Top 5 packing tips

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According to Inc. Magazine (June 2012), the amount airline passengers were charged in baggage fees in 2010 was an astounding $3.4 billion. Obviously, what makes economic sense to the airlines does not make economic sense to many of its passengers. Checking bags is now a luxury we may not be able to afford. Therefore, packing light has never been more attractive. Aside from the time and money saved by not checking bags, it can be liberating to travel light and have less stuff to worry about when in transit. Here are my top packing tips:

1. Pack clothes in easily washable and quick drying fabrics like nylon or polyester, or at least cotton blends containing such materials. Hand wash as needed.
2. Wear one set of all-purpose jewelry on the plane and skip packing alternates.
3. Take some of your savings from not checking a bag, invest in an e-reader and forgo heavy paper books and magazines.
4. Use packing cubes - they really work to pack the most amount of stuff into a small space.
5. Remember - wherever you're going, they probably have stores that sell toothpaste, underwear and batteries, so don't panic if you forget something or run out of supplies.

For more packing advice check out my previous post - Preparing for travel: packing

A year ago: Carry-on, organizer.

Last year in June I shared all the various ways you can keep in touch with me online. I also wrote about my transition from a checked-bag-person to a carry-on-bag-person. I'm still exclusively carry-on, and the two trips I have planned this summer will be a great test to that. Heads-up readers, in July I'll be away for three whole weeks! I'm going to try to have some content scheduled, but for the most part I will be well and truly on vacation. And I'm only packing a carry-on. For three weeks. I'm pretty excited about the prospect, actually. I will be able to do laundry at almost every destination, so that helps a lot, but I'm also managing three fairly distinct climates, so that will be interesting. I'm thinking layering. Anyway.

This is a Zuca carry-on suitcase that I've been coveting for years. Photo from zuca.com

I love these next two posts. One is about seeing our living spaces with fresh eyes and figuring out how we can pare down. That feeling of possibility and freshness that you get when you first move in somewhere and it's completely empty is a feeling that I like to recapture every now and again in my own spaces. Try it out! The next post encourages you to get help when tackling difficult organizing tasks, particularly garages, clothes closets and going through a deceased person's stuff.

Lastly, here's a review of the book Organizing Outside the Box by Hellen Buttigieg and Sari Brandes.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Moving: stage five

So the heat is on now that movers have been scheduled for Friday. I have never moved with professional movers before, and I am tremendously excited. The last time I moved was five years ago, and I remember the aggravation of trying to get my couch up a flight of stairs and around several corners. I did it, with the help of my husband, my father, my sister and a surreptitious dismantling of an emergency exit sign. Though I'm not sure how the movers will choose to remove the couch and get it into the new apartment, I figure they have experience with this sort of thing and it will work out.

My sister and the couch, September 2005.

There are a few things on the to do list before they get here, though. We are mostly packed, so today we're going to focus on getting the new place painted and clean. The apartment has already been painted a lovely navajo white, but we are adding color to three rooms. Painting is physically demanding, but also satisfying. Once I get into the groove, I like seeing the fresh color bloom across the walls. Pulling off the painters tape once everything is dry is quite pleasurable.

I normally use painters tape with clients to create handy temporary or semi-permanent labels; I've enjoyed using it for its proper purpose of paint prep.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Travel digest and moving: stage four

I'm preparing for both a move and an extended trip. I've found my organizational systems challenged as I manage both tasks in addition to the work of my business, including client work, and the work of day to day life. The trash still has to be taken out and the dishes done, even as the moving boxes pile up and the emails fly back and forth about travel plans.

Having some tried and true packing methods has really saved me, as I haven't had to worry about the trip, and packing for the move has been time-consuming, but not difficult.

