We are finally in full summer mode! For us, it means lots of short trips. Hopefully, it means some vacation time for you. Traveling with children (and a husband!) is no joke and packing can become quite cumbersome. Factor in needing food, toys, beach equipment, and anything else you may need for where you are going, and you can easily spend several hours packing and forgetting things.
My sister and her family were visiting from Florida this past weekend and she was jokingly scolded by her husband because she forgot to pack his razor. I laughed because not that long ago, my husband asked me if I had packed his baseball cap (I didn’t). It made me realize that we can all use a little bit of help creating a good packing system, including one where husbands/partners are encouraged to pack their own things.
I find that the best way to avoid forgetting things is to make lists. In order to save time, it is best to keep one thing you can use over and over, or at least a couple of different lists depending on the type of trip you are doing. After my husband’s hat incident, I decided to be more methodical about a packing system.
Guide for Packing for the Whole Family!
1. Make a list – There are two apps I use on my phone. I like both notes on the iPhone and AnyList. You can check off items as you pack on AnyList, which is nice. I keep my smaller travel list on there (when we fly). I use the notes app for trips where there are multiple sections, like food, clothes, and beach stuff, and put an X next to items that are completed. This works well for doing item number 6 on this guide.
2. Schedule time to pack – If you don’t set a specific time to pack, you may end up packing last second, which is never good. You will be rushing and can forget things, not to mention getting a later start to your trip. I like to do it the night prior to leaving, once the kids are asleep. Another time that works for me is the morning of an afternoon or evening trip if I took off work that day. I will ask the nanny to come for half the day to be with the kids, while I do everything that needs to be done.
3. Label your different lists – I have a plane travel list and shore (beach) travel list. Those two can be adapted to any trip that involves a flight or hotel stay (whether with family or alone) or trips that include a rental and you know you will be bringing food and equipment. You can hide items in the AnyList app, which I really like as I mentioned earlier. You can’t hide items on the notes app, so you either have to erase it from your list or know you don’t need it. If you are going to a mountain rental and don’t need beach gear, I just put it in parentheses since I don’t like to erase stuff. You can even put an X next to it, so your eyes skip over the item as you read down your list.
4. Remind your partner or older family member/kids to pack their own stuff – In my case, this refers to my husband. I am clear about what I am packing for the whole family and what he needs to pack. Generally, I’ll ask him to leave the clothes he wants for me to put in the suitcase or have him text me what he wants. I also tell him to pack his own toiletries and chargers. I run the list by him before leaving, so he can add any last second item not on there (clearly it doesn’t work every time but I have now added baseball hats as an item to my travel lists!).
5. Plan the outfits – I do a mental run down of all the days we will be away and try to pack a day and a night time outfit, as well as a few extras for the kids. I can avoid overpacking this way.
6. Check the list – I do a quick visual check of all the items that need to go into the car and review the list with my husband as mentioned in item number 4 right before we leave.
Hope this guide is helpful! It certainly has helped me over the years and I continue to tweak it and alter it as kids’ needs change and also when I realize things can be improved.
