Any teacher, past or present, could tell you that the approaching promise of summer is both pee-your-pants exhilarating and nearly mental hospital admitting. I am by no means complaining about the long summer off with Husband and the little monkeys but wrapping up a year with students and a classroom is enough to cause a mini-breakdown. When you add to that being an expat and leaving your home for the whole summer, thus having to pack for essentially a whoooole season – you have yourself a surefire, straight catapult into Crazy Town.
For me, one of the most stressful things is packing and here’s why. First, I’m packing for two kids for two months. This is especially tricky since I often wonder if what fits them now will fit them next week and at the rate that my gargantuan kids are growing, this is a solid question. (I’m not kidding. My 3-year-old is the size of an average 5-year-old according to the American Growth Chart of Pediatrics.) Second, I have to pack for two months which is definitely unlike packing for a normal vacation where if you leave something behind you’ll make do; two months is a lot of time to be a gypsy road warrior, so you have to be prepared for a variety of things. But what I probably find most stressful about packing is this paradox: I like need to plan just about any thing in my control… except my clothes. I am not the kind of person that lays my clothes out the night before because, well, what if I don’t feel like wearing that outfit 7 hours from now? But there’s more to it than just changing my fashion mind and knowing what I’ll wear for the next two months, it is also having to pack it away. As I mentioned above, I like being prepared, but if I pack ahead of time then I can’t wear those clothes, buuuuut if I don’t pack those clothes I’m leaving it for the last minute. It’s a Catch 22. What is a Planning Nazi Gypsy Road Warrior to do…?
Well, funny you should ask. I recently came up with a pretty genius idea (if I don’t say so myself) to help both of these paradoxical characters. By combining 1 part Pinterest obsession with 1 part Organizational Freak and 1 part Don’t Tell Me What to Wear Phobia I came up with this genius packing tip for long trips:
I took just an hour of one day and scanned over my closet at the things that I might bring and tried to coordinate more than one outfit with the same items since we all know this is the key to packing light(er). Then, I snapped a picture for two reasons. First, it would help me remember what outfits I liked; what shirt I liked with what pants and so on so that when I fall into my I-have-nothing-to-wear depression, which happens at least once a week, I could refer back for ideas. But mostly, I did this so that I could keep out the clothes I am going to take with me until the last minute while avoiding the anxiety of not having packed. By taking pictures of the outfits, I have mentally packed on my iPhone so that then I can physically and quickly pull out items and throw them in a bag later… neatly, of course. Here’s a better look:
This was just a starter base set: One pair of jeans. One pair of shorts. 3 tops that go with both bottoms. A belt. A pair of cozy, closed-toed Minnetonka moccasins. A pair of sandals that work for dress up or down.
The jeans work with any top I have so they were an obvious add. The crochet top works with both jeans and shorts and works both tucked in and out. As an extra bonus, I also use it as a bathing suit cover up. But the main idea here is that now when I pack this weekend for our two months away, I can simply go to my iPhone camera, scroll through my pictures and know exactly what to pull out without wasting anytime.
I hope this little packing tip helps my fellow Planning Nazi Gypsy Road Warriors.
Photo Credits
Craig Sunter – Packing Up