Written by Caroline Costello for Smarter Travel
A messy suitcase replete with junk weighs you down, begets baggage fees, and wastes your time (when you’re continuously rifling through your stuff in search of one thing or another).
How to De-Junk Your Suitcase
Further, it exacts an emotional toll: Clutter can affect your mood, causing you to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. So dump the junk. A combination of careful planning and ruthless purging will help you get rid of items you don’t need to bring on your travels. (And watching a few episodes of Hoardersprobably won’t hurt either.)
Here are eight simple steps to streamline your suitcase and lighten your load.
Clean
Have you ever thought about cleaning your suitcase? Not just cleaning it out—cleaning it. A fresh, hygienic bag is the best foundation for organized packing. In Budget Travel’s A Neat Freak’s Guide to a Clean Suitcase, Chuck Horst, president of Margaret’s Cleaner’s in San Diego, advises wiping down suitcases with Lysol: “Every time you use your luggage, I would take a damp rag with Lysol and just give the bottom of the bag and the handles a quick once-over.” Lysol Disinfecting Wipes would work well, too. Suck up crumbs with a DustBuster or a vacuum attachment, and spritz some Febreze inside your bag to deodorize it. (This is particularly important if your pets like sitting inside your suitcase.)While you’re at it, clean out your wallet (remove any credit cards you won’t use during your trip), your purse, the pockets of your travel jacket, and your packing organizers.
Set a Goal
Set clear intentions for the quantity of items you want to bring on your trip. Whether you plan to cart a single carry-on bag or a small army of checked suitcases, determine the amount of luggage you want to accompany you on your trip before starting the packing process. Consider the following: airline baggage fees, the length of your trip, the weather in your destination, the activities you foresee undertaking, and the amount of poundage your arms and back muscles (and those of your companion) can comfortably wield. By setting a goal prior to packing—and sticking to it—you can make sure that the volume of stuff you pack is predicated on careful logic, not some last-second shoe-hoarding impulse.Plan Ahead
You’ve decided on the number of bags you want to bring. Now start scheduling. Do you follow a smartphone calendar or use a day planner? Add your packing process to your agenda. Set aside a few hours one or two days prior to your trip to pack and organize your things. Slow and steady wins the best-packed bag. Delay until the day you depart and you’re left with little time to pack a carefully de-junked set of suitcases.Even when traveling, keep packing in the back of your mind. Did you stumble upon the perfect airplane outfit or a winning ensemble for a daylong hike? Take a picture of your best travel getups, and keep them in a folder on your computer or tack them to the inside of your closet door. When a pair of shoes or an outfit really works for you on the road, you’ll want to remember to pack it for future trips.
Purge
Make a packing list. Then, arrange the list in order of what you need most to what you need least. The stuff toward the bottom? Perhaps you should leave those items at home with the cats.Consider the 10 or so things at the end of your tally and ask yourself some questions: Can I travel without this? Can I buy this for an affordable price on the road? Will this take up a lot of space in my bag? Have I packed this on a previous trip, and did I use it? Adopt a take-no-prisoners approach to purging your packing list. If you are strongly questioning whether an object will be of use during your travels, it’s safe to say you’re better off just axing it from the packing list.
Invest in Travel-Specific Products
Stock up on quality travel supplies and you’ll be less inclined to pack junk. Think like a backpacker. Backpackers have some admirable packing skills, which are enhanced by the fact that they tend to get ahold of the right products. They maximize minimal bag space by investing in expert gear: lightweight bags, quality walking shoes, breathable travel clothes, multipurpose toiletries; this is how they manage to fit weeks’ or even months’ worth of equipment in a single pack.You can replace armloads of superfluous effects with the right kind of products, from smart multipurpose travel clothes to e-readers, which eliminate the need to pack bulky books.