Whether you’re traveling with kids or traveling alone, this one tip will make packing for a trip EASY and FAST! Plan ahead and have the majority of your items packed at all times and ready to roll.
I hate packing for a trip. It’s the worst part about vacationing. Well…I take that back. Unpacking from a trip is maybe a little worse. My point is, anything with the word packing in it is no good.
The most annoying part about packing is all the last-minute items that have to wait to be packed until the morning we leave. This totally stresses me out and is the main reason we end up forgetting something when we travel. Whether it’s a cell phone charger, a hairbrush, deodorant, etc, it’s usually the important everyday items that get left behind.
Then one day, I got smart. Why not just have a designated set of all those little annoying items and store them in one place, to be ready at a moment’s notice?
The Actual Travel Tote
My mind was made up. I went to Target and purchased a 32-quart Sterilite latching container. I wanted to get the biggest container possible that would still fit under our bathroom sink, since that’s where I planned on storing it. I measured the space under the sink before going to Target, and then used my handy-dandy little measuring tape keychain in the store, to find the perfect sized container. (I tried to find a decent link for you to order one online, but you’d end up paying double on Amazon, so just go to Target or Walmart)!
What to Pack in the Travel Tote
Of course, the more items you include in your travel tote, the more expensive it becomes. I don’t have a travel flat iron that’s always ready to go. That would be silly to spend over $100 on a spare flat iron, just so I don’t have to wait to pack my normal one the morning of traveling.
But cheap, small-ticket items? Totally worth it!
Depending on your budget and your frequency of travel, you may want to consider putting more or less items in your travel tote, than I have chosen to put in ours.
**To clarify, we do not TAKE the actual TOTE on our trip…just all (or most, depending on where and who is going) of the stuff IN it.**
I have organized the list below, according to the separate bags I store things in. (Most of them are stored in Ziploc bags. They are leak-proof and also clear, so it’s easy to see exactly what’s in them).
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I have a separate toothbrush/toothpaste/floss/fluoride ready to go all the time, for each person in the family. Having a dry, separate toothbrush already packed eliminates the need to wait til everyone brushes their teeth the morning of leaving, and then remember to round up 7 toothbrushes. Not to mention the fact that at that point, they are all wet, and that’s just gross to pack wet toothbrushes. So to buy a few spare toothbrushes is just worth the extra buck per person to me. And they never wear out; we use them like, twice a year. It’s not like I have to buy extras every time we travel. When we come home from a trip, I boil them all, lay them out to dry for a day to be sure they are sufficiently dry, and then pack them away for the next trip. So it’s a one-time investment of $1 or $2 per person. No-brainer.
I have a whole post on packing your teeth stuff. Go check it out here. I’m pretty proud of my own hacks I’ve created on this subject, so if you see someone else who has the same hacks, don’t tell me. I feel really smart right now, and I’d like to keep it that way. It’s the little things…
HAIR STUFF CONTAINER
I love this organizer. For my full post on this beauty, click HERE. I can fit all my kids’ hair stuff in one container, with room to spare. This thing holds a comb and gel for the boys, a brush for the girls (THESE are THE BEST BRUSHES by the way, and they are only $5!), dry shampoo, a few various-sized ponytails, bobby pins, etc. I love that there is room to put my girls’ jewelry for the trip in here too.
SHOWER STUFF
I can’t get it together when it comes to shower stuff. I put it on my last-minute list, and somehow, I still forget it. It’s also wet when it’s time to pack it, which also presents a problem. So I finally decided that anything I use IN the shower, was worth purchasing extras of.
Bar Soap (or shower gel – whatever you use) – I always just have a fresh bar of soap in here to remind me to take my own.
Razor – Disposable razors are super cheap. Or even buying a new regular one isn’t so bad when you consider it’s a one-time purchase. And I found that I had to go buy one every other trip because I was always forgetting to pack mine, so I already had a couple extras by the time I decided to designate one as my travel razor and leave it in my travel tote.
