My house is TRASHED.
Believe it or not, the bed is made under all this.
I’m 90% done, though it’s taken all day because I somehow let myself get sucked into Candy Crush. What is wrong with me? I can’t even get on a bandwagon properly, I have to wait a year or so. But also, I just didn’t want to pack. For some reason, when I fly, I’m really good at going light. But when we’re going by car I’m not opposed to filling the car, even though I really don’t want to do that this time.
I learned a few things:
- I need to pack for one person or purpose at a time. Bob packs for himself and drives the dogs to my mom’s, so I pack my stuff, Emma’s stuff and the many miscellaneous things. I made a list on the computer which I sorted into those three categories and I was having a terrible time because I was trying to gather stuff from all three lists at once. When I stopped to focus on myself, then Emma, then the rest, it felt much more feasible.
- I’m trying to make quicker decisions. I waste so much time trying to pick the perfect books to read (this gets 75% of my mental energy), perfect outfits, the right shoes. When I was 8 we went to Vermont and I only had flip flops which my mother didn’t realize till we got there. It was August but cold. So I was rockin the flip flops with socks look before it was cool. Maybe I’m still affected by that because I spend too much time thinking about shoes. This time: black sandals, brown sandals, flip flops for the beach and my Keens to wear hiking.
- I’m not going to stress out over forgetting stuff. We’re not going to Siberia.
So even though I am packed, I need to do some straightening tomorrow so my friends who are watching the house and feeding the cat won’t think I’m a total slob, even though they already know.
I always take too much. We rent a house with a washing machine, I don’t need a different outfit for each day. Then there is the “something smart” in case we go to a nice restaurant in the evening. We won’t!!
I always have to remind myself when I go to visit family for the holidays that there are stores in Ohio and if I forget my toothbrush it is not the end of the world.
I find it really helpful to keep a master packing list. Then, I can pack our bags (whether traveling by train or by car) quickly, and I know I won’t have forgotten anything too essential (otherwise it would have been added to the list after our last trip — like when I realized that we can’t ever take a road trip without two spare rag towels in the car because my boys periodically get car sick).
Here’s an example of our road trip packing list (from our last trip): http://everydaymindfulliving.com/preparing-for-a-family-road-trip/