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

[Penelope2000]

Instead of the over the bathroom door organizer, I bring a lightweight collapsible fabric shoe closet organizer (xmas tree shop) and Dollar Store white woven plastic baskets. I hang this in the closet, (it has velcro) and the bins are labeled. The bins fit right in the openings. Everyone has their own, then there is one for toothbrushes/paste, park passes, first aid stuff, receipts, etc. This helps a lot for when someone is in the bathroom and someone else wants to use the mirror over the desk. The little baskets are easy to move around, and everything stays organized. And best of all, no one has to wait to get their stuff.

This was great at POR, when the closet was right next to the sinks, and I think it will be especially helpful at the Poly, as there is no door between the toilet and the sink area - (I like the idea of bringing a shower curtain and tension rod!) Dd is turning 13, and we will probably be bringing a small timer for bathroom time limits (between Ds, 16, and Dd, almost 13, lots of bathroom time.) I want my stuff NOT in the bathroom! I may even have to sneak over to the bathroom in the CL to put on my makeup.

 

[Mackenzie'sMommy]

Instead of the over the bathroom door organizer, I bring a lightweight collapsible fabric shoe closet organizer (xmas tree shop) and Dollar Store white woven plastic baskets. I hang this in the closet, (it has velcro) and the bins are labeled. The bins fit right in the openings. Everyone has their own, then there is one for toothbrushes/paste, park passes, first aid stuff, receipts, etc. This helps a lot for when someone is in the bathroom and someone else wants to use the mirror over the desk. The little baskets are easy to move around, and everything stays organized. And best of all, no one has to wait to get their stuff.

This was great at POR, when the closet was right next to the sinks, and I think it will be especially helpful at the Poly, as there is no door between the toilet and the sink area - (I like the idea of bringing a shower curtain and tension rod!) Dd is turning 13, and we will probably be bringing a small timer for bathroom time limits (between Ds, 16, and Dd, almost 13, lots of bathroom time.) I want my stuff NOT in the bathroom! I may even have to sneak over to the bathroom in the CL to put on my makeup.

I LOVE this idea! None of the stuff we use crosses between people so this will especially help keep it organized!

 

[Miriade]

My #1 tip for packing is...dah da da dahhh!!!!! Space bags. We got ours @ big lots 3 for $10. My 2nd thing is only bring 2oz bottles u can throw away while ur on vaca. Or I buy regular size shampoo,ect. when I get there, by the end of the week or 10 days they r gone so I toss them. Zip locks are awesome for socks, underwear & swim wear b/c u can label the bags & squeeze all the air out [like space bags=]. Everything stays neat all week. I'm also a fan of doing 1 load of laundry @ WDW to save space in suitcases. The laundry rooms are always by the pools in value & moderate resorts so it's no trouble @ all. Really, & I hate laundry more than any other chore.

I've just bought 2 of these for us... I hope I can use them specially when the cruel time of 'coming home' packing beggins, to save space for our newlly bought stuff, as first time travellers to WDW 'surely we're gonna to buy lots of things but where to carry them back to Brazil'!!!
I also bought a pack with 20 lanyards and 20 plastic credential holders for our KTTW ,photopass cards and VISA cards! Very cheap in offices suplies stores!

Thanks a lot for all those very useful tips!

See you around!

 

[brooklynnbaby]

Right now, I have a folder to hold paper copies of our ADRS and maps and all that. But between a couple of apps on the iPhone, I have all our ADRs, maps, GPS location tool for when we park, transportation schedules, park hours, line waiting times, etc. on my iPhone. INVALUABLE!!! One app even saves pictures of all our tickets. Plus a "Find Food Near" me GPS location tool (plus full menus AND prices, when needed) for when we want QS and don't want to trudge across the park. I'm giddy about it.

I also found lanyards at the Disney Outlet (online) that can be personalized... only $6!!! Along with some Pook-a-Looz keychains as their lanyard medals, a few starts pins, and maybe a clip on of chapstick, they're set!

 

[dizmom2mwjk]

I found that bringing a large towel or even an old table cloth to save our spot for a parade/fireworks show helps a ton! We are the type to get there early and get a good spot, and I hate it when people always crowd us out...we keep one in the bottom of our stroller, lay it out when we find our spot, and people are less likely to crowd us...we have 6 ppl...

Now, when parade time comes around we fold it up, and if there are small children behind my husband and I, we trade places with them, because they are the ones who need to see the show, etc...but before the parade, we like to enjoy our space...and the towel/cloth helps mark our "territory" and gives us a clean space to enjoy a snack...

I also don't bring a colapsible hamper...I just use an empty suitcase in a corner, and all the kids know to put dirty clothes in that particular suitcase...then when I get home, that suitcase just goes straight to the laundry room.

 

[perfectparanoia]

A small thing but a nice thing. I picked up a toothbrush holder at the dollar store for each of the bathrooms. No more having to put my toothbrush on the counter!

 

[SalandJeff]

Continuing to love everyone's suggestions on this great thread!!!

I just wanted to add something about 2 suggestions that were posted.

