Packing tips

In the next few months, I will be doing a little bit of traveling. It starts with a trip to California in a few weeks and then two trips to Indianapolis (home of the 2012 Superbowl...GO PATS)  for my bestie's bridal shower and wedding. It is easy to overpack for a 3-4 day trip because you are generally packing in a hurry and probably aren't paying attention to everything you throw in your bag. Similarly, it is easy to overpack for a multi-week trip because you want to be prepared for anything (which leads to bringing EVERYTHING which is bad). To avoid such packing faux pas, I have put together a list of packing tips that you may find useful when preparing for your next trip.

#1 - Don't pack the night before or the morning of your trip. If you follow no other tips, follow this one. When you pack close to the time of your trip, you tend to just want to get it over with and out of the way and may not put as much thought into it as you probably should. This is also how you end up at your destination and only then realize that you brought 6 pair of socks with you on your beach vacation and no bathing suit.

#2 - Make a list.  My suggestion is to do this well in advance of your trip, a week or two. After you make the list, go over it a few times and see what you can take off. Chances are when you re-read the list you will realize that you don't need as much as you thought you did when you made the list and that will make packing a lot easier.

#3 - Plan your outfits. The best thing I did when packing for our two week European honeymoon was to plan my outfits in advance. I laid everything out on my bed and played around with different outfit combinations until I was satisfied. This also gave me an opportunity to see which pieces could be worn repeatedly which is a great segway into the next tip...

#4 - Plan to wear the same clothes more than once. More than twice even. Any experienced traveler will tell you that less is more when it comes to packing clothes for your trip. Instead of bringing 4 pairs of jeans, bring 2. Instead of bringing 10 different tops, plan on wearing the same 4 and bring a cute sweater or scarf to accentuate your look. It will make you feel like you are switching it up without the hassle of lugging around a big heavy suitcase.

#5 - Get rid of your big heavy suitcases. Short of taking a multi-month trip around the world, you don't need it - I promise. The best suitcase is a small to medium sized roller (the ones with four wheels they have now are even better). This will physically prevent you from overpacking and if you are worried about running out of things to wear just remember that it is very easy to do laundry no matter where you are.

#5A - Overpacking horror story. France, 2001. Rita, Vladimir and Karina go to France to celebrate Karina's high school graduation for two weeks. They each bring a large suitcase with them. When they get to the airport in Paris, only one suitcase makes it off the plane, the other two are missing. Karina is temporarily convinced that her suitcase has been stolen (queue anxiety). It turns out that two of the suitcases were placed on a later flight and will delivered to the apartment they are renting. Fine. They arrive that night. All is ok until they get ready to travel down to the South of France by car. All three suitcases will not fit in the trunk so one has to hang out in the backseat with Karina. Annoying. It takes up half the back seat and leaves 50% less room to sprawl. Also, these suitcases are very heavy and because there is so much stuff in there it is very hard to find anything. Moral of this story? One year later, the three go to Greece for 2 weeks and bring one small roller each. Best vacation ever.

#6 - Minis are your friends. I have a little bag under my sink that ONLY has mini versions of the toiletries that I need to travel. I never unpack this bag and when it's time to take a trip, I simply pack it and that is all. I have had to re-stock it before but that is no big deal and I usually do that right after I get home from a trip so I don't have to worry about it when it's time to pack again. It's a great idea and a real time saver. If you can't find the minis you are looking for in a store, check out 3floz.com or minimus.biz.

#7 - Pack your shoes first. 'Cause when you have packed everything else and you go to pack your shoes, you will quickly realize that they don't fit. So pack them first so you know how much space you have left to work with.

I hope these packing tips have been helpful. I am constantly learning new things about packing and organizing in general so I will be sure to pass along what I learn.