Minimal Packing for a Family Trip: Less Stuff and More Fun

I used to be a chronic over packer! I can remember lines at the airport where I was unzipping my overly stuffed suitcase and taking items out just to jam them into an already full carry-on bag. All of this to try and get the weight on my suitcase to an acceptable level! The first time I flew with my husband we were headed to Mexico for an all-inclusive 7-day trip, and I had over 55 pounds of stuff with me! Just me! Not me and him! I can remember getting a little nervous as we got to the front of the line to check in, knowing that they would weigh my suitcase. My husband hurled my suitcase onto the scale, and it was 66 pounds! He took mine down and threw his on the scale. Luckily, he had room for much of mine to be moved over, but I still ended up with extra in my carry on making it uncomfortably heavy.

I wish I could say that from then on, I became a better packer. Truth is, I didn’t. My over packing was actually a running joke. It wasn’t until years (and a few kids) later that I became better at packing. We recently drove about ten hours to the beach, and my 13-year-old daughter brought a friend. The sweet girl was helping us load up and she said, “Is that all your parents brought?” I happily chimed in that that bag was all the clothes for me, my husband, our almost three-year-old, and our ten-month-old. She was pretty shocked! And do you know what? We still didn’t use everything! As I cleaned up our condo and we got ready to depart I did a quick inventory to see what I could possibly eliminate on the next trip.

For myself I brought:

2 pairs of shorts: One black and one denim
4 tops: one tank, two t-shirts, and one ¾ sleeve top

1 black cardigan sweater

1 pair of black leggings: these served as my pajama pants and my car “travel” pants

3 bras: I only brought three bras because we’d be biking in 85 degree weather almost every day, and I’m not minimal enough that I’m wearing a wet, dirty bra.

6 pairs of underwear: Same concept as above here…I’m just not the minimal and my underwear aren’t that big

2 pairs of flip flops: One cheap pair for the beach and one pair for everything else

4 swimsuit tops and 3 swimsuit bottoms: I knew this would be a little over kill as well, but I hate to put on a wet swimsuit

1 romper that I use as a swimsuit cover up but could double as an outfit if needed

When I was packing up I realized I didn’t wear:

1 pair of shorts (the denim ones)
1 t shirt

1 black cardigan sweater

1 bra

3 pairs of underwear (I did do one load of laundry while we were there)
and one swimsuit (top and bottom) and an extra top

That was pretty surprising! I thought since I was bringing so little, I would definitely wear everything I brought! The thought of going to the beach again and only bringing one pair of shorts is still intimidating but I might try it next time! I also always travel with some type of sweater or jacket. I do this for a few reasons, one my husband keeps the car chilly, two, if you get a little too much sun sometimes, you’re cold in the evening, and three, I’ve been places where the bottom has dropped out and it’s gotten way colder than predicted!

I posted a YouTube video showing the bag we packed in and all the clothes I brought! You can check it out at https://youtu.be/0LIzbcqQ4rg and at https://youtu.be/F5TRpz2920U

My husband and I never really talked about minimal packing, but holy moly has he gotten on board! He is more on board for minimal packing than he is for minimalism around the house. I think it’s because this is temporary, but either way I’ll take it! It’s a step in the right direction. For this trip he brought:

2 pairs of shorts: one khaki and one gray pair that are amphibious shorts that can be worn as swim trunks or shorts (he loves these things)
1 pair of regular swim trunks

3 t-shirts

5 pairs of underwear

2 pairs of socks

1 pair of tennis shoes

1 pair of flip flops

And he ended up wearing everything but one pair of socks and 2 pairs of underwear. Again, I did do one load of laundry because we were staying at a condo and mostly because the seaweed was bad, and I didn’t want it staining our swimsuits. When we travel, I only bring clothes that can be washed on a cold, regular cycle and dried. I will wash everything from underwear to dishtowels to jeans in the same load if we are on vacation.

For my two, almost three-year-old daughter I did something different than I have in the past. Previously, I have packed her only black pants and shorts and all her t-shirts that match black and one sweater that matched black bottoms. This was easy because if she spilled something on her shirt than any other shirt could be put on with the bottoms she was already wearing and vice versa if she needed new bottoms, you just needed to know if she needed shorts or pants. This time I decided to do all dresses, which I liked as well. I don’t have a preference between the two methods after doing them both. I think the first method allowed for more variation of weather which we needed at the first time of travel and this second method allowed for her to look a little cuter while we were out and about, but I still think she looked plenty cute the first time! I might be biased! For her I packed:

6 dresses

2 pairs of shorts and two tshirts: these would serve as her pajamas but could also be a casual outfit if needed.

Lots of underwear! This just comes with being 2, but thankfully we were accident free and didn’t need them all

1 pair of sandals

1 pair of rubber “beach” flip flops

4 swimsuits

She wore both pairs of shoes, 4 dresses, one t-shirt and shorts set and all her swimsuits. She chose to sleep in my husband’s t-shirt two nights. She likes these because they “smell like daddy” and we also washed some clothes, so she didn’t need everything. I hate putting her in a wet swimsuit, so she wore all her swimsuits because sometimes we’d swim in the morning and then again in the evening.

My 10-month-old had:

4 sleepers

6 one-piece shorts outfits (I love these)

3 swimsuits

Diapers and swim diapers

3 pairs of socks

1 pair of shoes

He wore 3 one-piece short outfits and 3 sleepers. Again, this is because we did laundry. So he didn’t wear:

3 pairs of socks

1 pair of shoes

3 outfits

2 sleepers

That’s a lot that he didn’t wear!! I was shocked! I thought I had gotten pretty good at this!

Writing this all out is so helpful to know what I could skimp more on in the future. I am weighing if it’s worth bringing less and possibly putting myself in a bind since it all already fit in one bag, but it would be nice to be able to pack toiletries in that extra space instead of having to bring an extra bag. It was shocking seeing the duffel we brought next to our 13-year-old daughter’s bag because they were close to the same size! I don’t pack for our older kids, and I don’t dictate how much they bring (within reason of course)!

The benefits of packing less have been immense! First off, we have more room in the car and with our not so small family size this is always welcome! Everyone enjoys having more room. It’s also easier to pack the car and load everything up which (mostly) my husband enjoys. There is also less stress once in the condo. There is less to put away when we arrive and less to deal with for the time we are on vacation. Also, having fewer options for clothes makes getting dressed easier when getting ready with that many people in a small space. One major benefit is less stress when we get home. If we can stay somewhere that has a washer and dryer in the condo or home my goal is to only bring home the dirty pajamas that we wore the night before and our travel outfits. This means that everyone can put away their few clean outfits easily when we get home! No more taking 2 weeks to unpack and get life back to normal! What other benefits could you see from minimal packing?

It really gets me thinking about how doing an inventory like this in my closet might help me pair down more to what I’m really wearing most! I never felt like I had limited options or “nothing to wear” while we were gone!

I posted a YouTube video showing the bag we packed in and all the clothes I brought! You can check it out at https://youtu.be/0LIzbcqQ4rg and at https://youtu.be/F5TRpz2920U

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