Organized and Simplified: Traveling organized

My family has traveled a lot over the years, mostly to visit family, and not necessarily on vacations. I have a lot of out of state family members and going to see them over the years has taught me a lot. Vacation or not, a well-packed and organized suitcase will make your trip so much better. I'm not an expert by any means, but I'll happily share some tricks we have learned to make our travels easier.

One of the first things my husband and I have learned is to keep a stocked bathroom bag. We keep a bathroom and toiletry bag that has small bottles of soap, shampoo, conditioner, a hairbrush, lotion,  hairspray, toothbrushes for the three of us, razors and shave cream for both me and the hubs, a small sewing kit, a small first aid kid, a small manicure set, and some medicines. The only thing we have to add in to the bag the day we leave is my makeup and flat iron. A day or two before we're set to leave, we double check the bag and determine whether any of these items are running low and need replacing. The small chevron bag always contains all these items:

We also use a checklist to make sure our suitcase is packed. We frequently forget things, so after forgetting to pack pajamas two trips in a row, I decided a checklist was in order. I laminated that thing and popped it into my suitcase.

Our checklist might look a little different, as we have a preschooler and will soon have a new baby, but this is a Word document you can download and edit to your heart's content.

Click here to download my travel checklist!


What travel tricks do you use to stay organized?