Shampoo & Conditioner – Instead of buying a little mini travel shampoo and conditioner of crappy ones that I hate anyway, I finally got smart and found relatively small (but still normal) bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and keep them in the travel tote. By relatively small but still normal, I mean, not the Costco pump sized ones that we use at home, but not the teeny tiny travel ones either. I tend to have a real problem buying anything normal size. I am a sucker for anything sold in bulk, because it is almost always cheaper per ounce. But some things are worth not going bulk on. Shampoo and conditioner while vacationing is one of those things.
Another option is to just get a couple cheap travel bottles (found in the travel-size section at Target or Walmart), and fill them with your favorite shampoo and conditioner. My point is, bring your own. And always have it ready to go in your travel tote.
Washcloths – I have to have a washcloth to wash my face, and then a different one for my body. No matter what. So I bring my own just in case. I put a couple random old ones that don’t get used otherwise, into my shower bag. That way I know I’ll always have a washcloth. Always.
HAND SOAP
Yep. I’m a germaphobe. And I can’t STAND not having hand soap, pretty much wherever I go. I cannot deal with the little facial bar soaps that hotels leave out on the bathroom counters; they just don’t do it for me. I ALWAYS take a thing of hand soap on every trip I take. The amount of bottles I take depends on where we are traveling. I take as many hand soaps as there are sinks. The first thing I do when we arrive, is stick a bottle of hand soap at every sink in the place. You may not share my obsession with washing hands, and that’s okay. But if you share my need for clean hands to feel sane, take my advice. My vacation anxiety went down by a factor of 1,000 when I started doing this. This is the best $.99 I’ve ever spent on packing for a vacation. Oh. And put them in a Ziploc. Just in case.
HANGING ORGANIZER THING
I got this from a school fundraiser a few years ago. I love the idea, but this one is kind of wimpy. Maybe one day I will upgrade to one that holds a little more. But the idea is genius. If I were to get one, I think this one looks pretty awesome.
Counter space is a luxury you typically don’t have when you’re sharing one bathroom with your whole family on a vacation. So to have all these items hanging up out of the way is really convenient. I always keep mine pre-loaded with a few things…(I also add a few things to this organizer that I don’t keep spares of packed away all the time, but this list has all the pre-loaded stuff)
Top Pocket:
Chapstick
Aquaphor (I use this on my kids’ super chapped lips and/or dry skin, since even normal chapstick burns)
Perfume
Lip Gloss
Nail Clippers
Nail File
Spare Contacts – I wear disposable contacts, so I have a few boxes at all times. Why not throw a spare pair in your bathroom bag when you travel, in case one rips, or you lose one? Easy. Virtually no space taken up, and totally worth it if you lose a contact on a trip. I just rotate them when I get a new prescription once every couple years.
Cotton Make-Up Removing Pads – Packed in a mini container.
Bottle for Meds – This is an old empty bottle that I fill with any daily medications I am taking at the time. It just reminds me to pack it!
Lotion – Always need it on vacation. Travel size is $1.50. Worth it to always have it packed so you’re sure not to forget it.
Contact Solution
Bottom Pocket:
Mirror – Same as lotion. Always wish I have one, always forget one, so I bought one to have in my travel tote.
Bobby Pins
This is usually the pocket I put my extra hair stuff in that isn’t in the girls’ hair organizer.
RANDOM BAG
Hooks for Towels – I won’t go into detail here because I did a post on these already. So click here for another travel hack for large families for a quick explanation of how $10 will go a long way in helping keep you organized and tidy while on vacation.
Pen & Paper
Sharpie – For labeling things as you pack, as well as packing to take with you – Sharpies are just good to have.
Melatonin for kids – Yep. We drug ‘em. But it’s natural, so I only feel half guilty. And it’s only when we really need them to go to sleep. Anyway, good to have on a trip…
Charging Cube – I don’t know why, but we have a billion of these at our house. Charging cords are a rare commodity, but the little cubes to plug into the wall can be found by the dozen in our home. So I threw 2 of them in our travel tote, mainly to just put them somewhere. And now I don’t have to worry about forgetting to bring them.
