Efficient Packing Tips From a Mom of 8

We make several road trips throughout the year (family trips, conferences, ministry). Last year itself, we made 3 out-of state trips; one to Missouri, one to Chicago, and one to Florida (last one while I was 36 weeks pregnant with baby#8!). On top of that, we do several smaller weekend trips. Here in Texas, out of state is a big deal as you can be driving for more than 12 hours and find yourself still in Texas!

The trip itself turns out ok as our kids have so far been good during trips surviving up to 40 hour trips without any DVDs or media, except songs. The problem is the packing. Even if it is just a 1 day trip or 2 week trip, it requires careful planning to put together everything necessary for everyone so that you don’t end up having to buy anything on the way, yet not explode your van with luggage.

I used to be a person who packs much more than what we actually need for the trip. There were trips where I ended up not using 3/4ths of the stuff I had packed. After experiencing the inconveniences and less comfort of more luggage, I learned to pack efficiently. And with 8 kids now, unless I pack really carefully, I can end up even overloading our 12 seater van!

I’m sharing some tips I employ for packing efficiently for road trips. ‘Efficiently‘ meaning, how to have minimal stress during the packing phase, as well as how to minimise the amount of luggage you have to take out for an overnight stay at a hotel. Since I have started using these hacks, it has greatly taken away the nightmare of packing!

Here we go……

Pre-packing phase

(1)Half the battle is over deciding what all stuff to take and how many pairs of clothes each.

First I brainstorm all items onto an app that I can check off.

I like the ‘Errands To-Do List’ app (iOS app) for this. I like this app as you can still see the items you checked off at the bottom, and it is easy to uncheck them after a trip. You can also make sub-lists under a main list, which can also have items to check off. There are several other apps that can be used, wunderlist for example. For my purpose, the errands to do list works perfectly fine.

I make several sub-lists, in one of which I write items that are pretty much standard for all trips. (eg: toiletries, diapers, wipes, sippy cups, phone chargers, charging bank, reading books/ Bible, towels, flashlights, sleeping bags, sheets, pillows, shoes, sandals, outerwear clothes, home clothes, underclothes etc etc). After the trip, I uncheck the items so I can reuse that list for the next trip instead of brainstorming again from scratch.

I next brainstorm all the stuff I need for that specific trip. Example, for a beach trip, I will add in swimwear or beach towels or whatever else is needed, under a different sub-list. I delete that sub-list after that specific trip.

While deciding number of clothes to take, I factor in if laundry is an option, and then mentally go through our plan for the entire trip, and decide accordingly, trying to keep it bare minimum.

Packing phase

(1) I keep a permanently packed duffel bag with stuff I tend to need for every trip. So I am always ready to go with these items whenever a trip arrives.

I usually keep toiletries (including toothpaste/ toothbrushes, baby soap, baby oil, lotion, cosmetic bag, shampoo)  flashlights, combs, safety pins, plastic mug, nightlights, extra ziploc bags and plastic bags, basic medicines, laundry bags etc to name a few. (I keep separate travel sized toiletries and separate pair of toothbrushes each, in the bag instead of packing the ones we use in the house.) After each trip, I immediately refill any items that need to be replaced, and periodically check for any expired items. So for the most part, everything is ready to go for the next trip.

(2) Similarly, I keep a permanently packed diaper bag for trips, different from the one that I keep in the car, and refill that also soon after a trip.

This way if we are going for an outing from our host’s house, I don’t have to carry the diaper bag in and out. I usually keep diapers, wipes, changing pads, change of clothes, bibs, extra sippy cups, water, trash bags, hand sanitizer etc.

(3) While packing clothes, I pair up everyone’s clothes that they will be wearing on a specific day and time in 1 huge plastic bag.

I use trash can liners for the purpose as we outgrew the regular grocery bags, and then label it with the day if relevant eg: friday evening etc . This way I don’t  have to pull out and open up all the luggage, when we are at a place, as well as waste precious time I could be using to talk to people, than sort through clothes to find 10 pairs we will need!  Also, if we have a stayover at a hotel, we can just easily pull out the plastic bag or 2 needed for that hotel stay, instead of the whole 2 big suitcases. I keep an empty duffel bag or 2 in the van, so that we can just carry what we need for the stay. If I get to do laundry during the trip, I immediately pair them up again and put it back into the plastic bag. I keep all these paired up clothes in the main suitcase. I only put the correct amount of clothes in the suitcase, with only 1 par of extras,and a few more for the younger ones. For lengthier stays at 1 particular place, it’s just easier to take the whole suitcase. Very occasionally, if its a trip which is very much broken up in that pretty much every night we are at a different place, I sometimes just keep all those plastic bags of clothes in a plastic tub, instead of a suitcase, as it is a little easier to get it from there.

So basically, when I go inside a house/hotel for just an overnight stay, I mostly only have a toiletry bag, duffel bag with selected plastic bags of clothes,  and diaper bag instead of 2 big suitcases! This alone can save everyone’s back and sanity!

Now, onto the extra clothes…Since we have enough trunk space in our 12 seater, I always keep a trunk organizer with a safe amount of random overlapping size clothes, as well as  extra underclothes, bath towels, extra sippy cups and so forth. So for each trip, even if I only end up packing the right amount of clothes, I will still have a good buffer that is already in the van. If it’s a trip that involves being outdoors in the dirt most of the time, like a camping trip, I will pack more sets of extra clothes in a duffel bag and keep in the trunk to take as needed.

I have the kids pack a small backpack each of books or toys or activities they need for the trip with their water bottles.

I also keep a list of the bags or main items in a sub-list in the Errands app, so while loading into the car, we don’t miss out anything.

Even though it’s not a completely fool-proof method and travel and packing always has its own challenges; with these simple tips, packing has become much less of an effort for me.