Packing Tips: 6 Tips to Help the Chronic Overpacker

Who’s been following along with my Packing Tips blog series?  

If you’ve been following, you know that I am still a work in progress, but if this gal can change her overpacking ways, anyone can!  

Check out the previous blogs because you will see what my top 4 tips are and what has truly helped me.  

Last but not least, these are my last 6 tips to help my over packers conquer this!!  

  1. Don’t bring full size toiletries
  2. Many tops w/ accessories
  3. Pick a similar color scheme so the accessories all work together.  
  4. Call cell phone and credit card companies regarding travel
  5. Check weather before traveling
  6. Wear the heaviest items the day of traveling
  1. Toiletries: these items can take up the entire suitcase, right?  Either search for travel sizes of your most used toiletries or purchase the empty containers and add your favorite hair products, face wash, etc.  Keep those containers in your travel toiletry bag, so you don’t have to continue with this process every time you travel. I keep my toiletry bag packed at all times; saves so much time.  
  2. A Variety of tops with many accessories.  I spoke a lot about the beauty of accessories in my previous blog posts.  This way, you can wear one top, many different times. I try to bring 2 dressy tops, 3 casual tops and one long sleeve top or lightweight jacket for times it can be chilly.  If you recall, even in the dead of summer, hotels and restaurants can get very cold. Even if you’re going away for weeks, you can always wash these tops (hotel shampoo is great for this) and re-wear with totally different accessories.  For example: bring a simple white tee and one day wear with shorts and flip flops, another day, add a cute lightweight scarf and denim skirt, and yet another day, nice pants or jeans, heels and a fun necklace. See what I mean? We have to get creative so we aren’t packing the entire closet!  
  3. Stick with one color scheme.  You want the majority of your outfits to stick with one color scheme so you can just pack 1-2 colors of shoes.  If you bring every color of the rainbow (like I used to do), you will need to pack a pair of shoes for each outfit!!   I try to only pack nude heels, nude sandals and one black pair of low sandal heels. That way I have everything covered.  
  4. In advance, call the cell phone and credit card companies so they’re aware of your travels.  This applies more to overseas travel than within the states. Some companies don’t need this notification anymore, but it’s always good to check.  
  5.  ALWAYS check the weather so you can pack accordingly.  We do know that the weather can change on a dime, but at least you’ll have an idea.  No matter what time of year or where I’m traveling, I always have at least one pair of jeans.  You just never know if you’re going to get chilly or it pours down rain and you want to be warmer.  Even when I have traveled to the Caribbean in the heat of summer, I have always needed that one pair of jeans.  
  6. Wear your heaviest items when traveling.  As you know, items like sneakers, boots, and jeans, can take up tons of room and are heavy.  On travel days, whether it’s by plane or car, I always wear the heaviest items so I’m taking up less room on those days of traveling.  I may be flying to Mexico, but I’m going to fly with my jeans, sneakers, scarf and a jacket on! We all know how cold planes can get.

I really hope these tips have helped you guys out.  As I continue to travel and expand my Wellness Travel Biz, I will share more and more tips as I learn, too.  

Would love to hear from you guys:

  • Your tips on travel – believe me, I’m still learning and can learn from you pros out there
  • Questions you may have about traveling or packing
  • Maybe you’d like info about my Wellness Travel Retreats