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Laundry
Doing laundry during a crisis
Washing clothes without a washing machine or running water: hand washing kit, portable washers and drying clothes in winter.
By Slightly Anxious
1st July 2026 9 minute read
IN SHORT
Ideally keep enough clean clothes to last a week. If you do need to wash, a simple hand-washing kit and somewhere to dry clothes indoors will do the job, and everyone washes their own.
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The average UK household makes approximately 270 washing machine loads per year. This averages out to roughly five loads per week. The number of loads is linked to household size, with a family of 4 averaging almost 400 loads per year. With such a frequent use of the washing machine, it does suggest that even in a crisis situation there may well be the need for doing laundry. When you think of the laundry needs of young people, the elderly, the sick, pets and just the usual roller-coaster of life and it's fairly obvious that if you’re planning for an emergency, you need to think about how you and/or your household members are going to do their laundry? This answer to this question gets far more complicated by the high chance that you don’t have any mains electricity or water and so you biggest laundry friend, the washing machine, is no longer an option.
Which is why, we at Slightly Anxious, whose stated aim is to try and make any emergency situation suffered by our members feel like an adventure, an indoor camping holiday with the advantages of being indoors, need to make it plain and clear, you won't be able to have sparklingly clean clothes that feel just like new when you do laundry during an emergency. Quite frankly, you haven’t got the time, muscles or inclination to recreate all the scrubbing that your washing machine does powered by a big electric motor. What you will be able to achieve are clean clothes that are hygienic to wear, they just may carry some battle scars. We, think that given you’re enduring a crisis situation, you may well have far more important things to worry about!
Firstly, we have to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you washing clothing in a sink or washing up bowl. This is old school, especially when the main concern is conserving water. Back when your great, great, great-grandparents did their laundry like this they conserved water as well, as getting more meant lugging it from a communal well. For us in an emergency, the issue is just plain scarcity. If you have read our article, ‘What to do when the water is turned off with Slightly Anxious’, you will have seen that the water ‘budget’ is 10 litres of water per person per day, of which a small share of the 5 litres allocated for all types of cleaning, can go towards laundry. We will be honest with you, at that allowance laundry is the first thing to get squeezed, which is precisely why grey water matters so much here. Fortunately, clothes washing is where we get to use ‘grey water’. This is water that is not good enough to drink with (potable water) but good enough to clean things and water plants with. The mains sources are rain water and clean water that has been used for washing already.
How to wash clothes by hand
Get two containers; can be buckets, washing up bowls or even two sides of the sink and fill one with grey water and one with clean water. Use all water sparingly, it just has to be enough to submerge the clothes being washed. Put your choice of soap into the first container (grey water). We need to stress that you shouldn’t use your existing washing machine cleaning products, especially not pods. They are designed specifically for use in washing machine using far more water than you will and at far higher temperatures. This means that if you use them in the small amount of cold water that will be the case in a crisis scenario, they will be so concentrated as to possibly be dangerous to your skin and harmful to your clothes. You can use washing up liquid, a bar of hand soap, shampoo or even specifically designed soaps like Lifeventure Fabric Wash Leaves x50 Foaming Paper Soap Flakes at c.£4-6 or Dr. Beckmann Travel Wash at c.£2-£3. If any item of clothing has heavy staining you can apply the soap directly to it. Then let it sit in the grey water to soak for 10-15 minutes, this will remove a lot of dirt without any effort. Which is good as you will need your strength for the next stage and although this is technically called agitation, we prefer to call it ‘making biscuits’ like the way a cat does, when it repeatedly presses down with its paws as if kneading dough. Make biscuits with your clothes! Don't wring or twist them while they’re submerged, as this can damage them, simply squish the soapy water through them repeatedly. Then you need to lift the clothes out of the grey water container and gently squeeze all the soapy water out. Make sure the dirty water is going back into the grey water as you don’t want to ruin the clean water. Once you’ve got as much out as possible, transfer them to the clean water container and give them a swish. Hopefully, your clean water will remain clean which will mean you’ve cleaned the clothes. Drying is the next stage. Nothing beats hanging up your clothes and drying them in the hot sun, its UV rays even act as a disinfectant. However, this may not always be possible. In which case you can use the ‘burrito method’, where you lay out a dry towel, put a wet garment on top and wrap the towel up like a burrito. Then sit on the towel and it will absorb the water. This kind of gentle compression is a great way to remove water from clothes, just make sure you’re not tempted to twist your clothes dry, it can ruin them and ensures that they will take forever to dry.
