Suitcase packing tips

[BamaTigger]

Here are some good tips for suitcase packing if anyone needs them. If someone else has some, please share as well!

Put a Downy or Snuggle dryer sheet in with your clothes. Makes them smell so good!

Pack socks, underclothes, bathing suits in ziploc baggies to save room.

Pack some Downy Wrinkle Releaser in with your clothes so you wont have to iron on vacation!

Pack some extra baggies in for items you buy so there will be more room in suitcase.

Roll your tshirts really tight so they wont wrinkle as bad.

Make sure all your zippers are in good shape. Nothing worse than a busted zipper when you go on vacation and all your clothes fall out. (Been there, done that)


Anyone got anymore?

 

[Pink Flamingo]

For our last trip I bought these huge zip lock bags at Walmart (also available at Target), rolled all our clothes, stuck them in these bags, sat on the bags to get all the extra air our, & then zipped them up. It saved quite a bit of room & we used the bags to carry a change of clothes in when we went to the water parks. We also used the bags to stick our wet ponchos in after rain storms - that way the rest of the stuff in our fanny packs didn't get wet.

If you pack extra shoes, stuff them with socks or undies to save space.

Fill travel size shampoo/lotion bottles with sun screen or use those sun screen sticks instead of packing a big bottle of sun screen.

Happy Packing!

 

[cinmell]

Thanks for the tips! Babatigger, I've never used Downey wrinkle releaser. Does it really work and how does it work? Do you just spray it on?

 

[BamaTigger]

Babatigger! LOL

Downy wrinkle releaser is really good. I like it. All you do is when your shirt or whatever is on a hanger, just spray it on your clothing, smooth the wrinkles out with your hand and let dry! That is it and it smells good too!

Try it before you leave home to make sure you like it.

Happy de-wrinkling!

 

[cinmell]

Thanks for the tip. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to iron before we go on vacation because wrinkles just appear!

 

[idors8]

Thanks for the great tips! I will have to try packing some stuff in the ziploc bags.

I too am a fan of the Downy wrinkle releaser. As a person who hates to iron, this stuff is a lifesaver! As far as packing clothes, no matter how I pack (folding vs. rolling), everything gets wrinkled anyway, so the Downy is great to have on a trip.

 

[RUDisney]

This is not necessarily a Disney tip, but if you ever need to have wrinkle free dress shirts/button down shirts, take them to your dry cleaner and have them fold and bag them for travel. I don't know what it costs to have this done, since our dry cleaner is a friend of ours and he insisted on doing this for us on our last trip. I was completely amazed at how successful this was in the no-ironing department.

 

[bunnyfoo]

I pack things like moisturizer, lotion or anything with liquid in ziplock bags on the off chance that they come open. Or you can do the reverse ... pack anything you don't want ruined in ziplock baggies

 

[BostonTigger]

As for socks you can roll them into balls. Take you socks and place the top of the socks(the end you put your feet in) under your chin and hold there by putting you chin to your chest. Then stretch the socks in a downward motion until they are fully stretched. Then you start at the end and roll upwards. When you get to the "heel" of the sock, simply tuck it in and keep rolling. When you get to the top simply fold the outer sock over to make a ball.

hope this helps

steven

 

[VickiVM]

I always would pack big plastic bags, like kitchen garbage size, for the accumulating dirty clothes so that when we re-pack for home, they don't smell up the leftover clean clothes. But if you plan on doing laundry while on vacation, I found this nifty mesh compartment bag that is flexible and folds down to about 8"x10" and has 3 separate compartments for sorting laundry. It's about 3 feet long and a lot bigger than it looked from package. I found it at the Home Depot and am thrilled because it's so small and portable.

 

[gibbys1]

I also packed our clothes in the large zip loc bags and rolled the air out. They didnt even wrinkle much but I packed a bottle of wrinkle remover and it worked great.

 

[rae519]

A tip from a world traveler to us was, "bring your old undies and throw them out after you wear them - that way you have room for your souveniers"!

Oh my word! It's been a standard with us for years now!!!!! And I really don't want to know what our room host/hostess thinks about us!!!!!



