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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