A Great Tip to Help With the Laundry While Traveling

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Photo above by Mohsen Shenavari
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The Big Nuisance!

Doing the laundry is always a pain, but doing it while on the road sometimes has two advantages over doing it at home:
  • You have time on your hands with nothing better to do
  • It's just one more way of meeting new friends at a campground
Unfortunately, it's still laundry!
 

One real challenge for us used to be the quarters. We never seemed to plan ahead, and Fay was always having to hunt down coins for the washer and dryer. She wanted to treat my pocket like a piggy bank, but filling it with a lot of change is something I try to avoid. I wouldn't call it a big problem, but finding enough quarters was always a nuisance.

Our leftover change bowl at home

Our leftover change bowl at home

Focus on Quarters
So at home we keep our leftover change in a small bowl, but using something like it when traveling has two key disadvantages:
  • It would obviously need a top to keep the coins from bouncing out when driving down the road
  • With our tiny trailer, where to store something else is always an issue

All we really care about are storing quarters for the laundry. After trying a few things and giving it a lot of thought, I came up with the perfect solution!

Our Coin Tube

Our Coin Tube

A Perfect Solution for Laundry Quarters in our Small Travel Trailer

I discovered that PVC pipe is the perfect diameter to hold quarters. It's simple and works really well, and it's certainly affordable. All you need is a short length of one inch PVC pipe, and two end caps. Even if you have to purchase a 10' piece of pipe, you can likely do the whole project for about five dollars.

Our Laundry Quarters Easily Stored for Travel

Our Laundry Quarters Easily Stored for Travel

Easy to Store

I cut the length of pipe to fit along the front edge of one of our cabinets. It takes up very little room, and is easy to get to when needed.

Whenever we head out for a lengthy trip, it's on our checklist to fill the tube before we leave. Along the way, it's easy to grab it at the end of the day to add any quarters we've accumulated if it's not full. For us, we can be gone for a month and still have the tube half full when we get back home.

As always, be sure to send me a note if you have any questions for comments.
- Denny

Denny Johnson

Denny Johnson

After having spent most of our adult life in Orlando, my wife Fay and I moved to Knoxville, TN in 2020. We are loving the change of seasons and being near the mountains. Plus, this part of the country is loaded with great places to camp. 
 
We camped years ago with a pop-up camper, but got serious about it when we purchased our Casita in 2014. There was a lot to learn as we started traveling with it, and a lot of conflicting opinions on line. That's when I decided that creating a website would be a good retirement project. I started tinyTowable.com to share things we've learned along the way that have worked well for us in hopes that the information would be of help to others.
 
However, since moving to Tennessee, I've gotten involved with new hobbies (you can check some out on my personal website at https://www.softrite.com) and we haven't camped very much. So, at the end of 2023, I made the tough decision to stop updating this website.
 
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Please Note: I participate in affiliate marketing programs and may receive a commission if you use one of my links and make a purchase. - Denny
What it is

While on this topic, here's another handy item - Mesh Laundry Bag

Why I like it
  • It takes up no room whatsoever beyond what's needed to hold the dirty laundry.
  • Carrying it is easier than a basket or box
  • You can fold it up for easy storage when not in use.
  • It's really cheap!
Thank you for supporting our sponsors and advertisers. It doesn't make me much money, but does help offset some of the cost related to maintaining this website. - Denny

9 thoughts on “A Great Tip to Help With the Laundry While Traveling”

  1. You are a genius with your PVC pipe holder for quarters! My kid owns an irrigation business so should be free for me. Now to find what fits for loonies, toonies and quarters. EXCELLENT!

    Reply

  2. The coin tube is a great idea. Thank you. Also, the mesh bag is a good suggestion to incorporate into my way of doing laundry.

    Reply

  3. Great idea. I stayed in a campground in Arizona that had the ability to pay for the laundry services via credit card. I know that is probably more unusual but the quarter in the PVC tube is a winner for me.

    Reply

    1. Interesting Bret. We’ve never run into the ability to use a credit card for laundry at a campground, just everyone always looking for quarters!

      Reply

  4. I just use a few old pill bottles to hold my quarters. I have to find ones the right size but I usually have a lot on hand.

    Reply

    1. Pill bottles are great for carrying the quarters to the laundry. We keep the pipe in the trailer and like it because we can fill it in advance with enough quarters for a long trip.

      Reply

      1. I Haven’t been to a laundrymat in years. Sadly I didn’t know they still took quarters (thinking dollars) and just turned in a bunch of rolls to the bank. Heading out in May for our first big trip and it looks like we will be going back to to bank 😉 Thanks for the PVC pipe idea.

  5. My solution is get $20 in quarters @ the bank & keep them in a small zippered make up bag. Sort laundry @ the trailer to save time in the laundromat. Mesh bags & old pillowcases.

    Reply

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