Some Simple Packing Tips

Hey everyone!  As some of you know (those who read my blog), The Man and I just got back from a 2-week road trip vacation.  This vacation involved not only simple sight-seeing, but also two reunions and several visits with friends.  There were only two times when we would be staying more than one night at a time, so I wanted to pack carefully and try not to have just a jumbled mess in our suitcases. So what do you do when you need suggestions......PINTEREST, of course!  I found some FREE printables that I used and found to be very helpful.

The form below was so helpful in just having one place to jot down all the things we did not want to forget.  I simply kept this out on the kitchen island for a few days prior to our DD, so The Man and I could write down things as we thought about them.  The last category on this form, Entertainment, is where I listed things like: snacks & water, electronics & cords, reading-writing materials, my crochet (I like to crochet in the car), etc.  When we are car-tripping, I always use several sturdy tote bags to make things easier to find......one for snacks & water, another for the electronics stuff & paper goods (including our travel agenda & hotel reservation confirmations), and a separate one for my crochet & my iPad (we listen to audio books on that).   

Source

I really like this next form and used it to plan out my outfits for each day of our trip.  My plan (and it worked beautifully) was to have everything in one suitcase that we would need on-the-road and not have to haul in both suitcases -- The Man likes to use one of those fold-over type bags.  

Source

I packed the completed form right into a pocket in my suitcase, incase I forgot what I planned for a particular occasion, or if I would be doing some mixing and matching for additional outfits.

PSST.....I am now using the above form to plan outfits for my everyday wear.  I have a section in our master closet where I can hang several outfits and not have to decide each morning what I will wear.  I'll share more about this trick later when I reveal our master closet redo -- it's almost finished!

Okay, it's time to pack those bags!  I found this Source on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.  It's pretty ingenious as far as I'm concerned.  You simply pack "outfits" in the Jumbo Ziplok bags.

I neatly folded tops and bottoms, plus a little bag of the matching accessories, placed them in the zip bags, pressed out the excess air, zipped it up, DONE!

If what I was packing might wrinkle easily, I didn't squeeze out so much air.

This was a medium-size suitcase, and I had all of my clothes (*minus shoes, purses -- those went in a tote bag), The Man's travel clothes, & all the undergarments for both of us zipped into separate bags.

*The tote bag with shoes and purses is not something I ordinarily do, but we had plenty of room.  I just decided each day what shoes/purse I wanted and grabbed them from the bag -- no need to take the whole tote bag in each time.

This system worked so well.   It was so easy to find what we wanted each day without disrupting the entire suitcase.  Each night I would pull out the next day's outfit and hang it up so any wrinkles could fall out -- that worked well, too.

*FYI -- all of my toiletries, including makeup & hair stuff goes into a zippered tote bag.  I usually carry this inside the car, especially during warm weather.

When we got home, I only had 2 outfits that had not been worn, but were still nice and clean in their zip bags and ready to re-hang in my closet.  After unpacking everything, I simply tossed all the zip bags right back into the suitcase to reuse on our next trip.

Well, that's just about a wrap for this post.  I would love to hear how you pack for trips -- tips, tricks, etc.  Trips-vacations are such fun but also a bit chaotic, so it's great when you have some tricks up-your sleeve.  Hope you enjoyed and maybe "packed" (wow, I'm so funny) up an idea or two.

I sometimes like to party with these nice bloggers:

Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Mondays

Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday

Leslie at House on the Way for Twirl & Take a Bow

Mary Beth at Cupcakes and Crinoline for Project Inspired
Suzy at Worthing Court for The Scoop

Karin at The Style Sisters for Centerpiece Wednesday

Kelly at Live Laugh Rowe for Live Laugh Linky Party

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday
Natasha at Natasha in OZ for Say G'Day Saturday Party

Coming Clean in the Craftroom Closet

Hey everyone!  Are you ready for Part 2 of my Craftroom Redo?  If by chance you missed it, Pt. 1 is HERE.  Once again, get yourself some food and drink for sustenance.  I simply cannot do posts that are not filled with photos -- I know, it's kind of a sickness.  My reasoning excuse is that I just love looking at other bloggers photos of whatever they are sharing, so I feel it is my duty to provide lots of pics for y'all so you can see all the details.  Just sayin'......lol!  Today, we will be going into the "craftroom closet."  Yay, doesn't that sound like fun?  Okay, don't answer that!  I'm nothing if not all about sharing, so come on in, and we will get started!

There is a lot going on behind these closed doors.

Are You Kidding Me?

Hey everyone!  I'm so excited to be sharing "non-medical" related posts again, but you may think I've lost my mind when you see that I am once again sharing my craftroom.  But I kid you not, I did a major-redo.  Over the last couple of weeks when I was nervous and anxious about tests I was having done and then waiting for the results, I completely immersed myself in revamping my "Momma Cave."  When I'm stressed and anxious about something, I typically clean and organize.  I watched tons of YouTube videos about rooms and spaces dedicated to crafting, sewing & scrapbooking and came to the conclusion that I did not have my space set up for the way I do all those things.  In other areas of our home, I like things very orderly and fairly uncluttered, but that concept was not working for me in my Momma Cave.  For me to be truly creative, I need lots of visual stimulation.  I need the things that I use most often, to be very close at hand and for my tools and supplies to be part of the room's decor.  Does that make sense?  Lots of crafters have these fabulous (and very large spaces) rooms with lots of storage behind closed doors.  Some of these rooms are gorgeous and give me a little twinge;  but when I perused my own space, I realized the areas that always made me smile were the areas where everything was visible and colorful.  Coming to that conclusion freed me to make some major changes, and I would love to share.  Considering that I took just shy of 250 snaps of my new redo, I will be spreading this out over several posts.  I won't kid you, though; each post will be photo-heavy (VERY), so you will need food and drink.....lol!

