Confessions of an Overpacker
I am an overpacker. I am a maybe-I’ll-need-this person. I’m a well-I-have-room-anyway person. Someone who brings a few extra books and an unreasonably large collection of unnecessary socks. (What if my feet get cold? Then doubly cold? Then triply cold?)
Vox tells me that “a person’s packing style — whether they pack light or pack heavy — is a distinctive personality trait.”
Yeah, that fits. Because I’m also a we-should-probably-save-this-empty-jar-because-what-if person. And I carry a few extra books on me even when I’m just going to the grocery store. (What if something happens and I’m stuck in the store for so long that I finish the first book? And then the second book?)
But I’m also (if I do say so myself) a smart packer. I pack all of the bags in our house before big trips. Everyone leaves their stuff in the living room, and I divide it up into the correct piles and then slide things into the suitcase accordingly. And then we play musical suitcases as the trip progresses, consolidating clean items together in carefully marked bags so everything remains organized.
And Vox’s point that we’re trying to carry familiarity with us while we’re in the happy stress of travel, absolutely.
What is your packing style?
8 comments
Over-packer…unless I have to carry my own stuff. Then I can minimize things a great deal. When we drive to my sister’s, it seems like I take half of my belongings (4 pairs of shoes, clothes, extra socks and underwear, pillow, laundry detergent, computer, air bed, assorted groceries). When I go on vacation, I try to stuff everything in one bag, which greatly reduces the amount I can take.
I guess I’m somewhere in between. I used to way overpack…and now that I’m traveling more solid and usually fly inexpensive airlines where you can only have a carry-on, I have started to really pack much much less, and even still I seem to have extras…like socks. No idea why. Lol
I’m usually an over packer. And I’m the one who does the packing too. I tend to start packing way ahead of time like weeks ahead, which trip me up a little bit for our first big trip as a family of four. I kept putting stuff in suitcases but I wasn’t keeping good track so somehow we ended up with tons of outfits for my older child and hardly any for my younger. Luckily we were in a condo with a washer and dryer. Since then I tend to keep a list of what I’ve already packed so I don’t do that again.
And I tend to bring everything we might need that’s not perishable (although I have packed frozen and refrigerated food in a cooler inside a suitcase when going to an area where I know they won’t be certain vegan options). Even when going to areas where there’s plenty of stores where you can buy shampoo toothpaste etc. I absolutely hate having to do that so I like to bring everything we might need. Yet, somehow when we went to Europe and three out of four of us got extremely ill I had managed to bring only a small amount of adult Tylenol and we actually freaking ran out. In the one area on our trip where there wasn’t a close store (and we had no car). Fortunately I always bring liquid children’s Tylenol and a thermometer.
I am a minimalist packer. I generally bring as little in the way of clothing and shoes that I can get away with for the time I’ll be gone, and I am more likely to leave something behind than to have brought something I don’t end up needing or using.
I like to be able to fit everything in a small, rolling bag that will fit in the overhead bin, as I *hate* checking bags.
I’m better than I used to be — but still, no matter how much I try, I seem to wind up overpacking. There are always a couple of tops/sweaters that I bring and wind up never wearing. And I always bring more than enough underwear, even to my parents’ house, where I can always easily do laundry.
I have packed my own suitcase since I was a kid, so packing is not really a big deal or worry for me. I usually do it the day/night before our trip. When I’m travelling with dh, we usually bring two suitcases, one with clothes & one with shoes, toiletries & books (&, at Christmastime, presents!). And a carry-on — usually our laptop bag, with my Filofax datebook/planner, e-readers, electronics cords and a Ziploc bag with all of our prescription bottles crammed inside.
My favourite packing/suitcase story is from when I flew back “home” for my grandmother’s funeral 20 years ago. I planned to go to my parents’ house for a few days after the funeral and stay about a week total. I managed to get everything I needed into one small/carry-on suitcase. My sister met me at the airport & we headed straight to my grandparents’ town from there. She said, “Where’s your luggage?” I said, “This is it!” and she said, “Crap, I’m so embarrassed, I have two suitcases — I couldn’t decide what to bring so I brought everything.” lol She had way more stuff than I did!! even though I’m known as the overpacker, and she was heading back home (& to work) right after the funeral. 😉
I guess I’m an overpacker, though I try hard not to be. I’m getting much better at it. If I’m going away in NZ, or just for a night or two, I’m very good, and can squeeze things into a small bag, mainly because I know I can buy anything I’ve forgotten, and that there will be opportunities to do laundry.
Travelling internationally is different. I have travelled for years to Asia, where I know I cannot buy any clothes or shoes to fit me, and so take at least one change of clothing in my carry-on luggage. And need to have enough clothes and shoes for the various climates/situations we will be in. With experience, I now know that packing for a week away (without laundry) and for six months is pretty much the same, as you can usually arrange to do laundry once a week. I pretty much stick under the airline limit of 20kgs (44 lbs?).
I always overpack jewellery. Even if I only take 3-4 pairs of ear-rings, and a couple of necklaces, I hardly ever wear them. Good thing they don’t weigh much! (Grooming standards slip when I’m travelling.)
My husband and I always take a bag each, and despite knowing better, we continue to pack our own bags, risking one person losing everything if our bag goes astray. We’ll probably pay for that one day! Occasionally we remember to put a few sets of clothing in the other’s bag. We’re trying to get better at this.
Finally, e-books have freed up space and weight when travelling! I always have a bunch downloaded (or able to be downloaded) on my phone and iPad when travelling.
I am normally a very frugal packer, and most of the time only travel with a carry on bag.
But whenI travel for urban sketching meetups I really have a hard time being frugal. what-if -i-need-that-pen-or that-colour type of person. And the most ridiculous is that I often end up using only one pen.
but I am trying to limit my stuff now, pretty hard hard though.
You are so clever. Maybe you can write a post on packing-for-family-trips.
The thing I dislike about packing is making decisions. Who knows what I’ll want to wear on Day 3 of the trip? I don’t — until Day 3, but I have to decide on Day -1.