Post your best organizational, space saving and trip making secrets here!!

[twins4mimi]

I love this post, GREAT tips that I never would have thought of... THANKS to everyone!!!!

 

[all4fun]

You sound incredibly ready. but what's a neck cooler?

I don't know if this was answered but I found these sites
http://www.watersorb.com/polymer_cool_neck_bands.htm

http://www.p2designs.com/ShipCooler.htm

hth

 

[all4fun]

Anyway, one thing I have always done is put one of my address labels on my camera. I just bought a brand new camera for this trip and remembered at the last minute to stick one on in case it gets lost.

Going thru the thread from end to beginning and making a list of tips.


This reminds one me. If you're traveling by air, put luggage tags on ALL your bags, even your carry ons. If you have a DVD player or a seperate carrier with DVD's in it, make sure you label those too. One trip we lost or CD holder w/all our DVD's in it (about 10) on our first flight home and didn't realize it was gone until we were on our connecting flight heading to our home airport. The airline never did find it for us and even if someone had, it wasn't labeled so who knows where it ended up. Big time expensive mistake! Just thought I'd mention it because you never know, it could end up saving someone else the same headache.

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

Bump!

 

[britincanada]

Wow! It's taken a couple of days but I finally made it through the list! Lots of great ideas!

All I would say...all of you out there who transfer medications to other containers should be VERY careful, tablets in ziploc baggies could be mistaken for candy. Children can even be harmed by an overdose of seemingly harmless vitamins. if they did take them you would not have the original packaging to show at the hospital. (sorry if this opinion offends - I used to be an ER nurse!)

 

[blackforest]

I used one our vacation to Canada this year. We were staying in a cabin, and because we had stayed there prior I knew that there was zero room in the bath for towels and such. There was a towel bar and 1 hook, but since we provided our own towels I guess there wasn't a priority for storage!

I took a collaspable sweater shelf, like for a closet, with the larger shelves. It has velcro on the part that wrapped around the rod in the bath. That way all the clean towels and stuff didn't end up on the back of the toilet or the floor.

I wish I had had 2 or 3 more! The bedrooms had 1 shelf with a hanging bar below. The collaspible shelf would have been great for t-shirts, sweaters etc. And I was thinking that these will be great for other vacations too. We always run out of drawer space and with one of these shelfs, all four of us could have one. And we never use all that hanging space anyway. Sort of like using the over-the-door-shoe holder. Which I have slowly, over time purchased ones to stay with the suitcases, so now I'll have to get some the sweater shelves too!

I purchased mine at Big Lots for $5 or so, but I think Dollar Tree or Deals may have them. Of course, Wal-Mart and others have them too, but much higher price. Because I thought of this at the last minute, I took the one out of my closet but it was simple to remove, pack, use, vacation and then put back.

Actually if you wanted too, this would make for a great pre-travel staging area for all the clothes too! Just add clothes to the shelf, then transfer the clothes to the suitcase, pack the shelf and then reverse once you settled in at your destination!.

 

[joeysmommy]

Thanks everyone for the tips!

My favorite was the over the door shoe holder to keep the bathroom counter clear of clutter.

We went to DL for 1 week and it really helped keep the counter looking neat and tidy.

We stayed at the Grand Californian and since the bathroom door is a pocket door I used it on the closet door and it worked out great.

 

[DISNEY4XMAS]

bumping in loving this thread

 

[BeadyLady]

bump

does anyone else think to put their name and address on the battery of their laptop computer, on the inside? sort of as a security feature?

 

[twoanddone]

Great thread! So coming in handy. I would have never thought of the gallon bags or shower curtain!

 

[crl]

If you stay at a condo, I plan our meals at home, then take just enough of the seasonings we need and put it into labeled ziploc bags. Then you have tasty food without having to buy all those seasonings at the store when you get there.

 

[ilovemyjj]

About the leashes, my kids wore them also whent hey were young, my kids would not stay next to me no matter what, and they were runners..lol...i found in Ak last year in the one store in the dino land, they had the cutest harnesses, they had a disney character like a small kiddy backpack with a small zipper compartment for a kiddy toy to fit into, and the harness went around them, but it did not look like the typical dog leash..lol, i thought it was such a cute invention, cause believe me, we used to get the dirtiest looks, and hear people talking about how we cant control our kids, ect, but i believe whatever it takes to keep your kids safe, go with it. MOst of the people that say things dont have kids!!! BUt back to the harness, they made it look like a kiddy backpack. I think it was like 25 bucks, but worth it!!!

 

[ilovemyjj]

I didn't see this put on here..but if you have young kids just potty training the potty flushing all by itself before they are done i know it scared my kids, ..bring a few stickers to put over the sensor, so it won't flush before there ready!!!

 

[ilovemyjj]

Didn't see this on here either, if your kids like the press a penny thingy, bring mini m&m tubes with quarters and one with pennys, they fit nicely in your pocket book or diaper bag!!

 

[macrosswife]

I discovered a great idea to keep all my child's stuff contained in the car!

I bought one of those open top divided scrapbook totes with handles from Michael's. (You can see one by going to Michaels.com and clicking on Scrapbooking. There's a blue trimmed tote on the table and a pink one on the chair.)
We were able to put different items in each section: CD case containing DVDs, cars and trucks, coloring books and markers, snacks and sippy cup, etc. It kept everything contained, and made it easy to empty the car when we got to our destination.

I'm sure you creative folks could think of some other Disney related uses for it, but I was just thrilled that I didn't have to crawl around the floor of the car picking up toys and snacks after our last trip!!

~Kimber

 

[GoinToDisney]

I have no idea if I already typed this on here or if anyone else did, but it is worth mentioning just in case. I take snack or sandwich sized ziplocks and pack them up for meals. I put couple of handiwipes, a paper towel or napkin, a toddler-sized take n toss spoon and fork, about 3 or 4 crayons and a couple of folded up disney papers that I print from playhouse disney or the like. I also put one of those plastic placemats in there, and when she was smaller a disposable bib. (watch them carefully with those... they are choking hazards if they rip a piece off. I only used them in a pinch or for travel when she was about 18 months). She was able to color while waiting for dinner at TS restaurants. I had extra separate pieces for meals where we might not need the whole set. I got the idea after I read that some do ziplocks with a disposable changing pad, diaper and a snck-sized ziplock of baby wipes. I loved that idea.

 

[danabalana]

Do you have a copy of that letter for school? I would love to have it.

Thanks

 

[monymony3471]

These are great and if there's a repeat, that's ok, it is so hard to go back and read such a huge thread.

 

[sconnell]

Oh, I wanted to mention that those hanging sweater shelves are great on TOP of the shelf turned on their side. They make it so that things don't fall through the bars AND they make little cubbies for organizing up there too! I have one of these turned on the shelf in my kids' room.

 

[tk27tk27]

One of the most exciting things we do for our two DD's ages 4 and 6 is to make sure Tinker Bell stops by our room once or twice during our trip and sprinkles a little pixie dust on thier beds while they are sleeping. We started this after seeing how excited they where collecting Mickey confetti at the enterance of teh Magic Kingdom. Every once in a while Tink leaves some dust in some other unexpecting places. They love it. The confetti can be found at the big store in Downtown Disney in teh scrap booking section.