Here are a couple options for removing stains in van life (or house life:-) The reason they're awesome for van life is because in a house you can immediately soak and wash clothes but in van life you may have to wait a while which then means the stain can set in. Yesterday I was shaking the bottle of chocolate syrup (which I use to make iced coffee) and the lid popped open and it went all over my shirt. I tried using one of these Shout wipes... ...which normally are awesome and cleans most things but this time I needed something more so I got out my Tide pen. You have to set the clothing on a hard surface, hold it flat, press the pen down so that the liquid comes out and then firmly rub the plastic tip back and forth across the stain. It sort of scrapes it off but didn't damage the clothing. I had to work at it a while but almost all of it came out and you can hardly tell now. I tossed the shirt in water to soak overnight (until we got to where I could wash it) and out it came clean. I'm thankful for such things and maybe you might think they are worth having a few in your home or in your bag for quick cleaning until you can wash.
Here's a laundry tip for those of you who are in the van life or tiny house living. I used to drag around a bottle of detergent for when we would use the laundrymat and then I got tired of using up the space for it and would buy one of those little boxes of from the vending machine each time until I found these detergent strips. I like that they are super light, thin and can slide in between a couple baskets which is a great benefit in van life. I use 2 strips per good size load and they work awesome! They have several different brands and of course the prices vary but just for example, these cost me .28 cents per strip so .56 cents per load and I'm okay with that. If I was living in a house I wouldn't use these because it's cheaper to buy in bulk or make your own detergent but for those who live in small places (van life or tiny house) or if you travel, these are a blessing.
Maybe this will help someone out there:) Sister Aman Here are a couple videos with some clothes washing tips. I didn't mention that I also have a bucket that I use for bigger clothing so I have several washing containers. One thing (of the many) I've learned in van life is that I can't be obsessive on the washing and just be thankful for as clean as I can get the clothes because I often have to work hard to conserve the water, even the rinse. What I do then is when we get the opportunity to have unlimited water, I rinse extra times and it's all good. And oftentimes there isn't a lot of time to wash depending on where we're parking so it could be a super fast washing and then keeping in mind that we can't be doing it all in the wide open especially when it comes to drying them. 90% of the time I have to dry them inside the van so I also have to be careful how many I do at one time. To stay on top of it all, I wash things as soon as they need it so that the pile only builds up when we don't have water or when it's wet and cold out for long periods of time. It sure makes a person super thankful for whatever can be done to keep clothes clean. Hope that all helps:-) Sister Aman |
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