Craziest Travel Tip You Never Thought Of

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Tide. The opinions and text are all mine.

Mom! Yes? “I landed in the mud, and all I can see are my knees.” Me, “Not again” in my head. The words that come out are, “Are you okay?” The first thought is, how am I going to get that mud out of your shorts? You know since I packed three bottoms for you for 6 days?”

This should be an uncommon sentence and scenario. You know one you hear “sometimes.” It isn’t however. It is a version of something I hear on every family trip we take. It is as inevitable as breathing air that someone will get so dirty that throwing their stained clothes in their suitcase when we travel will contaminate the rest of their clothes and I will have to wash it all, or worse than that, they will ruin their clothes. You know, because the concept of not wearing more than one outfit a day alludes my fashion forward child.

This scenario, or the one where they miss their mouth while eating ice cream, dinner, breakfast, etc. led me to a money and time-saving travel tip.

I learned a long time ago that doing laundry would be a part of our vacation. I know. You are trying to travel to get away from chores. But I found that doing laundry on vacation save me both time and money.

How?

The first thing I do is have the kids pack light so they can use carry-on bags for travel. Then I am not stuck buying the more expensive tickets or paying for baggage fees which can add up to $50 each child round trip. I am allowed to check one bag free because my husband travels a lot and has “status.” If his status came with someone to clean up after the kids, that would be more appealing. If I had to pay for my bag, I would just do what the kids did and pack a carry-on bag. I could use the same technique as the kids, although it would limit my shoe collection. Also, I make sure I pack some Tide Laundry Detergent for laundry on the go.

You don’t have to bring the whole container you can pack a couple of the Tide PODS Ultra Oxi for your trip because they don’t take up much room. AND right now they’re up to 50% off – lowered from $11.97 to only $5.97 starting on 6/30 at Walmart. That’s $6 savings! It makes dollars (not cents) to get in on this deal. I put them in a small plastic container when we travel. I usually bring one POD per day on vacation since the five of us can create a lot of laundry daily.

Here’s how to grab this incredible savings of $6 on Tide PODS and liquid ONLY at Walmart. Just clip a $3 brandSAVER coupon from the RetailMeNot insert in your 6/30 newspaper or from brandSAVER.com (valid through 7/6), purchase Tide at Walmart using your brandSAVER coupon at the register, and use the ibotta app to scan your receipt to get an additional $3 back. This means Tide Original Liquid 100-oz. and Tide PODS 32-count will be lowered from $11.97 to only $5.97.

We also try to stay in a hotel that has a laundry facility on-site so we can throw in a load of clothes each night. The best part is when we get home from our trip, I usually only have to wash the clothes on our backs and the rest are ready to hang back up in their closets. I figure this tip saves me time and money because clothes aren’t ruined, I’m not paying baggage fees, and I’m skipping the post-trip deflation of having to do 7 days of laundry for five people all at once.

I highly suggest you grab this deal and grab your Tide PODS Ultra Oxi before heading out on your next adventure – because during the best adventures – you get dirty!

Again don’t forget to take advantage of this excellent deal! Clip your brandSAVER coupon and head to Walmart to stock up on Tide PODS and liquid and save up to $6 on each when you combine with an ibotta offer. Scan your Walmart receipt with ibotta for $3 cash back on your purchase. Don’t have the ibotta app? Download today and start saving.