out of soda!!!! (yeah right)

I second the liquid washing method, I usually take my own liquid wash in a travel plastic bottle, but the shampoo sounds good too as there is always plenty available in the hotel rooms.

L84SKY

How much laundry will you have?
Liquid detergent is getting more concentrated so you only need about 2 ounces.

It seems like the only thing that can't be transferred into a smaller bottle is styling mousse.

katzen

I checked the hotels we are staying at and it seems only 1 has a washer/dryer in the basement. We are staying at this hotel 10 days into our trip. Thanks for the advice. Liquid detergent in a travel shampoo bottle seems the best route to take ..

dsm22

I just bought small packets of Tide to go on my Belgium/Netherlands trip a couple of weeeks ago.

I think that I either got the at a Super Walmart or the regular Walmart. Most likely the former. They are small travel packets and I even think that they were in the travel/tral size section.