1. Take a bar of wet soap and wet your hands.

2. Place the soap on a large part of the clothing.

3. Next take your palm and hand and run it in circles on the soap bar so the lather begins to cover the article of clothing.

4. Once you have the clothing well lathered on all sides you are ready to scrub. Hold two parts of the clothing and rub it vigorously against each other in a circular motion. Do this on several points on the clothing.

6. Next put the clothing under the warm/hot water and squeeze it out.

7. Repeat the entire process 1 or two more times before completely wringing the clothing out. The more water you can remove from the clothing at this stage, the faster it will dry in the long run.

8. Hang and let dry overnight

]]> http://www.eurailblog.com/archives/710.shtml/comment-page-1#comment-320 Ant Thu, 10 Jul 2003 03:26:15 +0000 http://www.eurailblog.com/wp/archives/000710.shtml#comment-320 "hand washing clothes is really a lost art.. Its more HOW you wash them than what soap you use to wash them." So how do you hand-wash clothes?

“hand washing clothes is really a lost art.. Its more HOW you wash them than what soap you use to wash them.”

So how do you hand-wash clothes?

]]> http://www.eurailblog.com/archives/710.shtml/comment-page-1#comment-319 Chris Albon Thu, 10 Jul 2003 02:56:55 +0000 http://www.eurailblog.com/wp/archives/000710.shtml#comment-319 floss? really? that's quite cool. I'll give that a go instead. Floss is great, but you have to use strong floss and dont make one long clothesline, but make 4-5 smaller ones to keep the strain onthe thread low... its a extreme option not realy for most people Boots/sandals. Personally, I do love to wear my sandals, but I don't like to wear them exclusively. I already have my boots as well, plus I don't want to go out and buy tennis shoes because of $$$$. The only way I'd probably get decent ones is to spend some coin, and crappy ones might be cheap, but they'll fall apart. Does anyone know of a good alternative to boots? I might be hiking some, but Chris has a good point - I might not be hiking enough to truly justify having the boots. Money is always a issue "Benchmade folding knife?" You betcha. I see you point - 2 knives instead of one - but it has different functions. This might be the snob in me, but I've used both knives a decent bit, and when it comes to doing a lot of cutting (say, preparing a meal in the hostel), the Benchmade is much easier to use and performs better. That, and I just love my knife :-) Knife Slut... "5 pair socks - Go with 4 pairs" - good point. I just might do that. :) "Palm m125" - ah, again the Palm! I've got Zula, plus I'm going to have my little backpocket notebook (requires no booting, is completely unattractive to thieves, and I can use it anywhere). I think all my needs here are sorted... the palm is starting to seem like excess. Yes, will all the cords and power stuff, its a big waste of space. I remember a corporate exec saying "I have so many gizmos to make my life easier I need a personal to carry them all for me". "digital camera" - instead of memory cards, I'll be using a Sony Mavica that uses rewritable CDs. No software required; I can shoot, run the disk wherever, and then (I believe) reuse. Thats very cool... I have a digital camera but I cant figure out the best way to upload the pictures. Do you know if I could attach my camera to a internet cafe computer via UPS and upload them to a website? Or is that not allowed in most cafes? "skully or tooq?" this was a suggestion for something that has a proper name that eludes me. I meant one of those little fleece-type caps; especially since I'll be in the north and the east, and a fair bit of mountains, and during October/November, this is a small item that may come in handy on chilly mornings. What type though? Fleece is warm, but only if there's no wind... I love fleece hats "swim trunks? - Of course!!! Communal showers... great lakes! WHY EVEN QUESTION!" You're absolutely right. I question no more, in go the trunks! (They'd make good spare undies/"something to wear while I do laundry" clothes, too) "universal sink plug - HA! Instead of that... use a jar openner gripper thingie... that works much better and is much lighter" Eh? Jar opener gripper thingie? Please elaborate... Ya a 2 dollar jar gripper pad thingie.. no idea what they are called. but they plug a drain no problem. Super light, super cheap, muliple uses, its a awesome thing to bring "plastic plate - Use a frisbe! Fun toy AND plate!" Hmmm... that's a really good idea. Except that you've never seen my lame self try to throw a frisbee. Still... that's a possibility... Heh.. some of the best ultimate frisbee games ive seen have been from hostels "battery shaver - good..well... why use a a special battery shaver when you will need to charge your palm just as often?" - Hmmm... I was thinking a cheapie one that takes disposable batteries... don't they have those, that run on AA batteries? It's not all rechargeables, I think. no idea, but that would be nice... I wish I had a shaver that did both... since id perfer to buy AA batteries than to charge it over and over "pajama pants - Will wearing special soft pants around the hostel be worth carrying these everywhere? I dont think so" Sorry, that description wasn't too clear. They're a technical pant, that you can also use for layering... they're good for sleeping if it's cold (though they look a bit odd... Sean calls them my "dancing pants"). They might make the cut, they might not. I don't know if they'll get enough use for it to be worth having them. When I lived in boston I would layer regular pants and pajama pants all the time... but it was 16 F heh... "deck of cards - Good if you play cards alot... i dont.." True... this fell more in the "ideas for icebreakers" sort of thing. Ya they are good for that... cigarettes are also them :-) flashlight - I have a Microlight myself... I had pondered a small LED headlamp, as I often do a fair bit of a late-night reading and writing, when I might need some extra light.. I saw one of those at REI.. looks really cool... as long as its LED "condoms - oooo... nice... wiat a minute... dont you have a fiance? >:(" Aoife mentioned this too... good call. Fiance and I will be seeing each other in Edinburgh :-) Ahhh.... romantic european meeting... remember the bubble bath.. "Sleeping bag - good" Hmmm... some say drop, some say take... what do you think is the advantage of taking it along? Well.. Im taking one on my trip next summer, but I wasnt planning on it when I was going for 45 days. But since im NOW going to 96 days I am figuring atleast some nights will be in a shitty hostel/outdoors/camping/train station floor. I would take them if you are on a lower budjet.. like you will be sleeping on trains but not in the sleeper car. If you have the $$ then dont bring it "squeeze bottle of liquid soap for clothes - What? I just use regular soap.. " Is there a soap you'd recommend? hand washing clothes is really a lost art.. Its more HOW you wash them than what soap you use to wash them. But I would recommend that you use the cheapest soap possible. Because more expensive soaps have useless shit in them.. like oats and lotions, and strong perfumes that basically dont work well with clothes. Id normally do a good strong handwash every 3 days and it nroamlly is fine.

