Whether it’s to my parent’s home, my sister apartment, a hotel, or a friend’s house, I am all over the place! Sometimes with Kyle, sometimes without – most weekends, I am not home. Especially lately! So I wanted to talk about easy packing – being that I have to do this regularly and sometimes I don’t even bother unpacking – even though I really should. Ugh!
This might be a super obvious notion, but always check the weather at your destination for the weekend you’ll be there! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve packed for hot weather because it was warm all week, just for a cold front to come in that weekend! Always check the weather! And then after you check the weather, pack for the opposite. Last weekend I packed for heat, and had to buy jeans for an unexpectedly chilly night!
These are my must-haves and tips for packing light-er (from the view of a crazy over-packer!)
- A rain jacket + small sweater for the cooler summer nights and unexpected chill or rain!
- Travel bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. (I usually get the ones that you buy empty and refill as you need to!)
- A smaller bag – usually a cross body!
- 1 sandal and 1 flat! If it’s cold outside, it’s 1 flat and 1 boot! Sneakers only if I plan on doing something that requires a sneaker. That way, cold or hot, you have shoes for rain, shoes for heat, shoes for snow/cold, etc.
- Don’t pack jewelry! Only take what you can wear! I usually grab a pair of studs, a dainty chain, a few bracelets and a few rings!
- When it comes to clothing, doing laundry beforehand is key.
- Always consider what kind of activities you’ll be doing before you think about what you want to put in your bag or suitcase. If you’re doing some active things, pack mostly sports bras, t-shirts, and yoga pants or leggings. If you’re planning to mosey around a new town, grab something a little dressier! Keep in mind that you can do laundry in the hotel or house you’ll be staying in!
- Grab your bottoms: bottoms are the base of all my outfits and I grab one bottom per 3 tops. I usually grab one pair of denim shorts, white shorts, a maxi skirt, and a jean.
- Rompers, pantsuits, and dresses are 1 piece outfits which means more space in your weekend bag for other things-
- Pack tops that have some interesting qualities and don’t require any extra “dressing up” like a plain tee would (so, unique embroidery or structure, open back, off the shoulder, bold prints, etc.) This cuts back on how much you put into your bag, significantly. If you packed 3 t-shirts, you would then need a bold statement necklace, an extra cardigan or vest, or a belt – and then different items for each shirt – pack fun tops and you can nix most of that stuff from your bag!
- Bralettes take up less space that regular bras, so that’s something to consider when packing those! And in the summer, who wants to wear a under wires anyway?
- Minimal summer hair and makeup makes for minimal space needed for these items! Only pack the essentials! For me it’s usually 1 foundation (powder if we’re beaching it, I have to take special precautions for my greasy tendencies!) I’ll pack a single shadow as opposed to an entire palette, 1 mascara, my small eyebrow kit, and that’s it. I make sure to bring hair ties, my flat iron (if you can curl and straighten with one tool, only bring one!) One hair brush, dry shampoo, contact lenses, deodorant, tooth brush and paste, and feminine products if needed!
Whether its a weekend trip or a week-long trip, I usually just take one weekend bag containing all of this stuff, my large tote bag for overflow, and a separate canvas bag for electronics (laptop, camera body, lenses, and chargers!) Since we drive everywhere, this is nothing for me to pack, but it we were flying, I would probably try to condense this even further!
I hope this helps in your future packing attempts, if you’re anything like me – an over-packer in every sense of the word- then having structure is probably needed! Make a list of essentials and narrow it down by priority and importance!
This post by Kayleigh originally appeared on wildlightandlush.com.