inflatable hangers

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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!

I use these made by Travelon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CZT4L8?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B001CZT4L8&linkCode=xm2&tag=ibssupportgroupf

Not only do they work on shirts, but they have a bar and hooks to also add socks and undies. (They aren't really strong enough for pants.

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.

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!

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

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.

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...

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

While I take the Travelon hangars with me as mentioned previously, I just got these in and want to try them out:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NGJWTN8?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00NGJWTN8&linkCode=xm2&tag=ibssupportgroupf

Each one weighs 1.2 oz.

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.

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.