Keep Calm & Carry On This Travel Season: How To Maximize Your Carry-On Luggage

We can all relate to over packing luggage out of fear of not having exactly what we need for a trip away from home. Times are hard though and who wants to give away $50+ roundtrip just so their luggage can have a spot under the plane?! If you’re not flying Southwest Airlines where the first two checked bags are free, or you aren’t using the right credit cards to get the fee waived, check out these tips for packing light and saving money:

1. The biggest thing to tackle in packing is what to wear on the trip. Start out by pulling out everything you think you might want and/or need. Cut it down to include the bare essentials by remembering that it’s ok to wear an item multiple times. Pick 2 or 3 pair of bottoms – pants, shorts, or skirts – that can be worn with a few different shirts, casually or dressed up. Try to choose shirts that aren’t bulky and could be layered depending on the temperature. Don’t forget the necessities! One pair of pajamas, just enough pairs of socks and underwear, plus one extra of each just in case. Shoes are a bit more complicated depending on the nature of your trip, but try to carry no more than two pair – one pair on your feet. Extra items you may add if they fit are a dress, swimsuit, active wear, a thin robe, or extra outfits.
2. Toiletries are the biggest issue for most people traveling. Most women have an arsenal of liquids to get them beautified daily, but the TSA requirement of carrying no more than a quart-sized baggie makes it nearly impossible to bring a decently stocked toiletry bag. First, consider what you can get while you’re there, whether it’s from hotel samples, or from hitting up the travel section in a local drug store. From there think about bringing items that are multifunctional, like an oil or cream that doubles for moisturizing hair and skin. Do the same for body wash and shampoo.
3. For small make-up items like mascara and lip gloss that don’t fit in your quart-sized bag, they may get overlooked in your purse, but having them thrown out at screening is a risk you take. Nix the expensive perfume that may also get dumped at screening. You can always rely on the scent of your body wash and moisturizer.
4. While packing, a couple great ways to get as much use out of the space in your carry-on as possible, is to get rid of excess air and organize your clothes into compartments. There are inexpensive vacuum-seal bags that allow you to flatten stacks of clothes down to a few inches by rolling the air out (no vacuum suction needed). Also, new the market, are packing cubes that allow you to square up the space and sort everything into neat compartments. Packing carefully and using one or both of these methods will surely buy you space for more than enough clothes for a 3-5 day trip.

Written by Leslie Matthews, Staff Writer, Modern Domestic & Creator of ThatGirlWrites