I need the BEST space saving tips!!!

indimom

Are We There Yet?
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Jul 18, 2008
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We're going to be in the World for two weeks. I was originally planning to stay in a condo off-site, but got a pin code and couldn't pass up the savings. SO, now we are staying at Pop Century for the entire time. Myself, DH, DD12 and DS10.
I'm bringing an over the door shoe holder for the bathroom stuff and a pop up hamper, but any other organization tips would be greatly appreciated. I know we're not going to fit everything in those couple drawers. Has anyone ever brought (gasp) metal hangers (they're more compact) and hung up tops. We might be able to fit everything else in the drawers and keep the suitcases in the trunk then.
Any other suggestions??? Clutter and cramped quarters scare me!!! :rotfl2:
 
We took wire hangers, they helped a lot. You could also take a shoe holder for the closet, we had shoes all over the place. We did laundry while there, the purex laundry sheets are the best!!! Have fun!
 
We were at Pop over Thanksgiving and I didn't bring any hangers, I just called mousekeeping and told them how many I needed and they brought them right to me. They brought both regular and the clip kind for pants. I hung all our park clothes and used the drawers for socks, underwear and pj's only. :thumbsup2
 
v.t.: Definately going to bring the shoe holder also, we're each going to have at least two pairs. DD has a shoe holder her closet, so I can just snag that, how's that for convenient? :thumbsup2

Jboysmom: You see what I mean? I never would have thought about calling and asking for more hangers from Mousekeeping. DUH! :headache:

Keep them coming...
I know there are more of you well-traveled and smart folks out there!!!

:banana: :yay: :woohoo:
 

That shoe holder trick I used on our DCL cruises and loved it! It worked like a charm at our recent stay at POP. We had so many clothes we didn't unpack some.LOL! We were only there for 3 nights. We took a plastic garbage bag with us so we could do laundry. The kids clothes I would put in a plastic bag the night before so they knew what to wear. Those plastic line clothes pins work good for keeping your clothes on the clothes line in the bathroom (like suits)
 
I just ordered the "Smiley toothbrush holders" from ebay. They suction to the mirror and close over your toothbrush so they stay clean and out of the way. I also have the shoe organizer, from Walmart for less than $10 and it is canvas with metal hooks. I used fabric paint to label the pockets so I wasn't always searching for things.

I got a shoe organizer that is just like the sweater organizer only smaller. It was at Target in the Dollar area. I plan on putting the kids clothes in there at night and they will be ready to go in the morning. I tried using the ziploc bags for packing kids clothes but they didn't work for us.

I got a small outlet strip that has one USB outlet that I will bring so that we won't have so many things cluttering the sink area.

We have a cloth laundry bag that we keep in the corner out of the way and when I need to do laundry, I just grab it and the m&m tube of quarters, along with the ziploc of laundry soap and head out.

I don't know is is a space saving tip but we assign DS10 a drawer and the twins share a drawer. Every day they need to clean up all their toys, books, and other stuff, and put it in their drawer so we don't have stuff scattered all over the room. If they can't find something, I tell them to check their drawer.

And we bring a small plastic basket that we keep above the TV. It is where we put our KTTW cards, photopass cards, lanyards...

I would LOVE more ideas! Keep them coming!!!
 
I tried using the ziploc bags for packing kids clothes but they didn't work for us.
Really? They saved our life! (and lots of extra baggage charges!)

We got gallon bags (Ziploc - off brand will tear easy) for the kids. We got 2 gallon for us. (Wal Mart-they will say they don't have it - but look closely - they all do, right next to the gallon size)

My OCD anal retentive husband folded flat all the outfits we picked out and put them each in a bag. The he mostly closed the bag, rolled the air out, then finished closing it. We fit 15 kids outfits in one small duffel.

Each bag had a pair of pants, a shirt, pair of socks and underwear. Besides saving space, having to just pull a bag out in the morning for each person was a life saver on the getting ready side.

Would highly recommend the outfit in a bag.
 
Travel space bags! You can smush the air out of them better than ziplocks and they're sturdier. If you have Joann Fabric stores around you, they carry all sizes of the Spacebags AND you can use the 40%/50% off coupons from the ads in the paper on them. I got the multi size pack for like 10 bucks, it had the large medium and travel. You can also put your dirty laundry back into them so your clean clothes don't get stunk up (if you have to take dirty stuff home) The only thing you have to remember is this trick will NOT make you're luggage lighter, so watch yourself with weight limits.
 
In the past I've brought some hangers that I got at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. There is about five of them and they hook onto each other, so they hang straight down in the closet. You can hang five complete outfits and they take up less then an inch of room on the closet rod.

A year or so ago, I bought these at Wal Mart and take at least one on every trip. They fold almost flat in the suitcase and the velcro closure just locks over the closet rod. All my clothes for the week fit and take only about 11" of closet space.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10574576&findingMethod=rr

I also pack in packing cubes and folders. The cubes hold underwear, bras, socks, nightgown, etc. When I get to the resort I just place the cubes directly from the suitcase into the drawers. Clothes in the folders, I take out and place on the shelves of the organizer I showed in the link above (already sorted into outfits). The picture shows it filled with thick sweaters, but if you are wearing shorts and t shirts each shelf easily holds 2-3 adult outfits. I keep a dryer sheet in each packing folder all the time anyway, to make my luggage and clothes smell good. I leave that dryer sheet in the folders. When I come home from the parks at night, I take a few seconds to use the packing guide, neatly fold my dirty clothes, and put them back in the packing folder. I keep the packing folders either under the bed, on the floor in the closet, or on the shelf above the closet. By the end of the week most of my clothes are already packed, folded and squished down flat, so to pack back up to go home, all I have to do is drop the packing folders with already neatly folded dirty clothes and the organizer into the bottom of the suitcase, pack any clothes I didn't wear, pack shoes and toiletries, and squish the now empty packing cubes into any corner of the suitcase. I am packed and ready to be out of the room in just a few minutes. (I have always hated packing to come home, much worse than packing to go--but now it takes just a few minutes). Oh yes, I don't usually take alot of toiletries, so keep travel sized toiletries in a Vera Bradley toiletry organizer which ties onto the closet rod. I have a small Vera Bradley makeup bag that I use to hold cell phone and camera battery chargers and another small one that holds any makeup and contact lens stuff. I may then have a gallon zip lock bag that I brought sun screen, body glide, and heat fx in. I brought a shoe organizer one time, because it was recommended here on the board, but didn't have anywhere near enough stuff to fill it up.

