Packing for children using Ziplock bags

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We’ve taken one too many family trips where I was up into the wee hours of the morning packing.  And not because I procrastinate.  I just didn’t have a good system . Or I was trying to accomplish too much before we left town. Maybe I’ll write about the traps of an overachiever another day. However, with families with children in tow preparing to travel this week, I thought I would share my go-to packing system.

Make a list

Nothing worse than arriving at your destination only to discover you forgot a necessity.  I know that there are pre-made packing lists available for sale, but it just worked better to customize one based on the needs of our family. So, I created our PACKING LIST in Microsoft Word.

Use Ziploc bags

I recently discovered that I could use Ziploc bags to pack clothing items.  Now, I had used them to group all the socks together or for hair accessories.  But now I group the Little People’s clothes together in a Ziploc by day.

 

 

Here’s what you’ll need:

•       Gallon size Ziploc bags
•        Sharpie pen or Label maker
•        Your child’s outfit for the day

When I started using this system, I would write the day of the week that each outfit was to be worn.  Well, we re-use these bags and we weren’t always traveling on the same days so because I didn’t want to buy more bags (Frugal McDougal here) I would strikethrough the old day and write the new day in the label line.

I quickly realized that I didn’t like how messy that kind of labeling was going to look. I know, no one was going to see it but my family, but still the presentation mattered to me.

Enter my  Epson label maker! {affiliate link} So now instead of writing the day, I’ve opted to use DAY 1, DAY 2, etc.  This provides greater flexibility to use the bags any day of the week that we travel.

 

In the photo below you can see how I fit one day’s outfit into the Ziploc bag.  I use this system for our children in sizes 10, 7, 5 and 2T.  I do the same thing with their pajamas. This helps them get dressed with minimal help in the morning when we’re away from home or it provides an older sibling everything need to help dress a younger sibling.

 

Here’s my video explaining & showing exactly how I use this system I explained above.

So what’s your packing system?

 

 

 

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