The Art of Packing a Suitcase

We are leaving for our family vacation in a few days and I thought I would share some of my tips on packing a suitcase.  Packing for a trip is much easier with a little planning and organization.

1.  Make a list on paper of how many days you will be away and how many outfits you will need.  We are going to Disney World for a few days and then onto a seven day Disney cruise.  For this vacation, it's almost like packing for two mini trips.  First, I create a list for each member of the family.  On our computer we have a list of all of the things that we always bring on vacation (sunscreen, vitamins, cameras etc) and just print it out year after year.  Planning exactly what you will need not only keep you from forgetting things, it will also help to avoid you over or under packing.  

2.  A few days before you leave, lay out the clothes you plan on bringing.  I organize the clothes by outfit, ideally aiming to have two tops for each pair of pants/shorts.  I also try to pack outfits that can use the same shoes to limit the amount of shoes as well.  

3.  Now it's time to actually pack the suitcases.   I pack the suitcases by outfit for my daughter and myself. For my husband and my son, I pack all of their shorts/pants together and all of their shirts together, since they are less particular about outfits and will just mix and match while we are on vacation.

Folding clothes to fit the suitcase will maximize the amount of items you can fit.  For pants, I fold them in thirds and for t-shirts I fold them as shown to fit four columns of clothing.

4.  The last thing you want when you get to your destination is to have all of your clothing wrinkled.  To help prevent this, I wrap all of my clothing prone to wrinkling in tissue paper.

5.  I use freezer bags to protect delicate clothing and to keep items like socks together.  I also use socks being packed to stuff into shoes to prevent them from getting crushed during transit.

6.  If you follow these simple tips, once you arrive at your destination, you can just pull out the piles as you have them in the suitcase and place them directly in the drawers of your hotel room.  It makes unpacking super fast so you can start your vacation quicker and stress-free.

Hope these tips will help you next time you pack for a trip.

-Judy