Packing Essentials for Everyone
Now that travel is returning, a refresher on how to pack and packing hacks are in order, (see previous travel blogs)! Packing is typically an anxiety filled exercise limited to a 19–25-inch box. How you use that space, and in what order, is critical.
Rule 1: Start early! If you’re buying clothes for your trip, allow shopping, shipping, and alteration time. Next, create a list of what items you “need” (finite) and what you’d “like” to wear (harder and endless). Don’t take new shoes if they could hurt.
-Remember, cottons for humid climates, synthetics and fine wools for cooler, less humid ones.
Rule 2: Figure out how many pairs of shoes you need for your trip—some believe in only 3 pairs for all trips. If I’m traveling for business, I can meet the “3 pairs goal”. Travelling for vacation introduces dining and touristing and then this rule becomes draconian to me—if I’m on vacation, why should I be limited??
-Stuff socks and other small items, like belts, inside shoes.
-Use washable shoe bags to protect your shoes, but also your clothes after traipsing around.
-Always pack flip flops—they’re small and you’ll have happy feet at day’s end.
Rule 3: Use space-maximizing tools like packing cubes and travel-size products. I prefer using Ziploc baggies, which work as vacuum packs, helping to flatten your clothes. The higher the baggie quality, the longer the vacuum lasts, and there’s multiple sizes.
Rule 4: Hanging clothes are challenging to keep wrinkle-free but you have 3 options:
-First, hang your clothes on one or two thin hangers, one clothing item hung on top of another. Placing shirts on first, with bulkier items (sweater/jacket) on top, confining any potential wrinkles to the outside items that wrinkle less. When hanging shirts, fold the arms over, maintaining sleeve creases.
-Second option is rolling your pants and hanging items once you have them folded without wrinkles. Make sure while you’re rolling the folded items, you don’t create new wrinkles from rolling—a painstaking process.
-Third, send your shirts to the cleaners, requesting they be returned in a box or hung over a hanger because they’re already folded and creased. Then you can easily add them to your suitcase. Pack belts inside your collared shirt to keep it standing. You can use tissue paper between refined fabrics that tend to wrinkle as they take the wrinkle instead of the item.
Rule 5: Edit, edit, edit. I start early because I tend to overpack. Challenge yourself to take two items out and reassess, continue this until you can comfortably go no further. You may find, you need to remix your choices based on items that aren’t working enough during your trip.
Tammy’s truism: Identify any packing holes by laying out your outfits by activity. Upon return, take an inventory of what you actually wore to inform future packing and wardrobe needs.