When I get home I just drop the packing folders full of dirty clothes off in the laundry room, unpack my shoes and restock my travel size toiletries (with the favorite brands I use at home) in the Vera Bradley organizer and also restock anything that needs to go in the gallon bag, so they'll be ready for my next trip. Packing cubes stay in my suitcase with a fresh dryer sheet and once clothes are dumped out of the packing folders, the packing folders are wiped with warm water and Pinesol, air dryed, dryer sheet placed in them, and then they are also put back in the suitcase ready for the next trip. I absolutely love my packing cubes and packing folders! They make packing and unpacking sooooo easy. You can squish tons of stuff into them. If I'm carrying just shorts and t shirts an 18" packing folder will hold clothes for a week's stay.
 
Aubriee, will you come pack for me?!?! My toiletries are already refilled and ready to go, you'd just need to fold and pack all my clothes... :worship:
Don't have too much new to add but, just wanted to add my 2 cents on the pop up hamper... this was the first year we brought one and it was the best thing! Even though it was just DBF and I (but, I know how bad he can be with his dirty laundry at home :scared1:) it worked out great. No sagging bags in the corners. And our laundry box stayed in the side pocket. So we'd just slip into our swimsuits, grab the bag and go! He did rip the handle on the last night but, I will definitely be purchasing a new one for this Sept.
 
We bring pop up hampers to keep things like jeans, coats, and shoes in as well (things that don't matter if they get wrinkled.) We had about four out, which took up that little closet space they leave you, but it was AMAZING being able to wake up, find your stuff, and go.
 
I'm not sure how well it works for families but when I go solo or more recently in December with my best friend I brought a laundry bag I had no plans on doing laundry while I was there but that way I could put my dirty clothes in it and at the end of the trip I just tied it up got as much of the air out of it as I could and just shoved it in my dufflebag that way what ever clean clothes I had left wouldnt touch my dirty stuff and then when I got home before I lugged the duffle upstairs I could just pull out the bag toss it down the steps to the basement all ready to go to the wash..

you may also want to bring a clothes pin or two to hold the 2 curtains together... they dont always overlap so you can get the sun to shine in or even sometimes people can see in and in the morning you may not want that :goodvibes

definately bring a power strip there are not enough plugs to charge all of our everyday gadgets
 
Definitely get something to put on the tv to keep misc. stuff in. We hung lanyards over the thermostat, that worked fine. I can't stand clutter. I am hoping to find pop up storage baskets for the other stuff, wallets... Shoe organizer, definitely. Pop up laundry hamper, definitely. Considering getting a second one for shoes, somehow we end up with a lot. Power strip. I also had magnetic clips to hang on the back of the door. The landyards with pins on them were too heavy, but it was great for clipping up the papers we needed.

Aubriee, those packing cubes and folders sound amazing. Do you have a link?
 
A year or so ago, I bought these at Wal Mart and take at least one on every trip. They fold almost flat in the suitcase and the velcro closure just locks over the closet rod. All my clothes for the week fit and take only about 11" of closet space.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10574576&findingMethod=rr

I also pack in packing cubes and folders. The cubes hold underwear, bras, socks, nightgown, etc.

I got one of these at the Christmas tree shop for very cheap and the cubes that target sells fits in them very well I havent taken it to Disney but I do use it to organize my room at home so I think some one asked where you can get the cubes so you can get them at target and they fold flat but I was also able to get smaller ones at the dollar tree and I have take the small one to disney to be the catch all for change, wallet, pins lanyards, etc for on top of the tv
 
I got some disney princess pop up cubes from AVON last year, they fold flat and they were a lifesaver this last trip. One was for our keys, camera, stuff we used everyday. The other one we used for our snacks, it kept everything organized on top of the refrig. I always have a fabric laundry bag, that we hang and fill with our dirty clothes. I do not mind doing a load of clothes every other day, so we do not pack as much as we used to. But we ship down a package before our trip, so we dont' have lots of big suitcases sitting around, and we then when we are ready to leave, we fill the box up and ship it home. :thumbsup2
 
A helpful tip (other than the ones already listed) is to use a small basket or something to collect loose change, room keys, car keys and other assorted junk. When everyone comes in they empty their pockets and put it in the basket. It keeps the counter and table tops from getting cluttered and makes a nice new Disney Savings fund for the next trip!!!!!!
 
We're driving, so I will be able to bring quite a bit with us, it's just the room that is going to be the problem. I don't relish the idea of tripping over ourselves for that long! ;)

I've never even heard of the packing cubes before. That is pretty cool!
And I will have to find a small pop-up for the keys and things. Those do tend to get out of control when we are vacationing.

Thanks again for all the suggestions, these are great!
 
The top of the entertainment center is one flat surface about 4 1/2 feet -5 feet high. I think it is about 2 1/2 feet deep and about 5 feet wide. If you bring containers with you, you can stack/arrange them on top. You should be able to store quite a bit on top of that and keep stuff off the floor. Somewhere on this site there are pictures of the room and the entertainment center.
 












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