roxanaabdollahi Blog

Less Stress Travel Prep

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Real talk: I’ve had a hard time adjusting to being a transplant in a state across the country from my home sweet home. Luckily for me, we’ve had many opportunities to fly back East in the past 7 years. Now that we have two kids to tow around and two dogs to find care for while we’re gone, we don’t exactly “hop” on a plane anymore. It’s more like tripping over our own feet the whole way until we’re comfortably seated in my Dad’s car at PHL.

Despite the craziness, it’s hard for us to turn down a wedding invite, a big birthday bash, or a holiday visit. So that means we have to make it work!

I’ll save the “how to get through the airport” for another post because today I want to share some tips on how to prepare yourself for any trip. Whether it’s a weekend staycation, or a month long trek, I think you can take away some helpful information from this post.

2-3 days before travel:Dump every hamper into the wash. The liklihood of you loving something in your hamper is pretty high so get it washed and dried in time. 
*Give yourself extra time to hang dry any favorite delicates like your comfy Lulu’s you can’t get on an airplane without.

1-2 days before travel:Tackle the stack. Start with the youngest traveler (if their clothes are significantly smaller) so you can budget room for the rest of your stuff. 
Yes, if there’s extra room in my bag after every one is packed, I tend to add an extra pair of shoes I don’t NEED but would love to have with me.
*Put outfits together and select pieces that are easy to mix & match.
When you get each family member’s stack of clothes figured out, put them all in a central location. This usually ends up on our bed since all packing is done in our room.

1-2 days before travel: Take out those packing cubes! The jury is still out on these for some people but I’ve been using ours for every vacation since I bought them about 5 years ago and they’re a lifesaver. It alleviates a lot of the packing stress when trying to fit clothes for 4 people in one suitcase. After doing a bit of research for my blog readers, I discovered there’s a difference between compression cubes and packing cubes so if you’re looking to stay organized, there are A TON of options. Ours are not technically compression cubes but they do an amazing job so I’ll link them here.

0-1 day before travel: Pack toiletries. Do you have any travel size goodies? I try not to hoard these but they’re frequently given as stocking stuffers and my husband takes them from E.V.E.R.Y hotel he stays in. This drives this clutter free blogger nuts but I try my best to go through them before buying anything from the dollar bin at Target. I’ll give you a sneak peek on how I organize those when I get home.

If you have travel size of all essentials, then no need to do this day-of but I bring a few full-sized items that I use every morning and I don’t like starting my day with a little bit of make-up so this goes in my luggage last. I’m talking husband-yelling-at-me-that-we-have-to-go last.

Travel day: Close up your suitcase and weigh it. We don’t have a handheld suitcase scale but our digital floor one does a good job at keeping us below the limit. I’m not sure a handheld one is a must-have and I don’t have any good tricks for storing this rarely used gadget. Unless you have a habit of over-packing or you’re known to travel with Persian Rugs in your bag (ok, that’s me sometimes), don’t buy a luggage scale.

*Our go-to bag used to weigh 17lbs! What a joke!! I donated that bag to someone who needed it for non-airplane travel and put this Calpak set on my Christmas wishlist. Ok fine, I ended up buying it for myself… At only 10.3lbs for the 30″ bag, they are so lightweight and simple and the design is so cute, I just had to have them!

So, I haven’t always been a stay at home mom (should those words be capitalized? Insert thinking face emoji here) but it is nice to be able to do laundry and pack while I work from home and there are still quite a few obstacles that come my way. Did this above “schedule” work out for you? Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions on my routine or have any ideas that have worked for you!

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Daily Rituals

Raise you’re hand if you have a roommate? Yes, I’m including children and spouses in the equation. Well, those roommates might not be on board with your resolution to keep the household organized. Try to get them on board with the below list of easy to perform daily rituals!

  • Make Bed – It is so nice to walk through a house full of made beds. If you have young children, get them used to the idea by encouraging them to at least put the pillows back at the head of the bed and arranging their stuffed animals in a fun way.
  • Empty Clean Dishwasher/Dishrack: It makes life so much easier when you can put dirty dishes in the dishwasher without wondering if there are clean dishes in there. Also, how are you supposed to keep the sink clutter free if there’s a bunch of dishes in the dishrack?? Just do it! It only takes 5 minutes out of your morning.
  • Plan Dinner – Make sure you have something defrosted or maybe even something ready to throw in a crockpot. I’ve linked my favorite one for you here. You can even brown meat in it before you set it to slow cook! If you take the time to plan dinner, you can make sure you have the ingredients you need ahead of time.
  • Pack Lunch From Leftovers – After you’re finished eating, assess the leftovers you have and see if you can make a creative lunch for your next day. I wish I could get motivated to meal prep but I feel like this is a more exciting way to change up your daily meals and it’s so much easier! Just take the protein you ate for dinner and throw it in with some salad or veggies and rice and you’ve got a tasty meal! Chris bought these containers and I made fun of him at first but we get so much use out of them.
  • Wash Dishes/Run Dishwasher – My last Instagram post was all about keeping a clean kitchen. No one wants to wake up to smelly food in the sink that can also leave unsightly stains!
  • Put Dirty Clothes in the Hamper – Either that or hang up the clothes you wore that day that didn’t get stinky. Don’t just throw your jeans on the closest armchair, find its home so it’s easy to get ready the next day.
  • Lay out Clothes – I’m not a morning person so when I was rushing to get to work or the gym early in the morning, it was so nice to already have everything ready to go. Do it the night before so you don’t start off your day feeling rushed.