Packing Tips and Tricks

I look over at the clock. It’s 9:07p. Okay if I go to bed by 10p, I can get up at 3:00a and still have *counts with fingers*, five hours of rest under my belt. I look around my room. It looks as if I had a fight with the dryer due to the casualty trail of clean clothes from it to my bedroom. My giant, black suitcase is open with nothing inside and six piles of folded clean clothes are in front of it: tank tops, shorts/pants, swimsuits, bras/underwear, dresses, coverups. I sat down in front of my suitcase, again, mulling over what was going to make the cut take and loathing the process I have to do in order to fit into the parameters of every airline and the 50lb weight limit.

Well folks, that was LAST year when I felt completely crazy because I’m the biggest procrastinator. I wait until the last possible moment to do anything because, well, that’s who I am. However, this year, I decided I wanted to live my best life and actually be prepared for something so use my tips and tricks below to help you be a successful packer on your next trip!

1. Start anywhere from one month to a few weeks before you leave and start trying on your clothes. Perhaps you’ve gained or lost weight or maybe, just maybe you’ve been working with a trainer for the past 10 months and your butt is now more lifted and bigger. -__- Haha, whatever the case may be, start trying things on.
2. Put outfits together. That way, you’re not overpacking. Pair tops with shorts/pants. Plan a dress for the night. Find a pair or two of transitional shoes that will go with every outfit planned. Include some different options, so if you’re feeling a certain way, you have different options while on your trip.
3. After you’ve tried on your older clothes and planned outfits together, find out what you need to make your trip more successful and go shopping. Once you’ve done #1 and #2 above, you’ll be successful at not overspending on things you may not need AND, you won’t be in a time crunch, come the week you leave.
4. Guys, I want to shout this from the rooftops, PACKING CUBES! I didn’t get the hype and then I bought some. These things will change.your.life! When I finally got mine from Amazon, I thought they looked tiny. How was I going to fit a weeks worth of clothes in four small cubes? So, if you don’t know what packing cubes are, let me tell you. They’re a set of fabric/mesh cubes you can purchase that will keep you organized, as well as, won’t leave everything amuck in your suitcase. It’s the perfect organization tool for packing. For example, I have four different sized cubes. In the large, I packed pants/shorts, the medium had tops/tanks, the small one had swimsuits/coverups, and the smallest cube had bras/underwear/socks.
5. Go to Target or Walgreens and look for the travel sized products section and stock up. Use a gallon size bag to put all your travel liquids into. This will keep you in check when it comes to bringing liquids that won’t fit into the gallon sized bag.

After I finally loaded up my packing cubes, I pitched them into my suitcase along with my two pairs of shoes, blow dryer, gallon sized bag of travel products, and small makeup bag. I couldn’t believe how relieved and accomplished I felt after packing my suitcase this year and better yet… when I opened my suitcase in Mexico, I was completely organized with my cubes that it made packing a complete joy!