18 PACKING HACKS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Packing for a trip can be stressful, but these helpful, simple and cheap hacks should help you become better at packing! Since becoming a mother in November, we spent five months of my maternity leave travelling with our son George. This is a compilation of the best tips I’ve learnt along the way. Enjoy! If you have a travel hack that you use that I haven’t mentioned please feel free to write it in the comments section below and share with our readers.
Table of Contents
ROLL YOUR CLOTHES
Roll your clothes instead of folding them. It saves you space and reduces creases. Which is great because I’m terrible at ironing! It also makes life a lot easier when you are living out of your backpack when travelling to find and locate a certain top, jeans etc.
USE YOUR SHOES
If you are taking any shoes or trainers in your luggage (and not wearing them) use them to store smaller items in. I tend to use these for underwear or bikinis, items that aren’t easy to roll up and store in my packing cubes.
SUNGLASSES CASES
Sunglasses cases aren’t just great for sunglasses – we use them to keep all of our cables together. Phone charges, go pro chargers, Gro Egg cable and headphones. I could go on but you don’t want to know all the cables we take with us! It helps keep to them organised, clean and dry. As well as easy to find because you know what you are looking for!
WASH CLOTH
If you’ve had a shower on the morning of your flight and your toiletries are still damp, wrap them in a wash cloth and it soaks up any excess moisture and prevents mess.
OVEN GLOVE
Bring an oven glove for your straighteners of curling iron for the mornings you have to use them and don’t time to let them cool down before jetting off.
DELICATE ITEMS IN SOCKS
Store any breakables or items that might leak or explode such as perfumes, in a pair of socks. That way if they do leak then its contained and shouldn’t leak onto your clothes. If you are heading to a climate that doesn’t require socks, pack a pair anyway to keep perfumes or delicate items in.
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PILLOW CASE
I like to take my own pillow case because it’s something familiar when you’re miles away from home. .Also if you’re travelling on a budget the bedding can be a bit dodgy at hotels or hostels so a good pillow case can make all the difference when you need to sleep. And we need to sleep when you’re travelling with a baby! It’s also great for dirty washing and a make shift laundry bag.
SPARE CLOTHES
Always carry you a spare set of clothes, including underwear in your carry on bag and any expensive items. Do the same for your baby just in case your luggage does get lost you have enough things to get you through the first 24 hours.
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PACKING CUBES
Life changing! Hundreds of different shapes, sizes and patterns available from Amazon. I use these for me and for George and it helps to keep everything organised, clean and well packed so it fits.
STRAWS
I can’t really wear necklaces at the minute because George wants to eat them and break. But when I do, I put them in straws so they don’t get tangled and I don’t have to spend 10 minutes getting really frustrated with trying to untangle them!
SHOWER CAP
Such a cheap and clever hack! Put the soles of the shoes facing down so they don’t put dirt on your other items. This is really useful if your shoes are wet or damp. You can use this in your baby changing bag too for when you are playing or out with your baby and their shoes get wet etc (toddler age).
CLING FILM
Love this hack. Before leaving your house, put some cling film over any bottles of toiletries or gels and this will help stop any leaks! Unscrew the lid of each product and place some cling film over the top and then screw the lid back on.
EXTENSION CABLE
If you’re travelling internationally then you will need an adaptor. But if you have lots of cables like we do or electronics then take an extension cable so you only need to take the one adaptor. We tend to charge our phones, go pro and speakers through the laptop to save space.
PROTECT YOUR RAZOR
There really isn’t a container for your razor, I don’t know why?! So I use a bulldog clip to keep the blades protected and means you can throw it in your bag and not cut yourself.
PROTECT YOUR MAKE-UP
Something I like to do is to take a cotton pad and place it inside my compacts because I’ve had so many things break and spill out into my toiletries bag and other items that I the have to clean and it just gets messy.
TIC-TAC BOX
This is one of my current favourites, especially now my hair is getting longer. Store bobby pins in a tic-tac box. I always lose mine or they get tangled in other stuff. So doing this little hack helps to keep track of them.
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ALWAYS CARRY A PEN
Keep one in your carry on or handbag so you can fill out customs forms on the plane and avoid the lines when you get off the plane!
DIY TV
Budget airlines or short haul flights sometimes don’t have onboard entertainment. Instead they encourage you to download their app and watch on your phone. But then you have to hold it and that can be annoying so take a ziplock bag and hang it on the back of your tray table. (tip graphic – poke a hole in the bag for your headphones).
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