Going on a long trip can be super fun, but one thing that can add stress is packing. It’s hard to know what you’ll need even a few weeks in advance, and there’s no predicting the weather as accurately as you might like. Luckily, there’s some strategy to packing light. These tips can help save you some stress and some luggage space on your next long trip.
Figure Out Essentials
The first and most important step to packing light is working out the top 5 things you won’t be able to leave without. Once you know your top essentials, you can start to pare down the non-essentials. To keep things light, it’s best to limit your list of essentials by either weight or volume—give yourself a weight or a space limit, and don’t let your combined essential items go over that limit.
Prioritize
Once you’ve got your top most important items, the next step is to gather items that you really want but aren’t necessary. Then, prioritize how likely you are to use each item you gathered and pack them in order of most to least likely.
Use Every Nook
If you’re having trouble fitting everything in, keep in mind that certain items such as clothes can be folded very small and stuffed into the extra spaces between your other stuff. Doing this is doubly efficient as it will create a soft protective layer for anything fragile.
