How to pack better
10 Minimalist Packing Tips For Your Next Trip & How To Pack Better For Travel
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ten tips on how to pack better for
travel right now I'm Tom the founder of
pack hacker and we love helping people
optimize their travel experience with
the reviews guides and video content
just like this so if you're new to the
channel consider subscribing
I've even spent two years living out of
one singular 40 litre backpack so I
definitely have a lot of experience in
this arena let's jump into the video
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before we get going I want to mention
that this video is sponsored by only
what matters.com an online community for
aspiring minimalists mac the founder is
all about teaching folks who live better
with less stuff he's big on closet
audits which enable you to declutter
your wardrobe and add more simplicity to
your everyday life feel free to join me
in the community I've got a link in the
description below let's get into tip
number one one of the best ways to
decide what you want to take with you on
a trip and what you want to leave at
home is to just lay everything out in
front of you either on the table or even
the floor maybe even your bed with this
you have a big-picture view on what you
want to take with you what you can leave
behind and maybe what you need a little
bit more of so when you have it all laid
out it's a lot easier to see all that
and notice the patterns do you have
going on in your selections
protip look at everything in front of
you and try to cut it in half just take
out one item after item after item and
pretty soon you'll notice that you make
it a lot more minimal last thing you
want to do is to have an overweight pack
and be that person in the airport
rummaging through everything trying to
save space to either fit your bag in as
a carry-on or trying to take even more
things out so that you can properly
check your bag based on the airline
regulation with everything in front of
you it becomes easier to pick an
organization style that's gonna work for
you so here are a couple that have
worked for us first frequency of use
something that you use very often so
your phone makes sense to have that in a
quick access pocket on your bag or
luggage maybe even your pocket or like a
fanny pack or a sling you know what I
have that thing you know in your bag in
a packing cube in another pouch it just
doesn't make sense so really think
through your items if there's a jacket
it's gonna be warm for the most part the
second your leg of your trip is maybe a
little bit cooler put that jacket way at
the bottom of your bag stuff it out of
the way out of sight out of mind
leaves a lot more room for things that
you want quicker access to secondly you
can sort by item type it's good to keep
like products with one another so if you
keep your socks with your underwear it
just makes sense you keep your long
sleeve shirt with your sweatshirt with
your jacket keep that warm stuff
compartmentalized in itself maybe even a
scarf or some gloves in there too
that'll help you think through the
organization if you think in themes
of item types and next outfit packages
consider putting items that are used in
conjunction together with each other for
instance if you're heading to a nicer
dinner maybe there's a separate cube or
compartment where to keep all your nicer
clothing
whereas if going to the gym there's a
spot in your pack for all that as well
this is kind of like the item based
approach however it's different in the
fact that it's contextual so it's more
about the activity that you're going to
be doing with that gear versus holding
like things with one another so again
those are three ways that have worked
for us and how to organize things your
mileage may vary compartmentalize your
gear think about storing everything in
your bag within packing cubes or pouches
that keeps things a lot more organized
overall even a plastic grocery bag or a
ziploc bag can work wonders if you have
it laying around your house you don't
even have to buy anything new this helps
with the previous tip and keeps things
neat and very easy to access
we recommend strong and lightweight
packing cubes especially if there is
compression technology packing cubes and
pouches come in many different sizes and
allow you to cater specific items to put
inside grab a smaller packing cube for
socks and underwear a larger cube for
pants jackets and sweaters or medium
sized cubes to compartmentalize complete
outfits we've typically found that
rolling clothing saves the most space
within a cube and the cube can take care
of the rest and really hold its shape
and make it a lot easier to pack and
organize in your bag it's kind of like
Tetris it's fun small pouches are also
good for organizing your tech gear your
toiletries and any small medicines or
small things that you need to carry with
you when you're on the road for a quick
pro tip use packing cubes and organizers
of different colors this will help you
create mental models in your head so you
know where things are within your pack
just by remembering those couple of
colors in your head
[Applause]
consider multifunctional items take an
inventory of what you packed and really
look for things that can serve multiple
purposes
for instance a coat especially a lighter
weight compressible one can double as a
pillow when you're on the road if you're
in a pinch take inventory of your cables
the less you bring with you overall the
better it's gonna be so look for small
tiny little conversion pieces for
instance if you have a small USB CD USB
a adapter it's a lot better than taking
two giant cords with you better to pack
lighter weight overall if you're a
photographer consider bringing zoom
lenses instead of lenses with a fixed
focal length and that's gonna save you a
lot of space and add versatility
especially if you're trying to travel
