You know, you might not really see the genius of The Scrubba until you find yourself washing your clothes on the roof of a hotel in a small town in Mexico in a bucket the hotel has lent you for the purpose (because its Sunday and all the laundromats are closed) following a camping expedition to a remote lake in a section of the country close to the Guatemalan border. While we haven’t used it, in concept the thing is stellar. It can enable you to transform your clothing from stinky and stained to hubba-hubba in no-time flat no matter where you are. And when you’re all done, you can fold it up until it really does fit in your pocket, and then get moving again.

Vendor product photo.

The bag body is made of polyether-based TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) and is equipped with little nubbins on the inside that help comprise the internal “washboard”. Throw in a few items of clothing, some water, and a cleaning agent, roll it up and clip it shut, and give the bag a massage. Apparently you can accomplish a “good-enough-for-government-work” wash in about 20-40 seconds, or you can work the bag over for 3-5 minutes to achieve washing-machine quality results. Then drain and rinse clothing with fresh water in The Scrubba or with a source of running water. If your wear is really stained, leave it soaking for 2-3 hours.

Vendor product photo.

You manage the drying of your clothing yourself but if you buy the full kit, your wash bag will come with a travel clothesline and a special towel.

The situations suitable for such a product are endless – out with baby, backcountry exploration, field work, military exercises, Peace Corps service, any trips, business or otherwise, where you need or would prefer to pack light, or hey, life in general – it can serve as a permanent companion if you’re a clutz, er…we mean, if you’re accident prone. Again, you can fit it in a pocket and each bag can last up to hundreds of washes! That’s only about a bag a year for you, Grace! Just think how many quarters you’ve spent and washing machines you’ve destroyed already, Humpty Dumpty!