How to Pack Light When Traveling

Packing light for your next trip doesn’t have to be a challenge if you approach it with the right mindset. With a little ingenuity, you can pack for a week and fit it all into your leather backpack, your leather weekender bag or leather duffle bag or shaving kit bag. If it's a working trip, a leather laptop messenger bag works well for protecting your laptop computer. Using a travel bag for mens toiletries helps keep your suitcase organized

The key is efficiency. You only need to take the bare bones necessities, and you won’t even miss that item that you struggled to part with during the packing process. Before we get started, keep in mind these benefits of packing light:

• No excess baggage fees at the airport – having just a carry on is the Holy Grail of the savvy traveler
• It’s quicker to pack at home and at your destination
• It makes multi-destination trips less of a hassle – you can easily carry around everything if you are exploring a city for a day in between hotels

When you are traveling, you don’t need a lot of stuff with you, you only need the essentials. It will feel so good when you are at your destination airport, watching your fellow travelers at baggage claim, watching the luggage belt go round and round, while you breeze past them with just your carry on.

Here are some tips on how to pack light:

• Don’t pack by going through your things – use a packing list (and stick to it).
• Don’t just throw your clothes into your bag. Roll them up tightly or use packing cubes. This will save a ton of space so you can pack more in a small space.
• Only pack 1 or 2 pairs of shoes (remember you will be wearing one pair for the trip)
• Don’t pack thick or heavy clothing – opt instead for lightweight or technical winter clothing for those colder trips.
• Jeans are not your travel friend. They generally do not pack well. Only pack one pair, if necessary.
• For trips longer than 3-4 days, you still only need to bring 3-4 outfits. Make sure they all coordinate and mix/match them throughout your trip.
• Don’t take laundry items with you. When you wash your clothes, buy supplies at your destination. Or take advantage of hotel cleaning services.
• Have a small black toiletry bag and pack only the essentials. Get travel sizes of everything. You can buy TSA-approved travel containers to store your shampoo, etc.
• Only take essential medications, like prescriptions. Ditch any ‘just in case’ items, you can generally get these at your destination if you need them.
• Jewelry is not your friend while traveling. Unless you are attending some fancy ball or social event, don’t wear jewelry at all.
• Don’t take books, take a Kindle or similar e-reader. They are skinny, light and hold hundreds of books! Perfect to store in your leather laptop backpack.

It is so easy to pack light for any length of trip if you hold these tips and tricks in mind. In no time you will be a light-packing pro, ready to go!