floss? really? that’s quite cool. I’ll give that a go instead.

Floss is great, but you have to use strong floss and dont make one long clothesline, but make 4-5 smaller ones to keep the strain onthe thread low… its a extreme option not realy for most people

Boots/sandals. Personally, I do love to wear my sandals, but I don’t like to wear them exclusively. I already have my boots as well, plus I don’t want to go out and buy tennis shoes because of $$$$. The only way I’d probably get decent ones is to spend some coin, and crappy ones might be cheap, but they’ll fall apart. Does anyone know of a good alternative to boots? I might be hiking some, but Chris has a good point – I might not be hiking enough to truly justify having the boots.

Money is always a issue

“Benchmade folding knife?” You betcha. I see you point – 2 knives instead of one – but it has different functions. This might be the snob in me, but I’ve used both knives a decent bit, and when it comes to doing a lot of cutting (say, preparing a meal in the hostel), the Benchmade is much easier to use and performs better. That, and I just love my knife

Knife Slut…

“5 pair socks – Go with 4 pairs” – good point. I just might do that.

“Palm m125″ – ah, again the Palm! I’ve got Zula, plus I’m going to have my little backpocket notebook (requires no booting, is completely unattractive to thieves, and I can use it anywhere). I think all my needs here are sorted… the palm is starting to seem like excess.

