Packing Tips For Your Summer Vacay

By Jessi Stickel on June 16, 2015

Sight-seeing, exploring and relaxing. When you hear those words “vacation” immediately pops into your head, right?

Going to the beach, camping or experiencing a different country can be the highlight of your summer. Whether you’re traveling with your family or with friends, going on vacation is exciting and sometimes even life changing.

However, when it comes to packing for a trip, you either don’t have enough room for your clothes, shoes and accessories in one suitcase, or you have plenty of room, but your bag is too heavy — especially with the airlines charging extra if your bag is over their weight limit. It feels like a never ending struggle.

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As a frequent traveler and a heavy packer, I have learned some clever hacks and tips for packing suitcases efficiently. Using just a few of these tips can save you a lot of stress and maybe even give you some extra room to put those shoes you really wanted to pack, but originally couldn’t fit.

Standard Packing Tips

1. When you are working with limited space it’s hard to choose what to bring and what to leave at home. Use this chart when deciding to pack it or leave it; this will make the packing process much more bearable.

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2. Roll your clothes instead of folding them; it saves space and keeps wrinkling to a minimum.

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3. Instead of bringing a bulky clothes steamer, hang your wrinkled clothes in the bathroom when you take a shower. The steam will take the wrinkles right out.

4. Put some of your cosmetics, like face wash, liquid foundation, concealer, ointments, etc. in contact lens containers to avoid taking the large bottles and tubes.

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5. Get your travel sized essentials at places like the Christmas Tree Shops. They have a huge selection of miniature products.

6. Store your shoes in a grocery bag so you don’t get your clothes and other items dirty.

7. Use pill cases to store your earrings, rings, and necklaces. That way nothing gets tangled or lost.

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8. Bring extra large Ziploc bags with you to keep your clean clothes separate from your dirty ones when traveling back home. You can also use these to keep all your socks and underwear together.

9. Purchase a travel roll up bag from Mary Kay Cosmetics or another retail store. It’s great for all your essentials, like make-up, brushes, shampoo, toothpaste and more. It has small clear pouches that have Velcro attached, so you can conveniently see everything that you have and you can easily take them off when using your products. It even has a hook attached to the top which allows you to hang it anywhere, which is especially useful in hotel bathrooms that are small and have limited shelf and counter space.

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10. Pack your heaviest items first; this way when your suitcase if full, you’re not pushing on the heaviest items to get it closed.

11. Put a dryer sheet or two in your suitcase. Your clothes will smell fresh and clean, even after being on the road or a flight all day.

12. If you are planning on packing shampoo, conditioner, or lotion bottles with screw-on lids, take a piece of cling wrap and put it over the opening before screwing the top back on, so it can’t spill or leak.

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13. Put your socks or other lose items inside of your shoes so they don’t get smashed and you’re utilizing your space.

14. Purchase a multiple plug adapter for the hotel rooms that have limited outlets.

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15. Don’t forget to put luggage tags on all your bags, in case something is lost or misplaced. You can personalize your own luggage tags at Shutterfly.

16. Not so typical essentials to bring:

* Lint roller

* Band-Aids

* Hair ties

* Wet wipes & hand sanitizer

* Stain remover pen

* Pain medication

* Portable cellphone charger

If you are traveling by plane …

1. Purchase a suitcase scale. Most airlines have a weight requirement for checked baggage. This way you can make sure you aren’t going over the weight limit and see how much weight you have to play with.

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2. Wear or pack your heaviest clothes, like shoes and sweaters or coats in your carry-on, so it won’t add weight to your suitcase.

3. Bring a book bag or a large purse to put all of your plane essentials in, like magazines, snacks, and tablets. Don’t put these items in your carry-on since you will have to get up to get to the overhead storage every time you want to get something out or put something away.

4. If you’re checking a bag, pack an extra outfit in your carry-on in case your luggage gets lost. No one wants to be stranded in a foreign place with not one pair of clean undies!

5. If you are going out of the country make a hard copy of and scan your passport and I.D., so if anything happens you’ll still have the papers or file to be identified, or to get back into the states.

 

Happy traveling!

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