I travel for work almost weekly and there's a thing or two I've learned about packing. I can't tell you WHAT to pack - that's not what this post is about. I can tell you, however, HOW to pack to make life that much easier.
1) Have a checklist
I'm possibly the world's most forgetful person so having a checklist is essential. If you're lazy, you can buy these fancy premade checklists. It covers just about everything you could possibly need for both a work trip or a leisure trip. You can buy online at at the manufacturer Knock Knock, or at most Paper Source stores.
I'm cheap and don't like clutter so I made my own Excel spreadsheet. I skipped most of the obvious stuff and only populated it with things that I absolutely need and always forget. Feel free to download it and adjust for your needs. It prints to one frill-less functional page.
2) Use packing cubes
Yes, I thought packing cubes were a complete hoot until I tried them. They keep everthing wrinkle free and in its place. You'll end up having more space in your luggage. I've listed the packing organizers you'll need plus my recommended brand item for each. The Eagle Creek organizers are available in a variety of colors. I've picked blue for the pictures so you can see the details. Personally, I love the all black version.
- Packing Envelope...Eagle Creek 15 inch Pack-It Folder - Use this for shirts and sweaters, anything that needs to be folded. The 15" is good for about 3 shirts, 2 sweaters and my pj set
- Packing Cube...Eagle Creek Pack-It Half Cube - Use this for pants, roll them so they don't wrinkle. The Half Cube fits 2 pairs of wool pants or 3 pairs of thinner pants/capris.
- Small Packing Cube...Eagle Creek Pack-It Quarter Tube - for socks, underwear, other soft stuff
- Small Packing Tube...Eagle Creek Pack-It Half Tube - for exercise gear. Lay your shorts, exercise bra and shirt on top of each other, fold the entire stack in half and then roll to stuff in this tube. Holds just enough for one exercise session. Also great to use when you're taking your gym clothes to work.
- Shoe Bag...Any brand - At least one if not two shoe bags. One for work shoes, one for sneakers. Cole Haan gives out great flannel shoe bags with a simple drawstring - definitely ask for an extra one when buying shoes there. I use the free Cole Haan shoe bags for work shoes and a Lululemon bag for my sneaks. The Eagle Creek Pack-It Shoe Sac is also great for dirty sneakers.
- Dirty clothes bag...These little roll up reusable grocery bags you see everywhere. I keep 2-3 of these in my luggage for dirty clothes, dirty gym clothes, extra sneaker bags or anything else. They don't take up much space, weigh virtually nothing and are super useful when you need an extra bag. Most of them can be thrown in the wash too.
What are some of your travel packing tips?
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