The Travelite FAQ

A few years ago, I reviewed and recommended a laundry soap called Charlie’s Soap. Charlie’s Soap continues to be on the top of my list for hand washing your clothing on the road, but there’s another laundry soap I can also recommend.

The product is called Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets, and since this is made by soap manufacturer Dial, they are available in most supermarkets in the laundry aisle.

A box of Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets, next to a 20-ounce bottle of soda for size comparison.

If you’re familiar with laundry dryer sheets Purex laundry sheets use a similar concept. Instead of tossing this in the dryer with your clothes, however, you actually toss it into the washing machine from the beginning. When your wash is ready to go into the dryer, you just move the Purex laundry sheet in with your clothes.

A couple of sheets taken out of the box.

These Purex laundry sheets offer maximum convenience when you’re traveling. Both the soap and conditioner/anti-static portion is infused in the sheet. There are no liquids or flakes to fall off of these sheets. Most convenient of all is that these are sized to fit into a quart-sized resealable zip baggie. This allows you to take the laundry sheets out of the box and travel with several sheets in your carry-on. It even packs completely flat, so it will take up almost no room in your bag.

You can easily pack several sheets of Purex laundry sheets into a quart-sized Ziploc bag.

There are a couple of considerations:

• These laundry sheets only work for washing machines. They are not an option if you plan on using your hotel sink for handwashing your clothes.
• The box shown here is their “Pure and Clean” version, which has no noticeable fragrance. Purex offers two other variations: “Spring Oasis” and “Tropical Escape.” Both of these are very strongly scented, and my personal preference is to go with the unscented version.
• These laundry sheets are best when you’re ready for one big load of laundry, which means it’s more convenient if you’re traveling with a partner, or a family. You’re less likely to need to do a whole load at once if you’re traveling solo, since you’re less likely to carry so much clothing (especially if you know how to travel light!).
• There is no easy way to use just a portion of the laundry sheet, so even if you have a very small load, you will use up a whole sheet.
• These laundry sheets fit the plain quart-sized Ziploc bags, but will not fit in Ziploc’s pleated zippered baggies (which are not as tall as the regular quart-sized version).
• These laundry sheets are not cheap. A box of 22 sheets costs around $10 each, quite expensive when you compare it to liquid laundry detergent. As an example, a two-bottle set of 50-ounce bottles of Tide laundry detergent goes for $15.00 at Amazon, and is good for a total of 64 loads, making these Purex laundry sheets at least twice as expensive (and I suspect you can buy liquid laundry detergent at your local supermarket at prices far better than from Amazon). The price difference is considerable when compared to a container of Charlie’s Soap, which for $12 lasts 80 loads.

Overall, even with these caveats, I believe Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets are a great option. You can’t beat their convenience and packability. If they are a little bit of a stretch for your budget, keep your eye out for smaller trial-size packages with just a few sheets in them. Otherwise, buy a small box and reserve them just for your travels.

“Spork, spork, spork!”

It’s the Swedish Chef from the Muppets, here to say Happy New Year everybody! This blog has been poorly neglected, but with the start of 2012, we’re going for a recharge here.

So… besides a phrase that the Swedish Chef likes to say, a spork is an eating utensil that combines the tines of a fork and the bowl of a spoon.

There are a number of different models of sporks on the market (there doesn’t seem to be one uniform design). Most of them are basically “tined spoons”; that is, the tips of a standard spoon have cuts in them so you can poke at your food with your spoon.

The problem with this kind of tined spoon is that it’s not very good at stabbing at food, and you can’t spoon up much because the spoon is basically slotted at the end.

One spork, however, uses a very different design, and it works really beautifully.

Light My Fire manufacturers camping gear designed for the light packer. One of their signature products is their Spork. What makes this spork different from others is that it doesn’t compromise a spoon by slotting tines to it; instead, you get a spoon on one end, and a fork on the other. This very simple concept means you get a “real” spoon, and a “real” fork (you just can’t use both at the same time).

The fork end of a Light My Fire Spork.

It might be hard to see, but the tine closest to you (on the leftmost tine) is a little wider than the rest. This is because the outside edge is lightly serrated, allowing you to cut your food. If you need to cut your food, though, it’s a bit of a challenge without a second utensil, so I sometimes find myself having to hold down the food with my left thumb.

The Spork does take a bit of getting used to. For one thing, the Spork has an S-shaped arc because the spoon faces down when you hold the fork side up… so you have the face of the spoon pressing on your hand when you use the fork end. Same thing when you use the spoon end, although the fork end doesn’t seem to press in quite as much.

The tines on the Spork are also relatively shallow when compared to a normal fork; it’s too bad they can’t just make the tines a little longer by cutting deeper into the fork. You wind up taking smaller bites with this fork.

Since its introduction years ago, Light My Fire has expanded its Spork line with a lot of new models. One big issue they’ve resolved is that the Spork is now usable by left-handers. They now have a “Spork Lefty” model that has the serrated the on the right edge.

Folks who don’t really care for the feel of plastic utensils now also have the option to use the titanium model of Spork. Dimensions and everything are identical to the original Spork, but the titanium model actually feels much better in your hand because it’s thinner. Cutting food with the serrated edge feels a lot easier, as well. Unfortunately, it looks like a left-handed version is not yet available in titanium.

Finally, if you’re a hardcore light packer and want something small enough to keep in your shirt pocket, you might consider Spork Little. Designed for kids, it’s basically a teaspoon version of the original Spork. Everything looks the same, but smaller. The Little model also lacks a serrated edge on the fork.

You should be able to find these Sporks in various camping outlets like REI. The original comes in 20 colors, and is pretty affordable at around $3 each (the titanium model will set you back around $13). Be careful what color you choose, though. I used to have a clear one, and while on vacation, it got tossed out in the trash by a thoughtful husband who just assumed it was a clear disposable fork. My suggestion is that you get a color that doesn’t look anything like disposable utensils (and maybe even write your name on its handle).

Oh… you might be wondering why I’m reviewing a spork. After all, how does this relate to packing light? Well, sporks don’t take up much room, and it lets you use your own eating utensil instead of wasting plastic disposables. I always carry one of these in my purse (as well as a sturdy reusable drinking straw).

Light My Fire Spork website: http://www.industrialrev.com/sporks/

Purchase from Amazon here.