I was sent a complimentary Scrubba Wash Bag for review on adventuresoflilnicki.com. As per usual, all opinions are my own and I never guarantee a positive review.
Scrubba Washbag Review
A great and easy way to wash your clothes on the road. Which means:
Never Look Like A Hobo On The Road Again
Whether you live in a van down by the river, are backpacking your way across a continent, hiking for days on end, traveling for business, camping or hostelling your way across your Europe… You’ll find a use for this handy washbag.
The Scrubba washbag is an Australian design, created to give travelers the ability to wash their own clothes no matter where on Earth they end up.
How Does The Scrubba Washbag work?
It is essentially a dry sack with an internal washboard made of little rubber ‘nodules’ inside the bag and an air-release valve.
The instructions couldn’t be any more idiot-proof. The Scrubba even has the instructions printed on the side of the bag.
Just fill with water, clothes, and soap, rub, rinse and hang.
But in case you want a run through…
First, fill the Scrubba with water to the corresponding line to the load size and toss in dirty clothes. Next, add your soap. Just remember not to dump non-environmentally-friendly soaps and detergents into freshwater sources. The fishes don’t like that.
*I opted not to use soap in this particular load because we were out along the river and did not have a drain or container to dump our dirty soap water in.
Next, roll the top of the bag down 4-5 times and clip the clips together, exactly the same way you would a dry sack.
To release the extra air, open the air valve and squeeze the air out.
Next, flip the bag on its side and rub and massage your clothes around in the bag from anywhere between 30 seconds and 3 minutes.
After your clothes have been good and lathered up, rinse them out and then hang them up to dry!
Simple as that.
Also, if you want a quick way to dry out the inside of the bag: flip the Scrubba inside out and use the clips to hang!
But wait there’s more…
The Scrubba can also be used as a dry sack in the event you need to keep some special equipment dry. Or, if you’re out camping and need to haul water from a stream back to camp, you can always fill the Scrubba with water and use it as a pale.
Here it goes: The Scrubba Review
Overall, I personally think it is a great and useful tool. I don’t know about you guys, but I do enjoy jumping into a clean set of clothes!
The Pros:
- Coming in at next to nothing, a whopping 5 ounces; The Scrubba is very lightweight. This is a very important point when you’re living out of a backpack.
- The Scrubba allows you to wash clothes in places where washing may not be an option. It is an extremely handy gadget to have around as a regular traveler, backpacker, and hiker. I would have LOVED to have the Scrubba on my adventures in Socotra where I had no access to running water let alone a sink for that matter on most days.
- The Scrubba is effective. It does a fantastic job at actually cleaning grime off of clothes, much better than I do when washing clothes by hand. Which I might add, I’m terrible at. According to the Scrubba’s website, it is 2x more effective than hand washing.
- Reduction in laundering cost and hassle. No more waiting around at a laundromat, worrying about if items get lost, and no more having to pay to get your clothes washed.
- The Scrubba is multipurpose, as mentioned above. It can also be used to haul things or water around or as a dry sack.
The Cons:
- For most that I have talked to, it’s the cost. The Scrubba will set you back about $50 give or take. It will, in the end, pay for itself if you are a regular traveler by helping cut costs of laundry services on the road. But hey, it’s a unique idea and I do like that Scrubba does give to Charity Water, which helps to bring access to clean water and sanitation on projects in Ethiopia and Bangladesh.
Where to buy your own Scrubba?
How do you wash your clothes on the road?
Need Travel Insurance?
Start shopping plans over at battleface, my go-to travel insurance choice, or over at World Nomads.
Hi Nicki
This is Carl, I wrote you a couple months back about backpacks and I did end up with an Osprey as you recommended. However I want to talk about the Scrubba. I bought one of those based on a mention that you made of it a couple months ago also. I am in Paris in my tiny little Airbnb room and I have been using my Scrubba on the road. I will be using it more over the next couple weeks but I agree with you. I have found the Scrubba to be wonderful and very handy and very easy to use, especially when combined with fast drying everything. I was able to find mine on sale on eBay for about $40, so I recommend people look there as well. I think it is a great investment and very easy and handy to use.
Thank you for all the recommendations you have made in the past, they have made my month long travel a lot easier for me.
Hey Carl,
I’m so glad all the recommendations helped you! Thanks for the tip on buying the Scrubba on e-bay. I hope you’re having a great time in Europe and would love to hear about it!
Hi Again Nicky!
Back home now after weeks in Paris, Florence, Bologna, Rome and a tiny village from whence came some grandparents! I had a blast. The Osprey pack was great and I think almost all suitcases I own will get sold other than one for 2-3 day trips.
But the Scrubba…. OK, a couple tips. Yes, I still love it but, since I have sensitive skin, I use the sensitive skin fragrance free, etc, Laundry soap.
I found with the Scrubba, to do TWO rinses, at least, even when using very little soap. Also a plus was that for cleaning, the Scrubba is superb, but if there is a sink with CLEAN water available, that is great for RINSING as well. Just a data point for those of us with skin problems (I have psoriasis and eczema and contact dermatitis. No, I don’t look like the Elephant Man, but I can get itchy!)
Had a great time traveling though and met awesome people, which is what happens when you talk to locals and stay away (mostly) from the big tourist draws. I even had what I think is the best dinner I ever had in my entire life. It brought tears to my eyes and that is the truth, not an exaggeration.
Sorry you had the car rental problem. Everything I read about traveling makes me think renting a car is possible the most problematic thing, due to hassles and sneaky, conniving rental agencies and people.
I am with you on AirBnB as well. I stayed in those in 4 places and saved a TON of money over hotels and with FAR better places. I could cook, had great landlord people and one of them was an entire villa for a group of us to 6 people for $37 a night plus cleaning fee! SERIOUSLY!
Then my last 2 nights was in a resort/business center Name Brand hotel in Rome. It was hot in the hotel and roasting in my room. NO F#@KING AC!!!! Got half my points back but who would have thought to ask about that? Air BnB for me from now on if at all possible!
Ok, well, this is your blog so sorry for the hijack. Anyhow, thanks again for all the tips and I got to say this is one of the very best blogs I read of any kind. Stick with your style and keep plugging away on trips!
Hey Carl,
Good to hear from you and glad to hear that you had an amazing time in Europe! Good tips on the Scrubba, thanks for letting me know. I’ve actually used mine mostly soap free so far, only because I was camping and there wasn’t a place to dump soapy water and I didn’t wanna dump it into a river or at a national monument… However when I was at White Sands it made a great dry bag to keep the sand out of my camera… which one spec of sand STILL managed to get on sensor, but I’m sure that had nothing to do with the bag!
I know, car rentals suck and I’m always very hesitant with them, still dealing with it, ugh! I’m glad AirBnb worked for you. I loved it in Puerto Rico and am planning on staying in them for the majority of my upcoming South America trip. That sounds like an awful night at the hotel you had!