How To Efficiently Pack Your Suitcase For Your Next Big Trip
When it comes to travel preparations, packing your suitcase is usually the hardest task. It can be tricky to figure out what you want to bring, how to fit all of it, and how to stay organized when you’re living out of a suitcase for a bit.
In order to enjoy your trip as much as possible, you need to feel confident in how you’ve packed your luggage. Here are some tips on how to efficiently pack your suitcase for your next big trip!
Stick To Your Basics
It’s really tempting when you’re going on a beautiful vacation or an exciting getaway to pack a bunch of fun outfits or lots of cute clothing. However, when you’re travelling, this simply isn’t realistic. You’ll never be able to fit all of the things you want to wear into one suitcase, especially if you’re flying and you only have one carry-on.
Instead of trying to stuff as many Instagram-worthy outfits as possible into your luggage, stick to your basics; bring the simple clothes that you know you like and can wear no matter the occasion. For example, rather than bringing four different sundresses along for a beach vacation, just bring one of your absolute favorites and wear that when you need to dress up a little bit. Chances are that you’ll be in a bathing suit most of the day anyway!
Make sure to bring along some plain shirts and neutral bottoms; you can always style them with some good jewelry to change things up throughout the trip. The more you can minimize the clothing you bring along, the better!
Use Packing Cubes
Packing cubes are extremely helpful when you’re attempting to fit clothing into your suitcase in a strategic manner. They’re essentially just sets of smaller, square-shaped bags that fit into your suitcase and help keep your clothes compressed so that they don’t just get stuffed into every nook and cranny. You can easily find a cheap set on Amazon or on dozens of other sites.
These will help your clothes stay folded nicely and you can avoid getting them wrinkled. Packing cubes also offer an extra measure of organization and allow you to split up different items into specific cubes. This is also great if you’re sharing a suitcase with someone else on the trip; with packing cubes, you can keep all the clothing separate!
Shoe Strategy
Packing shoes can be one of the most difficult parts of putting together your suitcase. Again, try to stay as minimal as possible and only bring a couple pairs that you know you’ll wear a lot. And when it comes to packing them strategically, here are some good tips:
- Fill your shoes with other things, such as socks or underwear, in order to maximize space in your suitcase and save room.
- Put your shoes in plastic bags inside your suitcase so that they don’t get your clothes dirty during the trip.
- Wear your bulkiest shoes on your travel day; for instance, if you’re flying to a beach somewhere, pack your flip flops along and wear your sneakers on the plane.
While shoes can be tricky to pack efficiently, make sure to take advantage of these strategies because they will make your travels much easier!
Keep Your Toiletries Together
If you’re someone who tends to pack lots of toiletries and bathroom items along on a trip, there are two things you should try to do instead. First, once again, keep it minimal! When you’re just a weeklong getaway, you don’t need to pack along every makeup or shower product that you have at home. Try to stick to those basics when it comes to toiletries, too.
And secondly, try to keep your toiletries limited to one bag. This will help you stay organized, and you’ll have more room in your suitcase! Plus, if you’re traveling by plane, you have to stick to the 3-1-1 rule anyways, and having that one bag you can quickly yank out of your suitcase during security checks will make the process go much faster.
Plan In Advance
If you’re anything like me, the night before your trip is when you really kick things into gear with your packing. It’s much easier to put off the thought of packing a suitcase until the last minute, but this won’t do you any favors. Instead of procrastinating, try planning out at least a few days in advance what you need to pack.
By making a list of the clothing items and other things that you need to fit into your suitcase, you can make sure that you don’t overpack or forget anything important. This also helps narrow down outfit options if you already have ideas about exactly what you’re going to wear each day of the trip. Planning does take a little extra effort, but it’s always worth it in the end!
Figure Out What Works For You
Even though you can read through hundreds of other peoples’ opinions on how to pack a suitcase the ‘right’ way, you know yourself better than anyone. Everyone’s suitcase is going to be different, and everyone is going to have methods of packing that they prefer over others.
For instance, there are many differing opinions about folding versus rolling clothes. Some claim that rolling your clothes in tight bunches helps save room and make them more compact, whereas other would rather fold their clothes because they fit better in packing cubes that way and it reduces some wrinkling. Whichever works best for you and your suitcase, however, is what you should go with.
Your trip may also be unique and require different items or clothing pieces that one might not bring on any regular vacation. Only you can prepare for what lies ahead because you’re the one who planned the trip!
