Microfibre towels and other space savers

[Dontwanttobefatanymore]

Now my DS (7,12) are getting much bigger the size of our stuff is increasing too, i’m trying to reduce the size of stuff we take as struggling to fit in our large boot.
I saw some microfibre towels which seem to pack small but do these actually dry your body/hair?
any other space saver tips?

I don't like microfibre towels but I love these linen ones.They roll up to nothing and dry the body very well and dry themselves very quickly. They are our summer towels in our house too as I love the look and feel of them. I've been using them for years. https://www.linenme.com/bathroom-linen/overview

it's the waffle ones that I buy.

Yes.

i have one for outdoor swimming and it is very absorbent.

Microfibre towels are less bulky, and they work, but I don’t like the way they feel. I can’t stand fluffy towels so I use cotton waffle towels all the time, they’re thinner and more compact than normal towels. They dry faster too (but not as fast as microfibre)

I absolutely hate the microfibre towels. They don't dry in the same way, you can't rub your body so it feels horrible and you often end up cold. I've used them for caravan holidays when space was really at a premium but really regretted it.

Cross posted with @HollieHock

These ones? https://www.linenme.com/bathroom-linen/bathroom-linen-towels/olive-green-linen-waffle-bath-towel-washed

Can you rub yourself dry like with a normal towel?

With micro fibre ttowels you have to warap yourself in it them just pat dry. They dry incredibly quickly.

@SusieSheepie yes with the waffle ones. I bought plain linen as guest hand towels and I'm not so sure they'd work as well. The website is not great but put in huckaback towels and then search for waffles ones. It says wash at 30 but I never noticed that and I wash them at 40 and there has been no shrinkage.

I get my waffle towels from Secret Linen Store. They work just like normal towels.

Thanks, going to give the linen ones a try!

Nice colours too @Chemenger but they do look thicker than 100pc linen ones. I love all waffle towels. My "winter" ones are from Heals. https://www.heals.com/waffle-towels-green.html They too dry really quickly and are lovely to wrap around you. Thicker than linen ones so just for home.

Are the linen ones “crunchy”? I like the cotton ones but I’d ideally like them to be less soft. Thinner and rougher would be good.

@Chemenger they are crunchy unless you tumble dry them. I did that once by mistake. "Thin and crunchy"

The best hack for space saving when camping is to use vacuum bags. They’re fine to use for clothes, towels, tea towels, polyester sleeping bags, polyester pillows etc.. Very often there’s no need to vacuum pack on the return journey because we gain the extra room that the food, drinks and ice took up. You can make the most of the empty cool box by packing all your pots, pans, fuel canisters, tableware etc… in it.

Is there a brand of vacuum bags that are more reliable than others? Maybe it’s that packing them in the boot guarantees holes being poked in them, but I’ve never used any that lasted more than one use.

I have some microfibre beach towels from Shein that are big and pack down very small. They are great for drying.

Stack them in ikea bags for protection. Ikea bags are space saving too, because you can store all sorts of stuff in them and they mould to shape

Packing cubes of different shapes and sizes. Good for organising, reusable (not sure how reusable vacuum bags are?) and definitely help compress things.