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inflatable hangers

Does anyone bring these on long trips? We'll be on the 21 day tour and will be in Europe an additional 4 nights so sink washing will have to figure into the mix. I have a bungee type clothesline and bought a pack of 2 inflatable hangers. They are very difficult to blow up. Do you find that hangers are helpful when doing sink washing? I hate to pack things and not use them!

Posted by
681 posts

Kathy,
We really depend on inflatable hangers to get our clothes dry overnight and I wouldn't go without them - we take four. They vary in how hard they are to blow up, from easy to nearly impossible. I prefer the ones that only deflate when you squeeze the valve. The other ones are beyond frustrating to me because I can never get them fully inflated. When buying new ones, I always inflate them once at home to test them out. I have no idea how to tell the two types apart from the packaging, but one store let me open and try several out. On our last trip, one of our hangers was very difficult to inflate, so my husband expanded the opening a bit and that worked.

Posted by
1994 posts

They are incredibly helpful. They separate the two sides of the garment so it dries more quickly. The other thing I find really helpful are lightweight plastic clothes pins that have a hook at the other end. I brought a clothesline one time, and I never used it – and I typically travel for a month with a very small suitcase doing all of my laundry by hand.

Posted by
5835 posts

I just bring 3 tabular plastic hangers for drying sink washed stuff. No inflategate issues.

Posted by
507 posts

Kathy,

There is a knack to easily blowing up the hangers as well as deflating them. Hope my Amazon review helps.

BLOWING ONE UP IS NOT HARD IF . . .
By Colette51 - August 11, 2014
". . . one grips the very base of valve with front teeth & GENTLY squeezes the base of the valve with their teeth {add: . . . then blow}. It may take a couple of tries to get the knack of it. To deflate it, squeeze the base of the valve with the forefinger & the thumb of one hand while pressing down on hanger with the other hand."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/B0010XGKFK/s=sd/ref=mw_dp_cr?qid=1422324803&sr=1

Posted by
809 posts

I have one inflatable hanger, from the 1960s judging by the colorful pattern, that I bring on long trips; I need to get more! I also bring a small pack of balloons and blow up a few to stuff in shirt sleeves and pants legs; they are really lightweight and I don't worry about leaving them behind. I also bring a couple of lightweight plastic shirt and skirt hangers, as well as a clothesline, and use them all.

Posted by
4324 posts

I've been using them for years and won't take a longish trip without them. Rubber clothelines are a necessity, but for collared shirts these are really the only way to get them dry in a reasonable amount of time. Plus they're fun to have around!

Posted by
731 posts

Colette, I will try your technique.
Frank, those are the hangers I purchased from Amazon. My husband had to inflate them and I will add, my shirt dried overnight when I used the hanger.

Posted by
13809 posts

I had gotten some (Lewis and Clark brand I think) and I could never get them to stay inflated. I am with Edgar, I just pack a plastic tubular hangar and a couple of wooden clothes pins. If you do decide to use the blowups, try them out at home for a couple of trials washes!

Posted by
552 posts

So none of you like using the ones provided by the place you stay?

Posted by
507 posts

Kathy,

I will also add that using a towel to get the excess water out of the garment (as I was taught for hosiery) will help your clothing to dry faster. A microfiber towel similar to ABSORB ( found in the automotive dept of Walmart) will help you with that part of sink washing.

Bill, Are you talking about the wooden hangers in the closet? Those usually do not have a hook on them & if they did, wood is heavy on the line I take with me.

Posted by
552 posts

I guess I do occasionally come across the 'theft-proof' kind of hanger that has a post that hooks into a ring on the closet bar, instead of having a hook. But even those are usually plastic nowadays.

I just twist tie that kind onto the latch of a sunny window...

Posted by
19052 posts

Most of the time I travel alone and I bring two inflatable hangers. They are so useful because they keep the sides of the shirt apart and allow air to circulate, allowing it to dry quickly. One would be enough, but sometimes I fall behind in my washing and need to dry two shirts to catch up. I don't find them hard to inflate and they take very little space or weight in my backpack.

I also take along four "drip-dry clothespins" (clothespins with hooks so I can hang my underwear to dry on the towel rack). I also take along a twisted clothesline, but I have rarely used it.

Posted by
507 posts

Thanks for the idea, Bill. I maybe doing wash for 4.

Posted by
1060 posts

We use them, think they are great! To follow up on the earlier tip about using a towel to squeeze clothes dry, we also do that. After taking a shower in the evening it's wash time for us. Do the clothes in the sink, then lay the large towel down and put the washed & wrung-out clothes on it. Roll up, stand on one end and twist with your hands, you'll be amazed how much moisture is squeezed out! The towel is pretty useless after that, but the hotel will change it out in the morning for a dry one -- and our clothes will be dry, too, and packed away before the maid comes in and sees the line. No sense to advertise we are washing in the sink.

Posted by
222 posts

I use the inflatable hangers and think that they are a definite asset for shirts especially. I have used the clothes pins with the clips and love them, particularly for socks but I have either lost or broken several of mine. I haven't seen any in the travel catalogues or stores. Does anyone know where to buy them?
Barb

Posted by
10178 posts

I've used inflatable hangers for years. We take 4 for the 2 of us. I also take a couple of plastic hangers that have clips to hang pants. They are too heavy for a clothesline, When I've purchased pants I tell them I want to keep the hanger and I usually leave them behind in my last place. The clothespins with the hanger end that have been mentioned come in handy for socks and underwear. Using a towel to absorb extra water is a big help for getting things to dry overnight.

Posted by
795 posts

Kathy, we love inflatable hangers and hate blowing things up so we bought a very cheap (around $2) balloon pump at Party City (they are available at party stores, craft stores, dollar stores, Wal-mart, etc) which is easy to pack in among clothes in a suitcase and it is perfect to blow up the hangers without any huffing and puffing at all. They are perfect for sink washed clothes since it won't rust them.

Posted by
1840 posts

The local Triple A sold the Lewis & Clark inflateable hangers and as Pam indicated they weren't worth the money . Someone else mentioned Travelon. These are the best although they don't last forever. We take two of them on all our trips.

There's a trick to blowing them up. You have to pull the backside away from the inside of the valve. The valve has a little flap seal inside you need to give some space. Also, on deflating you have to open that little inside seal with a ball point pen or something similar. The hanger at the top sometimes become detached because of use. Duct tape will go through the opening in the hanger part and around the inflateable part for a temporary fix.

If you are going to be doing sink laundry you need inflateable hangers.

Posted by
2599 posts

I bring along some single plastic clip hangers, good for undies & socks, and use the hangers in the room for drying tops and jeans. Never bothered with a clothesline. When moving every few days I try to plan laundry for the first night or two to ensure everything dries, otherwise I take the hair dryer to them.

Posted by
16893 posts

I have grown too lazy for sink washing and would plan to take or send clothes to a Laundromat once in the middle of the tour.