The Planner Craze!

Hey everyone!  Do you use a "planner" of some kind -- a Filofax, Erin Condren, Franklin Covey or any one of the other popular brands out there?  I do and have since the 70's (okay, don't call me old -- I'm just very mature and have been around the block a few times) when my children were in grade school, and I was one of the few "stay-at-home Moms."  Being in that small and very select group meant I was the chief volunteer for everything that went on in the school -- PTA President, room mother for both kids, Chair for all fundraisers, cookie baker for all parties.....well, you get the picture.  Of course, this was on top of keeping up with Scouts, soccer, piano lessons....whew, I truly had a full-time job that I did not get monetarily paid for, but I did it for my children.  I was involved in so many things that I knew I had to have a way to keep it all organized.  I bought my first planner at that time, and it was not much more than a small notebook to which I had added a calendar; but it saved my bacon many times.  This was kind of the start of my OCD about being organized.  I discovered that I REALLY liked having a place to write all this "stuff" down & even started taking some classes on being more organized.  As I got more into this organization thing, my "planner-needs" grew, and they continued to grow as my children got older, and I joined the ranks of "Moms working outside the home."

Over the next few years, I went through numerous planners, then Daytimers, & then entered the world of Franklin Covey.  Now these were not cheap, but once I found the binder that I liked, I had it for about ten+ years.  I simply replaced the calendar inserts every year.  I was running a small business at the time, so my FC was by my side at all times.

Just Some Randomness or Maybe It's Rambling, You Be the Judge!

Hey everyone!  Do you ever have a day where your mind just doesn't want to settle on one thing?  Well, silly me,  I'm talking to Bloggers, and our minds are always juggling a gazillion different things, right?  Right!  Some days are just worse than others, let's put it that way.

No! No! I Won't Let You Go!

Hey everyone!  I CANNOT believe Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is looming just around the corner, and then it will be the "mad Christmas dash!"  Since we are getting into that time of year for present wrapping frenzy, I thought I would share a little something that happened totally by accident; but, of course you need some background.

The picture below is our Christmas kitchen in our previous home.  We had completely gutted and remodeled the kitchen in 2004 -- new cabinets, Corian countertops, new stainless appliances, & hardwood floors.  You can see that complete transformation HERE.  I had always wanted an island, but we just weren't sure if the space would allow it, so we waited.  The Man said we could add one if I decided the space would work.  Well, we just happened to be browsing through Crate n'Barrel one time when we were in the big city (Scottsdale) & discovered the PERFECT island.

Just Stuff and Nonsense!

Hey everyone!  Just a short little post, but actually not so much "nonsense," but definitely "just stuff."  My grandmother use to say "just stuff and nonsense," usually when someone was trying to pass on gossip.  She wasn't keen at all on gossiping.  That phrase just popped into my head today, I guess because I've been thinking about her a lot lately.  You just never stop missing someone even when they've been gone for over thirty years.  Anyway, this post is about "just stuff," really random stuff.

I don't know if you live in an area with great "out-of-the-tap" drinking water or if, like us, you have to use bottled water or have an RO system.  Well, we have the RO system at our kitchen sink, and it is also hooked into our refrigerator for the water and ice in the door.  We just always seemed to gravitate to the bottled water, but would refill the bottles a couple of times.  Started thinking that probably wasn't such a great idea, so we decided to try some other things.

One of the brands I checked online was the Contigo.  It has very good reviews, and I liked the idea of the stainless steel.   Then guess what we found at Costco today?  The exact set I saw online, and they were a very good price.  

They are for hot beverages or cold, and look like they will be super-easy to clean.  We shall see.  Now we are just keeping a pitcher of cold water in the fridge instead of 8 or 10 water bottles.

Costco also had a big selection of these.  I think most of you know how much I love these battery-operated timer candles -- love, love, love!  This is a new set to me.  The others I've gotten were in sets of 4 candles all the same size, so this one is making me very happy.  I have so many "very high" spots in our home that I really like to decorate and add candles, but this person doesn't really like to get on ladders any more than is absolutely necessary -- these are the perfect solution, and the batteries last a nice long time.

Last, but certainly not least -- weather!

I hope the weather is much better where you are than it is here.  Even though the humidity is only 

14% (I truly think someone read the equipment wrong on that one), it is totally miserable with the temp at 107*.

I'm truly focusing all my energy on that "stray thunderstorm!"  The term "stray" doesn't really hold out much hope, and the East Valley (where we live) is really big, so it could show up in a lot of different places.  However, I am selfishly hoping that it decides to sit right over my house and drop a ton!

Sorry, I feel I've complained way more than my fair share this summer about the weather, but it just makes me grumpy and I simply must vent.  For those who will get some nastiness this Fall and Winter, please feel free to vent your woes to me.  I will give you a gentle "cyber" pat on the back and console you with words that it too shall pass.  Is that a fair trade-off in the venting and complaining department?  I certainly hope so.  Thanks so much for putting up with me!

Can You Read It?

Hey everyone!  Maybe it's just me with older eyes, but I find some blog posts to be very difficult to read -- like too small, or too fancy a font, or too light a color & sometimes all the above.  That being said, I'm experimenting with a larger font-size but still using my old standby & traditional "Times" font.  I know some of you are just trying to make your posts stand out and be recognized by "the powers that be" who might bring you fame and glory, and I think that's wonderful and truly wish you much luck.  All I'm asking is, if it's too difficult for your average reader, will those people with super-busy schedules, deadlines and thousands of things to read actually take the time to read yours?  Please weigh-in.  Maybe I'm all wrong or just need stronger glasses.