How do you pack? By type/day's outfit/person...

[Beca P]

Packing for 6 people = 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 toddlers - should I keep mine and hubby's stuff together? Kids together and toddlers together? ... or everyone's outfits separated by day...

What's most practical? Does it depend on how OCD you are? LOL. Or how organized... I dont want to overpack. But I dont want to do laundry while there either ...

Mama Mouse counting down... a couple weeks!

 

[DCLPrincess]

I'm OCD so I would sort the clothes by person and then each day in order. Organization makes the mornings eaiser.

 

[dreamit]

I pack by person and then by outfit. I then put about half of the outfits in carry-on luggage and half in the checked luggage.

 

[2manypets]

I also pack per person and then by outfit. When my children were little, I would put their outfits in Ziploc bags per day with another couple of bags for extra shirts. My kids were spillers though.

It made for very easy mornings and the Ziploc bags held the wet or really dirty items until I could get them to the laundry.

 

[Realgrumpy]

When my kids were little, I would pack each day's outfit in separate ziplock bags. Underwear, socks, everything. In the morning I would toss them their bag and they would be set!

 

[Realgrumpy]

I also pack per person and then by outfit. When my children were little, I would put their outfits in Ziploc bags per day with another couple of bags for extra shirts. My kids were spillers though.

It made for very easy mornings and the Ziploc bags held wet or really dirty items.

Wow! We posted almost the same thing at the same time.

 

[2manypets]

Great minds! Seriously those Ziploc bags are a life saver!

 

[monorailsilver]

How I pack....I loathe it!

I make a list. Why I don’t have a printable one...I can’t have it on my phone/iPad to check off, it has to be paper and pen because I like to cross it off and then rewrite it as it gets smaller.

Tell each kid to bring me 4 outfits, 4 undies, socks if they want them, bras, bathing suits/coversups, etc....one kid at a time.

I roll and pack a little in each suitcase (5) just in case we gate check so there will be at least one outfit. The 5th suitcase has over flow and stuff for the pool.

I don’t do bags, just roll and stuff the little stuff.

I prefer to do laundry though. We go away in April to my sisters so it is main,y bathing suit to pajamas to bathing suit. The first year we did that we brought more clothes then we needed! We go for 11 days.

We went to Disney early August for 11 days and most days were 2 outfits so instead of me buying more clothes because I do not have 15 shorts, I choose to bring less and do laundry. If I was up at 6, I would do laundry while everyone was asleep or we’d do it during our mid day break or if we were at the pool all day at some point.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I pack all my clothes in one bag. I leave the rest to my wife

 

[pooch]

If you are flying, ALWAYS cross pack your bags!!! If everyone had their own suitcase and one goes missing, that person is naked!!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

We drive to Disney and have lots of storage so I have a tendency to overpack no matter what time of year we visit. Because we break the drive there in half, I pack an overnight back just for that one night. No need to pull out all of our luggage. Each of us have a large suitcase, then there's a suitcase for miscellaneous items like extra batteries, chargers, extra hangers, shoes, etc. The bathroom items all go in one bag as well. For the last trip, we (a part of four adults) were in a newly refurbished value resort room so I knew that closet space would be limited; therefore, I bought a rolling portable laundry rack. It fit flat into the box and fit perfectly at the end of the dresser. We had plenty of room to hang everything and still have our undies, socks, sleepwear, etc. in the drawers.

I try to coordinate the outfits when I pack so that I know we each have a set of clothes for the day and have an extra outfit or two.

 

[SCDizFan]

I pack by outfit and by weather.

Dark denim and Adidas or Golden Goose for cold weather, shorts and flip flops, either Jack Rogers or Tori Burch for warm weather.

I let the rest of my family pack for themselves.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

I hate to pack! I leave it all till the day before and then I’m a wicked witch the whole day until it’s done. Husband does nothing at all to get ready. I’ve told him several times how nice it must be for him to do absolutely nothing when it comes to taking a vacation.

 

[SwanVT2]

I roll outfits up and put my clothing and DD in one suitcase. Put an extra outfit and bathing suits in carry on for all. DH packs his own suitcase. We put red ribbons on suitcase to spot easily

 

[LeeLee'sMom]

Last minute packer here..ugh hate it because I become obsessed with neatness & order and turn into a witch. Hence why I should pack sooner...LOL

 

[White Rose]

Only adults here..I pack all my shirts in one zip bag, all shorts in a separate zip bag, all panties bras coverups PJs and bathing suits in a third zip bag. Shoes get their own zip bag... all this goes in (1 for each of us) hard top shell clasp suitcases. Fancy clothes get their own zip bag or if hubby brings a suit...the suit and my dress share his suit valet bag. (We sometimes go to V&A for dinner) I also have a makeup bag in my suitcase. Our suitcases are either half empty for souvenirs, or we pack a small suitcase inside the other. We do not pay check bag fees so we can check 2 bags each. We usually have 2 large suitcases total, not each... adding 1 small for longer trips and 2 backpacks total.

For overpack, I pack 2 extra outfits including underwear socks etc and one additional shirt. No laundry till we are home. My overpack goes in hubby’s suitcase, his goes in mine. This is to avoid an issue in case a suitcase is lost. Our vacation clothes are mostly mix and match.

The zip bags unzip like mini suitcases, so I just put them in drawers and unzip when needed. No mess no worrying about what someone put in the drawer before me.

We carry 1 large laundry bag that gets hung in the closet. Dirty clothes never go back in the zip bags, ever. One suitcase becomes the souvenir suitcase and sometimes extra clean clothes, other suitcase is dirty laundry only and shoes.

Suitcases go in garage till opened and laundry is done immediately...hubby is an international business traveler.

 

[buzlite]

I travel quite a bit. I also have ADHD so Ive built a super simplistic system that has helped me so much without having to follow a super detailed strategy that some people follow.
1st pick type of luggage. I never check luggage because it's a disaster just waiting to happen. Different carry on vs duffles require different packing stratagies. Combining vs seperating.
Easiest is as follows
2 roller boards.
Men -
- underwear = number of days to a max of 7. If anymore then we will do laundry.
- 1 dress shirt - in case I forgot about a fancy dinner or something cups up.
-. 1 pair of jeans
-. 1 pair of chinos
- 2 pairs of shorts on vacation.
-. 1 swim shorts
-. Socks - 3 pairs of smart wool socks. Love these. Never smell bad and are meant to be warn multiple times. Good in winter or summer, dressy or casual.
- light rain coat
- sweater or fleece.
- toileteries with toothpaste and shampoo in small container.
- 1 pair of tennis shoes (wearing on plane)and 1 pair of Drivers (loafers)
- 1 paid of flip flops/sandles.
- ipad/headphones/chargers.
Wife does very similar and we are usually able to easily use 1 carry one roller board.
Repeat with the kids. If you are all sharing a room you could do boys vs girls as well.
We just seperate by sides. Throw dirty laundry into a plastic bag. We usually will carry a light backpack too which will carry some of the above. Kids depends on the age.

My wife usually packs first. I fit mine next to her stuff. If it's too much I just move it into a little bigger carry on or add some stuff to backpacks. I try to remember if I forget something small it's no big deal I can buy it there. I need to remember the big things - passport, wallet, phone, keys, flight information, charger, jacket and sweater.