I love reading about packing for a trip. I even own two books about it.
Almost before every trip I search for the latest and greatest in packing technology and efforts. What are people doing now? What packing list best represents the trip I’m about to take?
Instead of highlighting too many tips, I want to focus on some of my favorite tips. These tips are for anyone, but especially useful for families.So, now I’m just going to share some of my favorite tips I’ve learned along the way.
- Instead of organizing clothes by type (socks together, shirts together, etc…) Organize one outfit for each kid/family member. Put one outfit for each family member in a bag, until you have one bag for each day. Then you just have to take out the bag and all the kids have all of their clothes.
- When going on a road trip with an overnight stay, pack a smaller bag with just the necessities for that night. Then you don’t have to lug out the whole suitcase.
- Write out a packing list, check items off as you go, pack the list with you, and when you pack to go home use the list to make sure you didn’t forget anything. At the end of your trip, note what wasn’t needed so you know for next time.
- I often throw things I might need into a laundry basket in the days leading up to the trip. Then, I can go through and remove things I don’t need – but I don’t worry about forgetting something I really wanted.
- One of my favorite things to do is to only bring a backpack’s worth of “necessities” and buy everything once I’m there. Then ship all the new stuff back home. ***Disclaimer: this works better for city visits than theme park visits, and isn’t something I would do too often.
- My three essentials: Nail clippers, band aids, and q-tips.
As you can guess, I’d love to read more tips. If you have any that you want to share, links to posts you like about the subject, or have any questions, let me know.
If you get a moment, please check out Uber Random for some travel-related, A-to-Z randomness.
Ann, Great tips. I love the family packing an outfit at a time. Smart. It also works for photography, because while on vacation you take lots of photos of the family. By packing by outfit, you can color coordinate the clothes which looks really smart in photos. Really good tip!
I can’t believe this realization never came to me. I actually learned about this first from a photographer’s website and even they didn’t mention coordinating the outfits! LOVE IT! I may have to add it into this original post when I edit it.
Some great packing tips Ann. I too love the idea of packing an outfit a day. We now do as you do and travel with small cabin bags each and one other bag that we leave in the car…it really does make those overnight stays much easier.
I think so – and if you have the daily outfits packed and ready to go, all you need is a backpack with the toiletries and the outfit bag of the day.
Great tips Ann! Packing can be somewhat cumbersome, especially on prolonged trips when clothes wear out and socks get lost in the laundry. Unfortunately it’s a necessary evil and these tips should make it much easier 🙂
There’s definitely a difference in packing needs for long term vs. short term travel. I tend to pack the same amount regardless of how long I travel, though I’ve never had to pack for anything longer than 1 month.
I hate packing with a vengeance, and I always seem to end up with non-matching clothes at the end, however carefully I think I’ve planned. Tip 1 for me then!
I say I love packing, but in actuality I only like packing to go somewhere. I hate packing for the return. Maybe tip 1 helps with that, all dirty clothes go into the bag they came with you in.