Laundry in a crisis
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The average UK household does about 270 loads a year, roughly 5 a week
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With 10 litres per person per day, there is little water for washing clothes
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Most people can last a week from their wardrobe
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If you must wash, prioritise underwear and socks
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Hard water? Add soda crystals to get a lather
Kit that makes it easier
When it comes to hand washing clothes in an emergency situation you have to triage (prioritise) your choices of what to wash. Jeans, jumpers, and coats can go for weeks without a wash in an emergency. You need to focus on the priority which is underwear and socks. These are the clothing items that sit closest to the parts of the skin most susceptible to bacteria and skin irritation. After that comes your base layers, t-shirts or thermals. These need attention because of their contact with the skin and sweat. As we all know, washing your smalls is all important.
This may look like a lot of work and it is. But it is necessary if you don’t have enough spare clothes available. Fortunately, by being stuck indoors, you should have access to your wardrobe and be able to make it a week without needing to do laundry. But should you need to, thankfully, as ever, the camping fraternity have come to our aid with some devices to make our lives easier.
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Scrubba Wash Bag Portable Washing Machine at c.£45-£65 – this is a synthetic wash bag that comes with a flexible plastic inner liner which has bumps on it making an internal washboard. You put your dirty clothes inside with grey water (2-6 litres) and soap (see above). You then tightly seal the bag, removing any air and then press the bag and rub your clothes against the internal washboard for a few minutes. Then open the bag, empty the water and fill with clean water and then press the bag and rub again to rinse them. Then open, empty and dry them.
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Laundreez Travel Clothes Portable Washing Machine at c.£25-£30 – a cheaper version of the above without the internal wash board.
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Portable Mini Hand Crank Washing Machine and Spin at c.£40-£50 – this is like a large salad spinner! You put the clothes, water and soap in the container. Close the lid and start cranking the handle on top of it. This agitates and cleans the clothes. The spinning also forces the water out of them making for quicker drying.
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Manual Clothes Washer, Non-electric Portable Rotary Washing Machine at c.£120-£160 – for almost £100 more you get a similar salad spinner concept just that rather than cranking a handle on the lid, you turn two handles on either side of the device. We’re not convinced that the increase in cost justifies the increase in washing efficiency!
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WonderWash Portable Washing Machine at c.£140-£180 – this we believe is worth the money purely down to its design. It looks like a table top version of a cement mixer which we find, in an odd way rather endearing. You sit it on the counter next to the sink so that you can drain off the water and crank the handle to revolve the drum. Comes in a range of retro colours.
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For those of you lucky enough to have a power station with a 240v socket, you might consider Mini Washing Machine 10L Washer with Spin Basket at c.£40-£55. This is a very compact (less than 1ft. sq.) washing machine built for camper vans and the like. This means it does need a power supply, so you will need a power station, but it will need far less power and water than a normal washing machine. It takes about 8 litres of water per wash where you can clean a family of four’s underwear. It's not built for larger items.
Manual washers compared
Washer
How it works
Guide Price
Laundreez Travel Clothes Washer
Wash bag, no washboard
c.£25-£30
Portable Mini Hand Crank Washer and Spin
Crank the lid, like a salad spinner
c.£40-£50
Scrubba Wash Bag
Wash bag with a built-in washboard
c.£45-£65
Manual Rotary Washing Machine
Two side handles
c.£120-£160
WonderWash Portable Washing Machine
Table-top drum you turn by hand
c.£140-£180
Hard water and drying
If you live in an area of hard water, most of Southern England, do consider getting some Soda Crystals as this will help you get a lather when washing. Also have a look at whether you have sufficient capability to hang your clothes up to dry. Most of us rely on dryers these days, so might not have the washing lines and clothes horses that we will need in crisis times.
We do hope that you have enough clothes that you can last a week in emergency straits to not need to do laundry. We also can fully see how you might have to. The methods and products we have listed above will make this necessary task a lot easier, which it will be if you delegate it to each individual doing their own washing!
Your to do list is:
1. Check you have at least a week of clean clothes, especially underwear and socks
2. Buy travel wash or soap leaves
3. Choose a manual washer if you have a large or young household
4. Get a clothes horse or indoor drying line
5. Add soda crystals if you live in a hard-water area
6. Make everyone responsible for their own washing
Remember, keep calm and visit us here.