Yes, will all the cords and power stuff, its a big waste of space. I remember a corporate exec saying “I have so many gizmos to make my life easier I need a personal to carry them all for me”.

“digital camera” – instead of memory cards, I’ll be using a Sony Mavica that uses rewritable CDs. No software required; I can shoot, run the disk wherever, and then (I believe) reuse.

Thats very cool… I have a digital camera but I cant figure out the best way to upload the pictures. Do you know if I could attach my camera to a internet cafe computer via UPS and upload them to a website? Or is that not allowed in most cafes?

“skully or tooq?” this was a suggestion for something that has a proper name that eludes me. I meant one of those little fleece-type caps; especially since I’ll be in the north and the east, and a fair bit of mountains, and during October/November, this is a small item that may come in handy on chilly mornings. What type though? Fleece is warm, but only if there’s no wind…

I love fleece hats

“swim trunks? – Of course!!! Communal showers… great lakes! WHY EVEN QUESTION!” You’re absolutely right. I question no more, in go the trunks! (They’d make good spare undies/”something to wear while I do laundry” clothes, too)

“universal sink plug – HA! Instead of that… use a jar openner gripper thingie… that works much better and is much lighter” Eh? Jar opener gripper thingie? Please elaborate…

Ya a 2 dollar jar gripper pad thingie.. no idea what they are called. but they plug a drain no problem. Super light, super cheap, muliple uses, its a awesome thing to bring

“plastic plate – Use a frisbe! Fun toy AND plate!” Hmmm… that’s a really good idea. Except that you’ve never seen my lame self try to throw a frisbee. Still… that’s a possibility…

Heh.. some of the best ultimate frisbee games ive seen have been from hostels

“battery shaver – good..well… why use a a special battery shaver when you will need to charge your palm just as often?” – Hmmm… I was thinking a cheapie one that takes disposable batteries… don’t they have those, that run on AA batteries? It’s not all rechargeables, I think.

no idea, but that would be nice… I wish I had a shaver that did both… since id perfer to buy AA batteries than to charge it over and over

“pajama pants – Will wearing special soft pants around the hostel be worth carrying these everywhere? I dont think so” Sorry, that description wasn’t too clear. They’re a technical pant, that you can also use for layering… they’re good for sleeping if it’s cold (though they look a bit odd… Sean calls them my “dancing pants”). They might make the cut, they might not. I don’t know if they’ll get enough use for it to be worth having them.

When I lived in boston I would layer regular pants and pajama pants all the time… but it was 16 F heh…

“deck of cards – Good if you play cards alot… i dont..” True… this fell more in the “ideas for icebreakers” sort of thing.

Ya they are good for that… cigarettes are also

them

flashlight – I have a Microlight myself… I had pondered a small LED headlamp, as I often do a fair bit of a late-night reading and writing, when I might need some extra light..

I saw one of those at REI.. looks really cool… as long as its LED

“condoms – oooo… nice… wiat a minute… dont you have a fiance? >:(” Aoife mentioned this too… good call. Fiance and I will be seeing each other in Edinburgh

Ahhh…. romantic european meeting… remember the bubble bath..

“Sleeping bag – good” Hmmm… some say drop, some say take… what do you think is the advantage of taking it along?

Well.. Im taking one on my trip next summer, but I wasnt planning on it when I was going for 45 days. But since im NOW going to 96 days I am figuring atleast some nights will be in a shitty hostel/outdoors/camping/train station floor. I would take them if you are on a lower budjet.. like you will be sleeping on trains but not in the sleeper car. If you have the $$ then dont bring it

“squeeze bottle of liquid soap for clothes – What? I just use regular soap.. ” Is there a soap you’d recommend?

hand washing clothes is really a lost art.. Its more HOW you wash them than what soap you use to wash them.

But I would recommend that you use the cheapest soap possible. Because more expensive soaps have useless shit in them.. like oats and lotions, and strong perfumes that basically dont work well with clothes.

Id normally do a good strong handwash every 3 days and it nroamlly is fine.

]]>