Smart Packing! How To Pack For Any Trip.

I always love and hate that anxiety and excitement of a big trip coming up! It's stressful but in a strangely good way (at times...) and I always love to make lists of everything that I'll need from clothes to lip liner!

I always get caught up on how much to bring, what if I decide I want to wear natural make-up and pack only for that, but then decide I need a dramatic cat eye? It may sound dramatic and not important but trust me...

It. Is.

You want your packing to be as care and stress free as the trip itself, and packing is one of the most stressful parts of a trip! I always, always end up procrastinating packing and do it all last minute and end up with whole cans of hair spray and ten different pairs of jeans in my suitcase. In my family I am notorious for bringing three suitcases on a week trip! But the last few times I have been really good about planning ahead of time, making a good list of what I will need, and being safely packed a good 24 hours before I leave!

Currently, I am packing to leave with my grandparents and sister to visit some family out of town. It's about a 6 hour drive. We'll be leaving Thursday night and coming back on Monday, so it's a pretty good amount of time away- enough to have me stressing about what shoes to bring with me, and what about perfume? How does one pack that!)

I've compiled a list of ideas on how to stay completely organized and allowing your suitcase to happily zip without being forced my all your body weight, and a lot of will power. 

It's all about what you choose to bring, and what purpose it serves. Also, many people think travel sizes are a waste of money, but they save a LOT of room in your suitcase!

Here is a picture of my packing list (FYI: I pack more than your average girl when I go on a trip... I bring my own healthy food, plenty of workout clothes, and a wide variety of eye shadow)

The first page is double sided.

                                                Make-Up:

• eye shadow: For make-up you are better off sifting through the eyeshadows that you wear most often, and then either packing a few (a natural, or a more dramatic look... Vacation is not the time to experiment with make-up usually, so it's always best to chose either natural or dramatic) or bring a compact of eyeshadow, with varying colors that way you have options but don't have ten loose eye shadow pots just waiting to get lost or broken.

Left: Maybelline, Clinique, MAC

• Eyeliner: always pack two: Liquid and Pencil... I rarely venture out to change up my eyeliner while on a trip, so I don't bother with any of my blue, greens or purple eyeliners. I keep it basic. Also, I bring a pencil sharpener for my pencil eyeliner, a really small one (Not that many are too big anyway...)

Left: Maybelline Eye Studio, AVEDA

• Mascara: Easy. Chose One. This will give you some room for a eyelash curler (to be honest though, I always leave mine at home when I am vacationing.)

• Face Make-Up: Here I am talking about concealer, foundation, powder, bronzer and blushes. Keep it very simple here too: Bring a good concealer, don't bother with a powder, stick with a foundation, a bronzer, and a single blush pot (preferably your favorite, one that goes with lots of different looks, or the look of the eyeshadow you chose.)

• Brushes: I honestly usually keep my brushes at home. I bring about five: Eyeshadow (2) Blush (1) Facial Brush (1) and a blending brush (1) There honestly is no reason to bring a foundation brush, your concealer brush, and ten different contouring brushes. Keep it basic, a few eyeshadow brushes that you can clean easily and give you some variety, a blush brush because it would be a shame to put blush on using your fingers, and a blending brush. Also, bring your brush cleaner, because just about no matter where you go, I will promise they won't have brush cleaner in travel sizes or at your hotel.

• Lips: This was was SO hard for me. If you know anything about me it's that I LOVE LOVE LOVE my lipstick, ranging from MAC Myth Nude to AVEDA Rare Orchid, to Clinique Red Red Red. This is where I take up most of my space! Even so, I only bring three or four. I bring a nude, a bright color, and a dark. And I always bring my EOS or Aveda Lip Saver chapstick!

Left: Aveda, Clinique, MAC, EOS, RIMMEL

                                           Body Care:

This can be tricky, too! From razors to tweezers, everything can seem to pile up in our suitcases!

• Shampoo & Conditioner: Always, always bring a travel size of each. I do even if I know where I am going will have some. I like to have my own, because I rarely like other peoples shampoo and conditioner. I bought two small bottles of Shampure at AVEDA so that I could easily fit them and they are about five washes, which is about what I will need.

Aveda Shampure Shampoo and Conditioner.

• Razor and Shaving Cream: Pack a razor but skip the cream and use a little bit of conditioner instead (This is when I will utilize hotel conditioner  because even though it's not best for your hair, your legs will be fine)

• Tooth Brush and Toothpaste: I bring both, and dental floss. I bring both in regular sizes in a small baggie, it just seems easier that way. Again, I bring my own Toothpaste because I have a favorite kind and I never ever know what I will end up having to use when I get to a hotel or a house. I am all about the safe route!

• Face Wash, Toner, Moisturizer, etc: This is where things get tricky! If you are somebody that cleanses their face once in a while then just bring a bottle of whatever you are using and call it good. But if you are like me you have a cleanser, toner, moisturizer, a spot treatment, and a weekly mask then you have to pack more carefully! I use the Aveda fillables bag and fill them up with all of my essentials! I skip my weekly mask.

• Body Wash and Lou-fa:  Nobody wants to pack a wet lou-fa in their bag, so I usually just buy a new one (they are like 2 dollars at most!) and put it in a bag. Usually I throw it away after my trip before I come home, or put it in a bag and have it for my shower once my trip is over. As far as body wash goes, I bring a small travel size bottle. I love to bring AVEDA Rosemary Mint travel size body wash in my Aveda fill-abales travel set.

• Perfume and Lotion: Tricky as well. I never bring my entire bottle of Juicy Couture when I go on a trip, but I always have some smaller travel sizes of other perfumes that I love (not as much as my juicy, but for the trips sake, I can handle it) if you don't have any travel sizes, you can pack your smallest perfume bottle (double bag it in case it leaks! Your clothes would smell good, but you would be out of perfume you whole trip!) I brought three mini travel size fragrances from Victoria's Secret. For lotion, I tend to use oils more than lotion in the winter (it gets dry and cold where I live) so I pack my Aveda Beautifying Oil which is small and fits perfectly in my suitcase, and it's soo moisturizing! You can also just bring a small bottle of your most unscented lotion (I say unscented because after more than three days of wearing the same lotion you will probably get sick of it!)

Aveda Beautifying Oil. Victoria's Secret Fragrances are: NOIR, ANGEL, TEASE.

• Nail Polish: To be honest, I always take off my nail polish on my hands and repaint my toes (it lasts a long time on my toes). I hate chipping polish and on my vacation I don't want to worry about fixing it. I usually do bring two bottles of polish and a small manicure set just in case I have a mini spa day, or need to trim a broken nail.

I put everything in separate baggies for better organization!

• Hair Products: This one is really hard for me to contain myself as well, but I keep it simple: heat protector, volume product, a serum, and a hairspray. 

Left: Aveda Control Past, CHI, Aveda Witch Hazel Hairspray, Aveda Smoothing Fluid, Aveda Pure Abundance Style Prep.

• Hair Appliances: Depending on your hair type, I would bring a flat iron and a curling iron. A blow dryer is debatable depending on where you are going. I hate the idea of going somewhere without my blow dryer, but chances are somebody I am traveling with has one, so it saves me some room in my suitcase (just make sure you check BEFORE you decide to leave yours at home!)

• Hair Accessories:  I bring a few hair ties, bobby pins, a workout headband (maybe two) and I usually bring a paddle brush, and a comb for teasing.

• Jewelry: I always correlate my jewelry to my outfits, and then pack them away in separate baggies. Jewelry doesn't take up much room so I give myself a few options for each outfit.

• Bags/Purse: I usually bring a big hand bag, and a small wallet, or a little purse for walking (I put my small purse in my bigger bag to save room.)

These are my go to purses:  Juicy Couture and Steve Madden.

                                              Clothes:

Here it's kind of hard for me to say since your trip dictates the clothes you bring. Just remember you can wear jeans more than once on your trip, and one shirt per day is plenty! Maybe a spare in case one gets something spilled on it. Honestly I cannot tell you how many times I have brought 10 shirts for a 6 day week and had 4 shirts left over! For pajamas I bring one pair for every two days, usually.

Anytime I am going on a trip I always make an outfit for every day I will be there. I lay it out and put the accessories with it so that I can get a good visual.

• Road Trip Outfit: I will be traveling at night so I'll wear sweat pants and a sweater (Not my usually look) but we are leaving at 7PM and won't arrive until 1AM so I will most definitely not want to be wearing jeans in the car while I'm sleeping!

                                                     Shoes: 

Much like clothes this one is hard to dictate depending on where you are going. I am packing:

• Heels
• Flats
• Workout Shoes
• Snow Boots (We will be sledding where I'm going!)
• Plenty of socks (I HAVE to be wearing socks most of the time, so I bring about two pair for every day I will be there... Which is just me, you could bring two pair for a 6 day trip. Depending on how often you wear them, obviously!)

Left: Flats, Heels, Flats, Workout Shoes.

                                     Electronics:

• iPhone and Charger
• Kindle Fire and Charger
• Laptop, Case, Charger
• Camera, Case, Charger

I put my kindle fire, charger, camera, cellphone and charger all in a travel iPad case I bought from Victoria Secret a few months ago specifically for traveling, It's perfect! I would recommend something like this.

I bring my laptop and charger in my Victoria Secret laptop case. Most trips you don't need a laptop, and I've been debating whether or not I should bring mine since I have my kindle. I am always afraid something is going to happen to it if I bring it somewhere!



                                        Bedding: 

My aunt will have plenty of this, but I always bring a pillow and blanket for the car- both relatively small, something comfortable while I am on the road. I usually have a sweater with me anyway, which can be used as a pillow if you really need to save space!

                                        Road Trip Bag:

On the road I get so bored! I always pack two different books, three magazines, and my phone with my earphones to listen to music! I usually download some new music to my phone before a trip so I have something new that will hold my interest more than old music I have heard a dozen times! I also bring my kindle to play games or to read off of, I also have episodes of my favorite shows on my kindle so I can watch them in the car. 

Aside from my phone this pretty much looks like what's in my travel bag. Everything I need is right here!

                                             Food:

Most people do not bring their own food on a trip, except for me! I have been eating really, really healthy lately and I know a single trip to visit family will sabotage that, so I thought ahead! I packed a small cooler full of all of my healthy foods, and some good substitutes for when my family eats unhealthy (Ex: Sugar Free Jello, Chobani yogurt I froze for the nights that they want to eat ice cream, I can have a treat similar to it as well!)

Since we are driving at night I wont have to worry about eating in the car because I will be sleeping (I was SO glad! It will save me the extra calories!) I plan on doing a little of my own grocery shopping to restock while I am at my Aunt's house before the trip home.

I LOVE Vegetables! Especially Hummus with Vegetable Chips! A really healthy snack!

Boiled Eggs are my go to! Especially on the road! I boiled an entire carton for the four days I will be gone!

Some of my favorites for the road!

I don't normally eat this much fruit in a short amount of time, but fruit is a great substitute for any sweet tooth cravings!

I didn't bring all of these foods, but most of them I did pack.

This was my cooler after it was all packed!

My Aunt has a room dedicated to her gym, so I already told her I hoped she wouldn't mind that every morning I am going to be getting up early to fit in an hour workout before the rest of my family gets up! We will be staying at a hotel for a night also, which has a full gym and a pool so I can get up early to workout, and I am sure I will be doing lots of swimming anyway, so I am excited for the extra work-out! But wherever you go on vacation there are ALWAYS sneaky ways to workout (ex: on a beach you could walk, run, or play volleyball.) I am soo glad my Aunt has a gym I can use while I am gone, so I am bring my Yoga Mat and my shoes, with some workout clothes.

Here is my suitcase all packed up, given a few last minute things I tossed in! My dad was in the Navy for a lot of years so he is a pro on packing suitcases to fit more things! He taught me to roll your clothes instead of just setting them in, it saves a ton of room! The only downside is sometimes it wrinkles shirts, but you can always throw them in the dryer before you wear them. It definitely saved me a ton of space!

Happy Traveling:)

<3mykel