Hacks on How to Fit Things Into Your Luggage and Being “Minimal” on Packing

Packing can be overwhelming especially when you’re trying to keep in track of how much you should bring and what you should just leave behind at home. There are so many possible things you can bring especially clothes and all the random accessories you need to bring for your trip. You also need to be careful when you pack if you plan on bringing souvenirs from the place you’re traveling in because you’ll want to most likely leave space in your luggage for those.

For my next trip, I hope I’ll pack more minimal and bringing things that I don’t have to worry so much about. I’ve discovered some hacks and tips that may help you to pack more smarter and can help you to pack more minimal.

1. If you plan to bring a carry-on with a luggage, make your carry-on a backpack.

Having two luggages to accompany can be too much. If you plan to even downgrade with what items you want to bring when going traveling, try having just a backpack. In there, you can put important accessories like your laptop, chargers, snacks, and your makeup. A packing hack is if you place your purse (specifically if it’s a small cross-body messenger bag) inside your backpack if you have more room.

2. Pack clothes that you can easily mix and match.

This is super important and can really help you minimize what clothes to bring. Try bringing clothes that are nude, neutral, and patterns that can easily be matched up with another item. Patterns like stripes, florals, plaid, and polka dots are great patterns you can probably easily match up. I also believe having a pair of black leggings and denim shorts or denim clothes of some sort are really essential to pair with anything!

3. Wrinkle-free fabrics can last you longer.

Cotton shirts are usually always a choice to wear but they can easily get wrinkled, especially if you sweat and do some outdoor activities like walking around all day in them. Having access to a flat iron might not be possible so try to choose wrinkle-free fabrics to bring to your trip like polyester, nylon, or rayon. That is because microfiber fabrics are lightweight, durable, and easier to care for. Choosing pants that are a mixture of cotton WITH spandex may give it more longevity and provide you that stretchy comfort that you need. I honestly love to travel in my cotton + spandex leggings during air flights and long road trips for that reason.

4. No need to bring so many bikinis, even if you plan to swim a lot.

Going away somewhere tropical or going swimming a lot in general might give you the idea to bring a lot of bathing suits but to pack minimal, nope! Try to bring an amount from half of the number of the days and one extra day when you’ll be staying for your trip (For example: if you’re going away for 10 days and planning to swim every day, you might decide to bring just 6 bathing suits). You can always re-wash them or even use them the next day even without washing them (just hang it outside and dry them if you’re in a gated place that can allow you to).

5. Bring one pair of flip-flops, one pair of sandals, one pair of hiking shoes, and one pair of heels.

Well this depends on how long your trip will be but it’s a general idea of bringing such a limited amount by committing to yourself of bringing only one pair of the different kinds of shoes. You might bring at least 2 pairs of flip-flops depending on how long you’ll be at your trip and because flip-flops have more of the risk of getting ruined or lost, it’s safer to bring an extra. Not to mention they are really flat shoes so it should leave you more space in your luggage! I also recommend you place your shoes in travel shoe bags, that way you can separate your dirtied-up shoes from clothes and other things in your luggage.

6. Instead of buying travel-sized products, just take some of your already full-sized toiletries and put them in bottle tubes.

Travel-sized products are usually not expensive at all but sometimes you might find yourself with more products left over when you come back from your trip. A smarter idea is to buy these travel bottle tubes and squeeze in your full-sized toiletries, like lotion, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and/or face wash, into them. You can always put your left over products back into their full-sized container.

7. Pack military-style way!!

A really great hack that I believe will leave your luggage loads of space is packing your clothes in a military way! Having it packed the military way means rolling your clothes up in a certain way, which leaves your clothes intact and from not getting them wrinkled up. It does take practice to get it right but it definitely is a great way to leave your luggage with more space. Here is a guide on how you can learn to master the military packing style.

8. Visualize what outfits you’re going to wear and using that, see what jewelry you’re going to bring.

This is a helpful thing to do if you first thought of planning on bringing lots of jewelry. If you’re anything like a person who has so much jewelry but can’t decide on what to bring, first visualize what outfits you’ll be wearing through your trip then look at your jewelry collection and see if a necklace will go with it and/or earrings. The rule here is to not bring so much jewelry in the first place but only bringing those that work out and eliminating the rest.

9. Don’t bring a lot of purses.

It’s not necessary at all to have a lot of purses to switch back and forth from during your trip. It’s better to stick to just a couple of purses (my personal favorite kinds are cross-body bags!! They’re light and small and stays across your chest!) like maybe one to three purses. Also keep in mind, if you need to bring a beach tote bag or another essential bag for whatever trip you’re going on. You’ll leave more space for those.

I hope my simple tips and hacks on how to pack minimal has bought some clarity for yourself on how to pack on your next trip. Please share this with a friend or anyone who might need some help.

(Featured image photo credit: StockSnap.io)

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