Packing for vacation

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Hello lovely readers!

In our house, we've had a really busy week. Last Thursday, we went to the Ohio State Fair. We walked around and played from 10:30 AM to 7:30 PM. It was a long day, and we had the best time. When we were getting ready to leave, I accidentally ran my foot over with our wagon and bruised it pretty badly. Luckily, it hasn't slowed me down too much.

On Friday night, our four-year-old learned to swim on her own. She is so happy, and we are very proud of her, but it is still a little scary to watch.

On Saturday, my husband and I had Grammy watch the kids while we went to the outlet malls to do a little birthday shopping for my husband. He was in desperate need of new shoes, and the whole experience was like shopping with the kids. I kept asking how the shoes fit, if they were comfortable, and if he liked how they looked. We laughed the entire time, and it was really nice to spend one-on-one time together.

As for the rest of the week, I have been preparing for our family beach vacation, which we do each year! This year, we are headed back to Dauphin Island, AL. I always enjoy our time at the beach, but I dread packing for the trip! I am an over-packer, so I have been trying new things to prevent myself from overpacking. I seem to think I need to pack everyone's entire wardrobe, and then we only end up wearing the same 3 outfits the entire trip. I have a new strategy this year, and it has made a world of difference. I had all of our clothes packed on Tuesday night, and most of my stress disappeared.

Recently, we purchased a shoe holder to hang over the door to pack all of our clothes for trips. I have used it twice for weekend getaways, and it has been amazing. For my family of 4, we can fit all the clothes, bathing suits, and personal items we need. It is really easy to pack because I just hang it over the door and start packing. I have noticed that I don't pack as many outfits because I can easily see everything I am packing, so things do not get hidden in the bag and I continue to pack more clothes. For this trip, I am using the shoe holder for me and my husband. I ordered a clothes organizer for the kids to use since we will need more clothes for a week-long getaway. I got the kids a closet organizer that has the days of the week on it. I chose this one so that we can use it for my daughter to pick out her clothes weekly when she starts preschool this fall. I always try to find things that have more than one purpose.

For our weekend getaways, I have always rolled up the shoe organizer and placed it in a 31 tote bag. It fits perfectly, and when we get to our location and hang the shoe organizer up, we use the tote for dirty clothes. On this trip, I packed these organizers into our big family suitcase, and they fit very well. I even had room for our shoes and bathroom bag. I spent way less time packing for this trip. I also didn't overthink the packing process because everything was organized as I was packing, and I could see everything with one quick glance, so my brain didn't have to memorize everything I put in the bag. If you have a hard time packing, I highly recommend giving this a try.

The only thing I am not sure how to pack are toys for the kids. I always like to make sure we have toys so the kids have things to play with while we prepare meals or just have a few minutes to relax inside. However, their toys are very big and bulky, so I have been racking my brain on how to pack them without them taking over the car. If you have any great life hacks for packing toys, let me know. I would love to try them!

I hope you all have a great week, and I can't wait to update you on our vacation and how our travels went to get to our destination!

Alex

The Whirlwind Mom