lightweight and minimally also pick up a
buff it's one of our favorite
lightweight and multifunctional items
that you can bring with you on the road
you can use it as a scarf like I have
here you can also use it as a hat you
take this you twist it you fold it over
itself and boom you've got a little
skullcap look at that I'm not gonna put
it on because it's gonna ruin my amazing
hair also you can use it as a face mask
to block the light if you want to take a
nap so and then you do not have to have
a dedicated sleeping mask and that's a
plus two for one
pro tip despite all the paring down and
minimizing sometimes it's good to have
some redundancy if an item or a piece of
clothing is really important to you and
that's a very personal choice but if
you're in more of a remote area and it's
for a long duration you might want to
think about that a little bit more if
you're in a city center where you have
easy access to things that's not as big
of a deal
get some marina wool it is the optimal
clothing for travel I personally wear it
everyday so my buff right here is wool
my shirt is wool my socks are wool my
underwear is wool is well so I
definitely love it and I've integrated
it into my everyday life even when I'm
not traveling it's nature's magic fabric
soft comfortable and antimicrobial which
means it doesn't stink as much when
you're on the road plus when you bring a
merino tee instead of a couple cotton
tees you can save space and weight in
your pack and potentially avoid overages
in your baggage fees if you have to
check bags or carry them on and they
weigh too much when I was on the road
for two years I had one marina wool
button-up and for marina wool t-shirts
four pairs of marina wool boxers and
four pairs of merino socks if I was
going to do this again I would probably
cut that in half with two of everything
it is simple to wear one thing and wash
another and leave it to dry while you're
out for the day from your hostel hotel
Airbnb whatever you can wear merino many
days before it requires a wash
especially if it's from a quality brand
and from a cost per wear perspective if
it's from a quality brand it can be up
there as well because merino is a cat
expensive but it's justifiable if you
want to carry less wear things for
longer between washes and seriously we
love this stuff that's why we created an
entire guide on merino wool over at pack
hacker com should be sure to check that
out as well protip nobody cares if
you're wearing the same thing day after
day especially when you're traveling and
even if they do notice it's likely that
they won't care as long as you don't
smell super bad and that's what's great
about merino it stays fresh for a lot
longer keep everything fresh between
long flights and unplanned adventures
there's gonna be times when you're not
gonna be able to shower and you're gonna
be a little bit grimy err than usual and
merino wool will definitely help out
with that we also like to have like pack
fresheners within our bags and our
luggage although there are a ton of
recommendations out there to carry along
dryer sheets we've personally found that
wooden cedar chips are the best option
for us especially if you like that scent
the smell will last longer than the
dryer sheet while you're on the road
also we just prefer the scent of some
natural instead of something super
synthetic some people also like to carry
essential oils with them lavender oil or
potpourri sachet is as well and that's
totally fine your mileage may vary based
on the sense that you prefer when you're
on the road you're bagging your luggage
is pretty much your constant in your
life it's basically your home so why not
try to keep that fresh and one pro tip
with these cedar chips it's a natural
deterrent for bugs and critters that
like to get into your bag and chomp
weight or clothes and things like that
especially merino wool so if you keep
the cedar in there it can help deter
those little critters from chomping away
your stuff get some solid soap so we
have covered on how to keep your bag
fresh well how about keeping yourself
fresh when you're on the road shampoo
bars can do wonders they have a small
form factor so they don't take up too
much space they're highly concentrated
and they typically last quite a long
time they are multi-use when you're on
the road so use it for shampoo soaking
your body you can even use it for
washing dishes or laundry if you're in a
pinch depending on the soap that you
choose and the best part they're a solid
which means it's easy to get through TSA
s liquid allowance in airports around
the world concentrated liquid castile
soap also works really well say
something like dr. Bronner's however
that counts against your liquid
allowance and when you're going through
TSA you're getting on an airplane some
of the pressure changes and there's
always even if you're just walking
around like your neighborhood there's
always a chance that whatever tube or
thing that you have that liquid soap in
can bust open and spill around the
contents of what's in your luggage or
your bag even if you're going in on a
short weekend trip we'd still recommend
bringing a shampoo bar or liquid soap
along with you it doesn't take up a lot
of space and it be glad to have it when
you need it especially if you're on some
unexpected delays
protip a more fragrant shampoo bar can
also do a great job at keeping your pack
fresh in addition or in place of those
cedar chips that we talked about in the
last tip
bring a compact bag if you're going one
bag traveling either with a backpack or
some luggage it's good to have a smaller
packable compressible bag you can keep
with you and use with you as you get to
your destination so whether it's a
packable day pack a tote bag or a
reusable grocery bag or maybe even one
of those bags that you see at Lululemon
for instance where they give you the
super fancy bag with whatever it is that
you're buying and then you've got like
fifty of them at home and you don't know
what to do with them I'll just bring one
on your trip and then use it as you're
out and about if your cafe hopping and
doing the digital Nomad thing maybe you
have a packable day pack you can use
with a padded laptop sleeve to hold your
tech gear keyboard/mouse laptop things
that you need of the coffee shop to work
for the day if you're out for a hike or
exploring a city maybe you bring your
phone a battery pack for charging a map
some snacks and a water it's great to
have that stuff with you and all the
essentials with you when you don't have
to carry around your giant luggage or
your massive one bag travel backpack
protip we have all been there we want to
take home some souvenirs for our friends
and our family but our luggage is full
well if you have a packable pack you
just take that out unravel it whatever
put your souvenirs in there and use that
as your personal item when you're flying
home depending on your airline and then
boom you don't have to check a bag you
don't have to ship anything and then
you're just good to go friends and
family will just be thrilled but love it
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plan your flight having all items close
to you on the trip is an underrated perk
if you're using a packing cube and a
pouch method inside of your bag consider
making those packing cubes a sling or
some type of fanny pack instead slings
come in many different sizes and they're
perfect for the road because they can
hold just about the right amount of
stuff you want to carry with you on a
small excursion
it's basically a fanny pack with a
larger strap that you could wear
messenger style some examples of what
you can bring along as your essentials
in flight are the following ideas water
drinks and snacks and I'm asking
earplugs to help you sleep
the USB cable headphones your phone and
a cord to plug into the seat monitor in
front of you for charging
notepad and pen for any wild ideas that
come to you in the air plus you like
having that pen when it comes time to
fill out the customs forms before you
arrive at your destination if you are
going to a different country rather than
your own get creative you can definitely
put a lot of stuff in here I personally
like putting everything that are in my
pockets inside of the sling that we want
to get to the airport checkpoint go
through security
instead of emptying your pockets taking
everything off you just already have it
in your sling pop that through security
and you are good to go
strategize to save money a little bit of
planning will help you save some cash
while you're on the road starting with
food eating on the road especially in
transit is usually inconvenient
unhealthy and expensive on a plane trip
you need to wait for specific times to
eat if it's a short enough flight you
may not even be able to eat at all
always good to prepare bring some snacks
along with you for optimal packing we
recommend high calorie high density and
low weight non-perishable foods you'll
get the most bang for your buck this way
and generally the space and weight to
usage ratio is great for example nuts
trail mix and protein bars seem to do
really well on the road next up being
prepared with electronic chords
international converters SIM cards and
cables is great often times products
sold at airports or more generally
touristy areas are overly expensive and
cheaply made take some time to think
through your needs on the road your
wallet will thank you consider loading
up your bandwidth hungry content at home
locally on your devices before you leave
for your trips whether it's an e-book on
your Kindle or your iPad or video
content movies TV shows etc load all
that up at home in flight in at a hotel
speeds can be quite low in the worst
case scenario you'll be charged for
either megabytes or gigabytes of
bandwidth that you've used not to
mention international phone plans or
temporary data plans with SIM cards that
have a bandwidth cap there are a ton of
different ways to plan and save money
these are just three examples and for a
quick pro tip make sure to bring your
own empty water bottle through TSA
security checkpoint fill it up with
water after you get through and that's
gonna save you at least 3 bucks every
trip
practice your trip we often get asked
what the best travel backpack is or what
the best travel gears and we loved and
were honored to be experts in this space
however at the end of the day it's all
about you your travel style and what
uniquely fits into your lifestyle with
all this the best advice we can give is
to practice your trip beforehand load
everything up in your bag a week before
you leave take it to work with you only
use the gear that's inside for an entire
week or two maybe even a month at the
end of the week take a look back at what
you used a lot what you didn't use cut
things out add things in iterate and
test coming from me a person that's
lived out of a backpack for nearly two
years trying to cut some of the clutter
out of your life you'll definitely thank
yourself for it protip be mindful of
what you buy you probably don't need to
go out and buy that shiny new thing
every couple of months
starting with what you have and slowly
upgrading with high-quality items that
have high durability and last a long
time is one of the best ways to go about
things thanks for checking this out we
would love to know your favorite travel
tips any comments below be sure to head
over to only what manners come in join
me for advice and conversation on how to
simplify not only your packing and
travel style but simplifying other
aspects of your life as well thanks for
taking a look at this video we'll see
you the next one B or medium sized cubes
to come bar penalize before we get going
I want to mention this video
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