When we decide to go on a vacation... here is what I do.
take out the suit cases and air them out. As they air out...
I lay out the clothes and stuff on the guest bed.
Every day I look at the clothes etc... and ask myself... " Do I really Want That / Need that ? " if we don't need it, its get put back away in the walk in. And the suitcase suddenly looks lighter.
Now when it comes time for actual packing, my husband does it. A Navy Man. ( Viet Nam) If you can pack a Sea Bag and not have wrinkles... you can pack a suitcase without wrinkles. And he does! ( The Navy must have a class as of how you pack one.)
Susan Marie, I like your idea of packing. I can tell you, as one of the original queens of over packers I have, changed my ways of packing, especially since the baggage restrictions, and fees.
Especially for a cruise in Alaska, where layers is THE word, your hubby's expertise comes into play, with smart packing.
__________________
Trip, with her book & tea!
Chat Hostess & Board Moderator
Tonight Hubby and I went to intio the guest bedroom and looked at what I had on the bed to pack. we went over stuff... I put a few things back... I don't need 2 jackets when I have one with brown and blue in it and it will go with more.
I'm trying to to pack things that goes with everything. less stuff I have to pack that way.
Paul always did all of the packing for us. :-) I think he saw when we were on our Honeymoon 32 years ago how bad I was at packing our suitcases. So he SWEETLY took over that duty for me. ;-)
~ Susan
Last edited by SusanMarie; August 11th, 2010 at 09:25 PM.
Reason: spelling
Will you rent him o ut, please? Trying and it's proving very difficult to cutting down this trip..making a list.. already cut it down, but I'm afraid I may add things "just in case"..Doing alot of mix and match...Please send your husband
All I can say as the Man who does the packing in our family, appreciate him for doing the packing and do not cry foul on the first day of the cruise if you forgot to place a special item on the guest bed.
His is only to pack what is seen not to guess!
I speak of experience
__________________ Rob Next Cruise: History: Celebrity Infinity-1, Dawn Princess-1, Sea Princess-2, Golden Princess-2, HA Maasdam-1, SS Cavina-1 Web site: http://robbarcruise.blogspot.com/
Susan i do the same thing as you, only i have a list to go along with what i pack in the suitcase, i go thru the list a few times, elminating this and that, mixing and matching pieces as i go along, great space saver is to put socks, and undies in a ziploc type bag, squish all the air out of it, and shove it into a corner of your bag
He is ALL Mine!!!...;-) I'm doing a lot of Mix And Match clothes for both of us. It has cut down on a lot over packing.
Susan
Well Susan.. I've made a list..cut out half of my dressy clothes and working on mixing and matching..only one dressy o utfit for 13 days, but I've even going to work on giving it several looks. Pennys has tank tops with sheer blouses and Im incorporating mine with three different colored pants. Now if I can convince Parrot Pop who I pack up for that he doesn't need those extra non-clothing items..After 55 years married to the same man I don't want to have to break in another one.. one is enough.. but I would of liked to have borrowed yours for packing assignments.. like Kelly Girls
Zip-lock bags. We discovered this a few cruises ago and now it is impossible to pack without them. I have a list with each day and what we need for that day. We use the snack size for any jewelry, Qt size for undies, swimsuit, t's, shorts. Usually several pairs/items in one bag; 2-2/1 gal for shoes. Even men's shoes will fit in the 2-2/1 or 3 qt sizes. All toiletries are in zip locks. Make-up in a ziplock goes into the bathroom. I also carry some extras of each size. Only things like cocktail dress, sundress, slacks, shirts, suit not in the baggies. Once onboard, I'm able to wipe out the drawers with antiseptic wipe, sling the zip locks into the drawers and I'm finished unpacking. Also, I never pack as many t-shirts as I will need because we always buy a couple on the ship or in ports. When I run out of t's, I use my purchased t'shirt. I carry some wire hangers to be able to quickly slide my clothes onto them and into the closet (they never have enough). Anything that looks wrinkled goes to the bathroom for a quick "steam." When we buy photos, we put the photo in the folder in a baggie. If our luggage ends up sitting on the pier in a pouring rain, pictures are never damaged. As we dirty clothes, they go into the baggies for a quick re-pack on last day/night. The filled baggies with dirty clothes are thrown as they accumulate into the empty suitcase. On the last day, most of my packing is completed. Half-empty toiletries may or may not get packed to go home. I can no longer travel without my zip locks. By the way, it saved us from an embarrasing airport incident when our luggage was picked to be gone through. The lady behind me had underwear, etc. dumped out on the table. All I had was a collection of baggies, which they mashed around on but didn't open. Everything stayed clean and neatly packed.
I have been using the ziplock bags as well for quite a while. The Dollar Tree has some much larger ones, 2 - 4 to a pack in a few larger sizes. I use those to put shirts, shorts, even slacks into. I make a stack of shorts, slacks. or shirts and then fold them together and slip the hole stack into one of those extra sized bags and it keeps everything straight and wrinkle free in my luggage. And, yes, it can save a lot of embarrassment if your bags are searched at the airport.
__________________
Been there - done that:
2003 Holiday
2004 Fantasy
2005 Holiday, Sensation, Conquest,
2006 Conquest, Celebration, Holiday,
2007 Freedom Grand Med, Holiday
2008 Fantasy & Sensation,
2009 Fantasy, Holiday & Dream Grand Med
2010 Fantasy and B2B Elation
2011 Monarch of the Seas
2012 Booked - Breeze from Barcelona 12 days
Paul always did all of the packing for us. :-) I think he saw when we were on our Honeymoon 32 years ago how bad I was at packing our suitcases. So he SWEETLY took over that duty for me. ;-)
~ Susan
would greatly appreciate some details about antiwrinkle packing
My european hubbie leaves these duties to me
How We Pack...:-)
( The Navy must have a class as of how you pack one.)
Husband packing
Rob
Linear Mode
