Simple Organization for Packing for a Trip

I have been in Colorado for the last few weeks visiting my Oma and Opa. I started working on several blog posts before I left and they have been in limbo waiting for me to get time to finish them up. I don't have a lot of computer time for blogging but I do hope to get a few of them up eventually!

When we were small children my momma chose and packed everything for everyone in the family, except my father. As my brothers and I got older, she would give us a list of the types of clothes she wanted to pack that we would need for the trip but left the choosing up to us. She has only recently let everyone pack their own bag, but she still hands out a list of requirements. I guess she wants to make sure my brothers don't end up in church somewhere away from home in cargo shorts and a white undershirt! LOL.

I have sort of taken the list one step further when I pack my bags. Let me show you what I mean:

This was taken so I could have an idea of what the outfit & jewelry might look like.

Have to look good, right?!

The dresses all spread out on the couch. I only ended up bringing 1/2 of what was actually all over the couch.

Everything on the floor and ready to be packed,

BEFORE I had the genius idea to use space bags!!

Here two outfits are drawn on the same paper, one on each side. This happened because I didn't have as much space to pack with on one of my trips to see Justin. And since I didn't want to re-draw one of them, I just packed both outfits!

Something sweet for church, work, or out to dinner, etc. If I change the skirt to my beaded pencil and it's perfect for a night at the Kennedy Center in DC!!

This one is actually from my outfit/fashion journal. I liked it when I wore it, and wanted to make sure I didn't forget it. As you can see from reading the scribbles all over, I wore this one a "Skype date" with Justin. :) This is one of the more detailed sketches.

When each and every outfit has been drawn up, I sit down and go through them to narrow downsize my bag. In this case I think I nixed between 7 and 12 outfits from the list. Including two I took out of my bag at the airport to check my bag without the extra fees. Each outfit is then packed away. Generally for a short trip I have about 6-10 outfits.

When I pack my bag, I set the outfit drawings between each outfit as they go in. Here though I think I had over 20 0outfits, not including all of my dresses, for a 3 month trip to Colorado. I changed they way I packed for this trip by using space bags, and placing the outfit sketches in my purse. (New since I'm more than a little OCD about packing.)

Each sketch includes a description of the outfit and alternative ideas for key pieces (like the Kennedy Center sketch above), an idea of when/where I might wear it, any possible jewelry options and combinations, shoes, coats, sweaters, etc. just to be sure I have all bases covered. And then it's off to catch my flight, or stow it away in the car.

How do you pack for long trips?! Do have fun with it, are you SUPER organized like me, or do you just kinda toss it all in and hope your hotel has an iron when you get there?

-- A Victorian Cowgirl