The Scrubba Wash Bag ( $50, eartheasy.com)
When camping or traveling, convenient laundry options can be limited. Sure, I’ve washed my share of clothes by jumping in a river or cold mountain lake. And I’ve stepped fully-clothed into plenty of hotel showers or AirBnB bathtubs. But neither of those methods are very effective if your clothes are really dirty.
The Scrubba Wash Bag, ordered from EarthEasy, is the better solution. It’s like carrying a tiny washing machine in your luggage. Made with lightweight materials, the Scrubba is essentially a smallish rolltop stuff sack/dry bag with a flexible, waterproof liner. To use it, you just put a few clothes inside with water and a little detergent. Then roll down the top to seal it, deflate the bag through a little plastic valve in the side, and kneed it back and forth with your hands to “scrubba” your clothes clean.
Inside the Scrubba is a patch of soft, bumpy plastic that proves the scrubbing action as you roll the bag under your palms. I recently tested the Scrubba with a small mixed load consisting of a pair of shorts, button down short-sleeve shirt, undershirt, boxer briefs, and a hat. Following the method described above, I washed the clothes, rinsed them once, then hung them to dry.
Results were impressive. The process was simple, my clothes came out smelling fresh, and clean-up was as simple as hanging the Scrubba to dry before folding it away.
Before actually using the Scrubba, I’m not sure I ever would have thought of the need for a better laundry method while traveling. Since using it, it’s something I’ll take with me. I might also point out that aside from being an effective means of doing laundry, the Scrubba is also great for keeping dirty laundry separate from clean. Just fill it with dirty clothes and roll down the top before packing it. In a pinch you could also use Scrubba as a dry bag for electronics or to prevent liquids from leaking into the rest of your bag. (Pro tip: don’t try to use it as a dry bag if it’s already holding your supersize bottle of shampoo.)
As mentioned, The Scrubba Wash Bag is sold by Eartheasy.com, an online retailer of sustainable living products. After, my order, the shipped quickly and kept me posted about its deliver. Based on my experience with The Scrubba, they’re worth checking out.