Space bags - they work great; however, if you have never used them before, keep in mind that the items in the space bags still have the same weight. Because you can add more, your suitcase will quickly become very heavy. You don't want to have to pay airline fees for overweight bags.

iPhone apps - I was very excited to find some of these before our last trip. Not sure which ones you are using, but wanted to mention that the ride wait times on the app were way off from the reality of the waits while we were there - sometimes by an hour. For this reason, I didn't bother with the app after the first day. Hopefully it has improved.

 

[mikat]

I went to Target today and in the Dollar section, there were 2-packs of lingerie bags for $1 (choose pink or white). They were nice-sized (12" x 15") and even had a full-width zipper. Someone on the board had mentioned buying mesh bags and placing an outfit (top / shorts / underwear / socks) into each bag, so that their child just had to pull out a bag to have an outfit for the day. It made packing and getting ready in the morning so easy. I had looked for travel mesh packing bags, and they were all around $10 a piece. Finding these mesh bags at Target let me do the same thing for 50 cents a bag!

For those of you who want to check and see if your Target has them, the DPCI code is 234-01-1298. But they are definitely seasonal Dollar-section items, and they were at one Target near me, but not the other.

Thank you to whomever made the original packing suggestion!

 

[willful]

Continuing to love everyone's suggestions on this great thread!!!

I just wanted to add something about 2 suggestions that were posted.

Space bags - they work great; however, if you have never used them before, keep in mind that the items in the space bags still have the same weight. Because you can add more, your suitcase will quickly become very heavy. You don't want to have to pay airline fees for overweight bags.

I agree...on both counts about space bags. Love them!!! But we ran into trouble one trip where we had packed the suitcase too heavy because the space bags allowed us to pack more clothes! Luckily we were able to shift things around and didn't need to pay extra money. WHEW! But i still use, love and recommend them.

 

[Welcome Home]

I have a collection of pants hangers with clips. I have also kept/requested the kids hangers from department stores with clips. I use these to hang wet clothes and swimsuits over the shower rod. They dry faster that way and you can just push them out of the way to take a shower.

 

[BeadyLady]

A small thing but a nice thing. I picked up a toothbrush holder at the dollar store for each of the bathrooms. No more having to put my toothbrush on the counter!

Nice idea, thanks!

 

[BeadyLady]

Bump!

you did hear about the one about taking a picture of your name and address with your camera; so just maybe someone will use the info to return a lost camera; or at least the media.

 

[travelbug24]

Bump!

you did hear about the one about taking a picture of your name and address with your camera; so just maybe someone will use the info to return a lost camera; or at least the media.

Oh how I wish I could turn back time and put an address label on my camera. I lost my camera on the last day of our Mediterranean Cruise in September and I am kicking myself every day for not having labeled it. All my pictures were on that disk.

 

[BeadyLady]

Oh how I wish I could turn back time and put an address label on my camera. I lost my camera on the last day of our Mediterranean Cruise in September and I am kicking myself every day for not having labeled it. All my pictures were on that disk.

ouch, that's painful.

 

[angwill]

Oh how I wish I could turn back time and put an address label on my camera. I lost my camera on the last day of our Mediterranean Cruise in September and I am kicking myself every day for not having labeled it. All my pictures were on that disk.

I have had things I lost labeled and not gotten them back. So even if you had labeled it you may not have actually gotten them back. It depends on who found it.

 

[BeadyLady]

I have had things I lost labeled and not gotten them back. So even if you had labeled it you may not have actually gotten them back. It depends on who found it.

True enough! but one can always hope!

 

[travelbug24]

I have had things I lost labeled and not gotten them back. So even if you had labeled it you may not have actually gotten them back. It depends on who found it.

I received word from DCL they are sending my camera UPS : When the Magic came home to Orlando from Barcelona, all the lost items came with it but not the paperwork. If I had not sent an email reminder about my camera they would have not known whose camera it was. So angwill you are so right! But still, I learned a very good lesson. Cindy from DCL said even if the room number/address label was on the camera that would have helped in locating me sooner.

 

[angwill]

I received word from DCL they are sending my camera UPS : When the Magic came home to Orlando from Barcelona, all the lost items came with it but not the paperwork. If I had not sent an email reminder about my camera they would have not known whose camera it was. So angwill you are so right! But still, I learned a very good lesson. Cindy from DCL said even if the room number/address label was on the camera that would have helped in locating me sooner.

I am so glad you got it back. That is just awsome that you kept with it and they found it.

 

[tinkermom23]

We got these toothbrush cover/holders and was able to order them on ebay in different colors.
I think I really like them because they keep the toothbrush off the counter and they are easy for the kids to use by themselves.
The downside is that the kids' covers opened during travel. I think it's because they are the small kids toothbrush and they turn around inside. For our regular (adult-sized) toothbrushes, they work awesome.



http://www.smileytoothbrushholder.com/index.html

 

[BeadyLady]

I received word from DCL they are sending my camera UPS : When the Magic came home to Orlando from Barcelona, all the lost items came with it but not the paperwork. If I had not sent an email reminder about my camera they would have not known whose camera it was. So angwill you are so right! But still, I learned a very good lesson. Cindy from DCL said even if the room number/address label was on the camera that would have helped in locating me sooner.

yippee