At the end of the summer, my family and I had the privilege of spending a few days in the mountains with my in-laws and then a few days at the beach with my parents.  And let me tell y’all: It is no small feat to prepare all 6 of us to travel anywhere.  Much less for several days at the time.

I did one easy step during these adventures that made the unpacking so much easier.  Did I mention that I detest unpacking? Because I do.  I packed all of our dirty clothes together and all of our clean clothes together.

Separately.

Why oh why didn’t someone tell me this little secret before?

I always do this when we stay at my in-law’s for the weekend, but it never dawned on me to do this for a larger trip.  It makes the unpacking so easy.

The Method

So in one suitcase, we have all of the clothes that haven’t been worn or those that I had the opportunity to wash while we were on vacation.  Note that the ‘clean suitcase’ contains the clothes for all 6 of us – not just my husband and me.  It would be too difficult to create ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ for 6 separate people, so I just lumped us all together.

Now the beauty in this method?  The dirty suitcase can just be placed in the hallway outside of the laundry room.  All of the dirty clothes are in one spot and I don’t have to go to everyone’s room trying to track down the things that must be washed.

This eliminates wasting time and most importantly, wasting energy.

But What if There’s Only 1 Suitcase?

This method was easy for us because we carried multiple suitcases on our trip.  So we could easily delegate one of those for dirty clothes.  However, you could also use this method if you’re only using one suitcase.

When packing before you leave, make sure you include a white trash bag.  When it is time to pack up at the end of your trip, loosely fold your dirty clothes and slide them into the trash bag.  Place dirty clothes on one side of the suitcase, leaving room for the clean ones on the other side.  The plastic bag provides a great barrier to prevent your clean clothes from getting smelly or even wet/damp.

A Word of Caution

If you use the trash bag-one-suitcase method and you have wet items, make sure you remove those as soon as you get home.  I know, I know…no one wants to unpack from a long trip the second they get home.

But if you have wet or even slightly damp clothes they will mildew in a heartbeat.  And mildew is a tough stain to remove.

To be completely safe, just go ahead and take everything out of plastic as soon as you walk in the door.  You’ll thank yourself when your clothes remain mildew-free.

And lastly, here’s one of my favorite people to travel with.  She’s as sweet as they come.

Do you have a frequent traveler to buy for this Christmas?

Here are a few fun ideas!

Travel Folding Clothesline:

Courtesy of Amazon.com

This is essential for the frequent traveler.  It can hold everything from lingerie to a heavy pair of wet jeans.  It’s obviously easy to hang and take down with the loops which can fit around anything – a pipe, doorknob, etc.

And the best part is it doesn’t require clothespins!  Garments securely fit between the braid until you are ready to remove them.

It’s extremely compact – it folds into a 3″ x 5″ pouch.

Did I mention it was cheap?? $10.75 and it’s available on Prime Shipping at Amazon.

Inflatable Laundry Hangers:

Courtesy of Amazon.com

Now these are an interesting find.

They have several great features: they have rounded corners so your garments don’t develop the beloved ‘hanger crease’, they are very user-friendly and they store compactly in your suitcase.

They are a bargain at $6.99 for a set of four and they are also Prime shipping at Amazon.

Woolite Laundry Kit:

This might be my favorite kit that I’ve found so far.

Courtesy of Amazon.com

This includes not only 8 packages of Woolite, but a sink stopper!  What a great idea!  It is a rarity that you’ll find a sink stopper in a hotel bathroom.

The kit is extremely well-priced at $7.84 and is eligible for Prime shipping at Amazon.