Rae

 

[Harley Chick]

The only way my clothes don't wrinkle is if I don't fold anything. I put all the clothes unfolded on top of each other so there's one big pile, put all the little stuff (underwear and socks and stuff) in the middle, then fold all layers over them. It really works. No wrinkles, ever.

 

[JerzeeDizLvr]

Here's a tip I learned from my dad.......mail your dirty clothes home. That way your bags are lighter and there's more room for your souveniers! The last time he went to Missouri (he was staying with friends) he mailed his clean clothes there. That enabled him to travel light, with just a carry-on. <p> I also pack my lotions and food items in zip-loc bags. Next trip (34 days!!!) I'll try rolling my clothes and the wrinkle releaser. I hate wrinkles and always spend the first few hours ironing everything that I packed. Thank for all the tips.

 

[tonilea]

To add to the "Downey" fan club. Downey Enhancer works great for preventing wrinkles. My hubby is a K-9 officer and if I use it on his uniforms, I don't have to iron the blooming things, plus they look good all shift.

 

[bridgettesmom]

I've been reading thru the boards for the past few months ,but, this is my first post. I feel like I know everyone already.You know this is quite addictive, every time I have a chance I run to my computer to see what's new.I also told a friend and now she's also hooked on the boards.Here's my packing tip..I always put my perfumes or other fragile items inside my shoes for protection.This seems to work pretty well.Also, I always add an extra name tag inside my luggage just in case the airline loses it and the outside name tag gets torn off or falls(which happens quite often)that way when they go thru your bag in search of things that you can identify they will find your name tag with all your information.Thank you all for helping us plan and save on our disney vacation.This is my first post ,but, not my last!!!

 

[bigsis1970]

i only pack 3 outfits each ! ( 5 for socks and underware )
In my carry-on i have shorts for us to change into when we arrive
but its 3 shirts/3shorts in the suitcase w/ 1 sweatshirt & 1 extra pair of pants . I can pack the 3 of us in one suitcase ! i bring laundry tablets ( wisk ) and do laundry 2 or 3 times depending on how long we are there and we always be an extra t-shirt or two ! and I also pack a foldable suitcase in case we bring home more then we take down ! Michelle

Ps my suitcase is packed ( almost completely for my Late Nov trip)

 

[yesdisneyfool]

We too pack for 3 in one large suitcase. We bring clothes for 3-4 days and undies and socks for 5 days. If we are staying in our DVC then we can bring less clothes. For dirty clothes we put in space saver bags, squeeze the air out and place it in the bottom of the suitcase and deal with it when we get home. Downey wrinkle releaser sounds like a great idea.

 

[rae519]

Yesdisneyfool -

I love hearing about someone else who packs light! When we went to Europe for 2 weeks, we (DH - oldest DS (then 15) and myself) each have only ONE suitcase and it was a carry-on case with rollers.
The others packed HEAVY and were upset when we had to carry our luggage from bus to hotel nightly and sometimes it was a little bit of a distance. We listened to the tour director and packed accordingly (threw out the worn undies/socks nightly) and had enough space for our souveniers. We kept dirty clothes in a bag until there was too many then used one of the carry on's for them. We are PLUS sized people (except DS) so we were glad it was summer! I did wash things out when we were staying two nights at a location.

My Mom is going with me on this cruise and she is using a machine to "squeeze the air" out of her undies/socks to save space. She is the clotheshorse of our family - but she always looks good so I guess there is a plus side to her suitcases!!

Rae

 

[snowman]

My favorite packing tip is one that came from this board.....put kids clothes in Ziploc bags. I did this with my nephew in 2000 on our Disney trip and again this summer for Scout Camp. Each bag had a complete outfit in it. All he had to remember was to "take off everything you have on and put on everything in this bag". He is nearly 9 now but that still works to help him get himself dressed in the morning.....he's a slow waker but doesn't have that luxury at camp.

Also, I have never lost luggage (knock on wood) yet, but always prepare for it. We each take our own suitcase, but I cross pack. One outfit for each person goes in the other's suitcase. That way all the luggage would have to go to that great Luggage Carousel in the sky before we would all be naked.

Just my paranoia again......