The Easiest Way to Pack for a Trip!

A few years ago, when traveling to Bejing, China I worried about how to organize my suitcase.   Would I be able to take all the things I wanted and make the airline weight limit?  Would I be able to less see what was actually in my suitcase once on my trip.  How could I be guaranteed I would remember to pack everything that went with each outfit?  Like everything else that is a question mark in my brain, I decided to study the art of packing!  I  looked at ways to pack online and somrecommended rolling and carefully building your clothes in your suitcase like this method from Real Simple and this method from a flight attendant!  It looked simple enough, but I wasn't quite sure how I would find everything once I reached my destination. I decided to poll a couple of my well traveled friends as to how they preferred packing for trips. I got varied answers.  One of my friends swears by the packing cubes from LL Bean like these.  Another friend likes her things neatly folded on packing boards like these. Couldn't there be a best of both worlds, I wondered?  Then I ran into my friend Norma Carol,who travels all the time, while standing in the luggage aisle at TJ Maxx while pondering the purchase of packing cubes.  She shook her head and said "dont' buy those".  "I have a better method". She just smiled and shared her method, which was the most interesting of all.  She told me she had tried all the other methods and found that her way  was not only better, but also smarter,cheaper and easier to manage.

Here's what you need to pack

 like Norma Carol!

1)  Ziplock XL Size bags

ZipLock XL $6.48 for 4

2) A Sharpie Marker

(Norma Carol didn't suggest the marker but I loved it)

Sharpie $3.75

 Norma Carol uses the 10 gallon size which is extra heavy duty and has a handle.  I decided to try this method for my trip.   I folded each outfit neatly and as flat as possible, then put one outfit per bag.  Socks,belts or anything accessories needed for my outfit were added to the bag as well.  I put jewelry for each outfit in a small ziplock and stuck it inside the bag separately. (I limited the jewelry I took, so when I took it off I simply tossed the jewelry bag into the next day's outfit bag.  I labeled the outside of the bag with a sharpie marker for the day I was planning to wear the outfit.  I placed the bags in my luggage according to my schedule of days.  It was the perfect packing scenario.  When I was on my trip, I could easily rifle through my bag and see all my outfits.    If I changed my mind(which I often do) it was easy to find a substitute.  Also, if customs goes through your luggage they can easily see what is there without wrinkling your clothes from stirring through. An added bonus was once I wore the outfit, I could fold it and put it back in it's bag and I didn't have dirty clothes mingling with my clean clothes.  My clothes were so neat and tidy!  I didn't need an iron the entire trip.  It was a fabulous trip to say the least and my wardrobe survived TSA and the wiles of travel!

Here is a couple of photos taken when on the Great Wall of China. My friend Rhonda Gregory took it.(Miss you Rhonda)  Would you believe there is a man selling Snickers bars and beers right before we ascended the final climb? We could figure out how he got there, but we were sure glad to see him!  It didn't matter one bit that we had to climb holding our beers and candy bars!

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As you probably know, since I have been shouting it from the rooftops, I'm going to Paris with Design Trust and London with Blogtour London with Modenus in September.  Everyday I work on a different aspect of my travel needs and plans, so I decided I would interject some travel tips into my blog posts!  I hope you find them as useful as I do.  

Thank you to all the sponsors of Blogtour London: