Summer holidays and vacations are supposed to be relaxing, meant to allow us to return feeling refreshed and reinvigorated, but without proper preparation, travelling can be stressful.
If you’ve got travel plans this summer and want to enjoy it to the fullest without feeling stressed before, during or after you return, read our top 7 summer travel organization tips.
Organize Essentials in One Space
Taking a little time to organize your travel essentials will help to save time and stress. Create a dedicated travel station/space to store your important travel items. Passports, chargers, travel documents, luggage tags and reusable travel bottles and containers. This could even be as simple as having a bin in your storage room next to your luggage. Also, make sure to store packing cubes inside your luggage, so you’re not scrambling to find them when you need them.
Vacation Packing Checklist
Checklists are great for many things, including vacation packing! Using a checklist makes packing a breeze and removes the uncertainty of forgetting something important. Canva has some great free editable checklists, and packtor.com allows you to create up to 3 custom packing checklists for free. To simplify, create separate lists for the adults, children, and even pets! You can even create lists for short trips, camping trips, or beach days.
The best part is that once you’ve created the lists, you can use them over and over for all upcoming trips!
Pre-Vacation Home Reset
The next best thing to a relaxing holiday is returning to a clean, organized home. The day before you leave, focus on resetting your home. Ensure all laundry is put away, your countertops are clear and clean, all perishables have been emptied from your fridge, and the beds are made with fresh, clean sheets.
Just before you head out, run the dishwasher, take out the garbage and give your counters and sinks a final wipedown.
Depending on how long you’ll be gone, you may want to consider scheduling a grocery order delivery for just after you arrive, to ensure you’ve got fresh food without the stress of having to run to the grocery store.
Minimalist Mindset for Packing
It’s a fact that most people overpack for vacations. It’s really difficult to know what you will feel like wearing, what the weather will be like, and what the most practical outfits will be, but using a minimalist mindset will help you resist the urge to overpack, lightening not only your physical load, but also your mental load.
Check where you will be staying to see if laundry machines are available and factor that in as well.
Following the 5-4-3-2-1 rule to pack items that can be worn interchangeably will help keep the weight of your luggage down.
5 – Pants/shorts
4 – Shirts
3 – Pairs of Shoes
2 – Bathing suits/dresses/outerwear
1 – Hat/Sunglasses
Resist the urge to pack for the “just in case,” as these items just take up space and rarely get used.
Packing Cubes and Small Organizers
Packing cubes not only allow you to fit more items into a smaller bag but also help you stay organized. Pack items from the same category into separate cubes to make it easy to locate exactly what you’re looking for and to prevent your suitcase from becoming a jumbled mess!
Digital Organization
Have you ever been at the airline or car rental check-in counter, frantically trying to pull up your itinerary or booking information without success because your phone will not connect to the airport wifi, and you feel the glare from the 30 people standing behind you, wondering what’s taking you so long? It is an awful feeling, which can be spared by ensuring your travel confirmations, boarding passes, hotel reservations and itineraries are organized all in one spot.
There are a few ways to do this, with the most basic being to file all important travel documents into a separate folder in your email. But if wifi or cell service is spotty, this method may also leave you scrambling. You could also take screenshots of your documents and pop them into a separate folder in your photos app.
Or, if you prefer a more hands-off method, using an app like TripIt is a great option. You simply forward all your travel emails, and it will automatically create a chronological timeline of your flights, car rental, hotel and even dinner reservations!
Post-Trip Unpacking
Vacations are relaxing, but travelling can be exhausting! Most people agree that unpacking when you arrive home is the worst part of going on vacation. But it is so important to make unpacking your suitcases as soon as possible a priority. Do all laundry and return all your travel essentials to their bin or station to prevent post-travel clutter from taking over your home.
We hope these tips will help you enjoy a stress-free summer holiday. If you need help to get organized before your summer trip, contact our team of professional organizers today. We offer free phone or video call consultations or a 30-minute in-person consultation for $50+tax. You can also send us videos of the areas you need help with via WhatsApp at 604-446-3939, and we would be happy to provide you with an estimate.
