It takes more than a happy thought and pixie dust to get you in the air these days. Watch this video to keep you and your bags out of Never Land. (Click here to watch on YouTube if you can’t see the embedded player.)
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Lorie Marrero, and today’s Clutter Video Tip is about packing for travel. Now, when you’re getting ready for a trip, there are a couple of different lists that are great to keep. One is obviously a packing list, and we have a great one for sale on our website, that you can see here on the screen. (Update August, 2016: This product is no longer available, please contact us at service@clutterdiet.com for updated information.) And the other list that I encourage you to have is a travel preparation checklist. It kind of helps you when you pack as well, but it’s a list of other things that have to be done when you travel. Such as getting the plants watered, getting someone to watch the pets, making sure all your phones are on their chargers before you leave the house, that the garbage is empty, there’s lots of things like that, that really help when come home. So, once you’ve got your lists together, it’s really good to plan your packing, and it will really cut down on the weight of your suitcase if you know what outfits you’re going to wear and when. So, if you’re able to, and you know the different activities and occasions that you’re going to be participating in on the trip, make an actual written plan of the outfits, because you’re going to be able to pack a lot lighter. It’s a really good rule-of- thumb to not pack anything that you can’t wear in combination with something else, more than once, and it’s also a great idea to have a theme of colors. So, black, brown, or navy are great themes, such as the pants, and the skirts, and the shoes, that you’re packing, because shoes are the big enemy when you’re trying to pack light, and you only want to have to worry about one color family of shoes so that you can save room.
The other thing I want to share with you today is about modularizing your suitcase. Now, everybody knows that we have to have the three-ounce TSA liquids all put together in a quart-sized bag, I think a lot of us are used to this now. But, this is really handy if you’ve noticed, when you go into the bathroom of your hotel room, you have a lot stuff you need right here, and let’s take that same concept and move it into the rest of your suitcase. What I do is, I have something else for all the bathroom items that don’t go into the liquids bag, things like deodorant and my hairbrush and my toothbrush, those are all in here, in this module. And then I have my snacks, and I’m a big tea-drinker, so I have my little tea pack here with everything I need for my tea. And I have my chargers, and I have several other things here. But, the point is that I don’t do this just because I’m a professional organizer, and I think it’s really neat-o to put all of the things in their own container. It’s not about that, it’s about me finding things quickly in my bag, almost without having to look. Because I know what module they’re in, it enables me to pack and repack really quickly, and it’s great even if you happen to get searched, which, nobody wants to happen. But if you have to quickly repack your bag after a search, it’s much easier and nicer if you have all these modules and you can just put them right back together.
I wanted to show you one of my other favorite ways to modularize my suitcase, and I can’t imagine traveling without it actually. This is called a packet folder. I can very widely fold everything I have, including my suits, and I can put this on the top, and then I Velcro it all together tightly, and it compresses the stack down. And then, I just throw that right into my suitcase, and I also have these zippered cubes in which I put socks and underwear and workout clothes and things like that, and I can see exactly what’s in there because it’s kind of ventilated on the front. And then that goes right on top, and then some of my other modules fit right in there, and my suitcase is so easy to pack and unpack with this system.
Now when you get back from your trip, and you’re ready to get organized, we have the 7-Day Quickstart for you that is free. It is a focused week of guidance from me, where you get a message from me every day, with a video and some instructions to guide you into choosing a project, getting started on it, and getting it done. You can find out more about this at clutterdiet.com/quickstart.
See you next time, and may you always be happy and grateful, for having more than enough.
You may have been searching for how to pack for stress free travel with family.
One thing I always like to pack is a net mesh laundry bag. I keep the bag in my hotel room and put my dirty clothes in it each day. At the end of my trip, I just pick up the bag, lay it on top of my suitcase and head home. Then when I get home, I know what clothes need to be washed and I haven’t mixed dirty and clean clothes together.
Thanks, Miriam. That is a great tip! A mesh bag is perfect because it is so easy to pack and use in your hotel room. Thank you for sharing that with everyone.