Charging Cord – I wish I could say I had one of these in our travel tote, but it never lasts long in there, because we always end up stealing it before our next trip. But if we could resist the urge to steal it, this would be a good thing to have in there. Again, it would save some vacation anxiety on those trips we forget a cord. I mean, the last thing you want to do is go ALL the way out to your car to get the cord in your car, when you are finally settled into a hotel and ready to plug your phone in for the night.
Flushable Wipes
Sunscreen
Eye Mask
FIRST-AID KIT
Target has this deal going VERY OFTEN, where you get this cute little First-Aid case for free if you buy three boxes of Band-Aids. I’ve done this deal a few times. Once for a kit for each of our cars, once for a kit for my baseball wagon, and once for a kit for this travel tote. For a full list of what’s in my First-Aid kit, see my Baseball Mom Wagon post.
THINGS PACKED SEPARATELY
Travel Pillowcases- I have special pillowcases, reserved for road trips only. I wish I could say I made them, but I didn’t. If I could freeze time, I’d totally make them. I’ve seen some adorable tutorials on Pinterest for special pillowcases that have pockets on them. Some of them are mini–sized, which is even cuter and more functional. But I bought these. Remember how I said I’m a germ freak? Well…if my kids are going to take their pillows on a road trip, then their pillows need to be SUFFICIENTLY protected from all the grossness in the car, the floor, their shoes, etc. So I put about 5 pillowcases on each pillow, alternating which way it opens with every different pillowcase. Because by the end of a 12-hour road trip, 3 of the 5 pillowcases have come off, and the pillow is still protected. Anyway, these travel ones are always the outer pillowcase on road trips. Everyone has their own color (except the girls because this was the only girly color they had). Always in the travel tote, ready for action.
I have a nice, tall, sturdy basket that I got at Target for snacks on road trips. (The link is to something similar – it’s the same size as the one pictured here that I use) I store this right next to the Travel Tote. I fill this thing up with overflow items that I would normally put in the Travel Tote. This thing only has 5 things in it. And what’s nice is, this basket is actually one of the things we take with us. We fill it with car food the night before our road trip. The actual travel tote stays home, but this basket goes.
Snack containers for everyone with names on them – it’s nice for all the kids to pick one snack from the house to pack in a sturdy Tupperware so the goldfish or whatever they choose don’t get smashed to smithereens 10 minutes into the road trip. I slap some colored masking tape on the side, write their name on it, and they are good to go!
Barf Bags – I always keep a couple of these in our food basket when traveling. You can order them here. Or if you want more fun ones, here are a couple other options: emoji and panda. I actually bought a pack of them and divided them up between our first aid kit, travel tote, cars, and 72-hour kits.
Clorox Wipes – Germ freak alert. I cannot function in a hotel room without sanitizing a few choice surfaces. The bathroom counter, the toilet seat, light switches, remotes, and doorknobs. If anyone plans on taking a bath, I do a quick sterilization of the bathtub. SO! I always have a thing of Clorox wipes in my travel tote, so I don’t forget to take them! I get my Clorox Wipes at Costco, so they are the big containers, which don’t fit in a normal Ziploc. So I bought a box of these Hefty Jumbo bags to pack these in (I never risk leakage while traveling – not worth it). This box has lasted me a couple years. It’s the only thing I need an over-sized Ziploc for, so I use one per trip. Totally worth avoiding possible leakage.
Laundry Bags with Tags – this is HUGE for the coming home factor of traveling. I used to put all our dirty clothes in one huge garbage bag. When the first one filled up, we’d move on to the second garbage bag. Then when we got home, I would be stuck in the laundry room sorting clothes for a good half hour before even being able to start our first load of laundry. Talk about frustrating. This concept has changed all of that. We take the labeled dirty clothes bags with us, and sort our clothes as we go. Upon coming home, these bags go straight to the laundry room, and we dump the first load right into the washer. It feels SO GREAT!
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If you are traveling with kids, check out these posts:
