How I Pack When Traveling With The Kids

This weekend I’m heading up to Connecticut with the kids to spend a week with my sister. She was just visiting us for Christmas but we really wanted to have more time together so I decided to take a week, load up the car and head up to Connecticut for a week. There will be lots of coffee drinking, toddler chasing and camera clicking. I can’t wait!

Today I’m busy doing laundry and packing so I thought I would share some of my favorite tips for how I pack when traveling with children.

How I pack

I don’t use luggage, I use laundry baskets

I don’t need to cart around fancy luggage. I’ve got my laundry basket!

When I’m packing I simply fold up the clothes and toss them in the basket. When our trip is over I toss all of the dirty clothes in the laundry basket. When I get home I just bring the basket of dirty laundry downstairs and throw it in the laundry.  So simple.

I sometimes have a separate basket that I keep the diapers, wipes, blankets, pillows stuffed animals etc. in. Laundry baskets are easy to carry and can hold a lot and when you’re traveling with toddlers, you’ve got lots of stuff to bring along.

We have separate toiletries just for travel.

This may not be your most frugal idea, but it works for us. We have toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant even razors that we use just for travel. This is a huge time saver. I stocked up on toiletries a few years ago when I was big in to couponing and got lots of freebies. We even have things like stain removal pads, band-aids and hand sanitizer in our bag. Most of these were super cheap if not free. Many were free samples.

We keep a bag packed at all times with these items. Even the kids items are packed and ready to go. I keep the bags in the bathroom closet and they’re always ready to grab. No more forgetting our toothbrushes!

I don’t over-pack!

News flash – Your kids can wear jeans more than once in a week. Yes, it’s true. Also, you do not have to have a back up outfit for each day! I have very rarely needed these extra outfits. If I need to I can always wash their clothes if there is an emergency.

 

Do you have any great tricks for packing? Share them with us, leave a comment below!