Here are some of my packing for the move rules:

• Don't pack anything you don't want in the new place. This includes furniture. We have a sizable stack of stuff that will Goodwilled or Freecycled before the movers come.
• Pack the stuff you absolutely use every day last, even if it means like objects get split up. I need my frying pans, and all the kitchen stuff will have to get sorted out again at the new place anyway.
• Repurpose clothes, towels, bedding and dishcloths as packing material where possible.
• LABEL. I like to quickly list as many specific items that are inside a box as possible. At least write a few things, like "mixing bowls" or "cutlery," rather than simply "kitchen." When you are in your new home looking desperately for the coffee maker, you'll be glad you did.

Here are some of my past posts on packing. I'm doing the carry-on/quasi-minimalist packing thing this time again and loving it.

• Preparing for travel: packing
• Pre-trip planning for reunion weekend
• Minimalist packing - something I aspire to

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

A year ago: purse organization, book review and packing tips

I'm catching up on my "a year ago" posts. Here are three entries from June 2009:

Recommendations for the eight things everyone should have in their purse in order to be organized for every day. Another good one that I didn't mention: reusable bag for those quick trips to the drug store or grocery store. You will avoid picking up extra disposable ones and sometimes they give you a discount.

I reviewed the book Organized to be Your Best! by Susan Silver. This book has very detailed and specific instructions for creating organization in your home and work life and is recommended for people who want  to get a bit deeper into their systems than with a book like Organizing Outside the Box, for instance.

Last year before my summer trip, I was still in checked-bag mode and hadn't made the switch to quasi-minimalist carry-on only packing. Here are my tips for smooth packing.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com 

Minimalist packing

I'm not a minimalist. Not the in sense that this person is, or this person. But I do find lots about a minimalist lifestyle attractive, considering that when you come down to it, all we really need is shelter, food, clothing, and some books.

For a long time I resisted being a carry-on baggage person. I liked checking my bag and not  having to worry about wrangling it through the airport, through multiple layovers, and got used to waiting at my destination for it to (hopefully) come rolling out at baggage claim. I didn't want to be one of those people who held everyone up while they tried to stuff their suitcase into a clearly-too small space in the overhead bin, or have to worry about the ounces of my liquids. Also, having been a Girl Scount, my motto is "always be prepared," which makes one lean in the over-packing department, "just in case" it should snow, rain, freeze, or have a heat-wave in rural Northern Vermont in June. (Unfortunately, those are all actual possibilities.)

But then the airlines started charging for checked bags - sometimes $25 a pop, which, if you are traveling with multiple people, starts to add up. If they'd simply added in this surcharge with the ticket price (which they probably do anyway), I wouldn't have cared or noticed. But having to swipe my debit card when checking in stung. It made an already often unpleasant (I normally fly out of LAX) process a step less enjoyable.

So my husband and I became carry-on people. I have the largest suitcase you can have and still get away with carry-on, and I'd dearly, dearly love to be one of those people who have the doll-sized rolling bag, the kind that looks like it holds a pair of jeans and some flip-flops and that's it. I don't know how those people do it. Maybe they're only going somewhere for a single night?

Anyway, I'm not getting a new bag - yet - but in the meantime, even though I have quite a bit of room, I am not going to fill it up with stuff I don't need. For a seven day long trip, I'm packing about four day's worth of clothing and plan to do laundry halfway through. Everyone who writes about packing lightly will tell you that the key is being able to wash your clothes. So, that's my plan. But I'm also going further. I'm only wearing one set of jewelry on the plane. I usually wear a different pair of earrings and different necklaces everyday, so that will be different. Where we are going isn't terrible urban, but they do have stores. I can buy toiletries there if the small items I have run out, which they probably won't. I always overestimate that stuff. I'm also only bringing three books. That might sound like a lot, but I'm going on vacation, and I'm a fast reader - especially on planes, when I crave an engaging story to pass the time. But I think that will be enough. Again, I can always borrow something to read from someone else on the trip, buy and read the newspaper, or get a novel at the grocery store if I'm really desperate.

So, it may not sound super-minimalist, but compared to what I'd like to pack, it's a change. I'll be back in a week and half. See you then!

To read more about minimalist packing, Miss Minimalist has a great comprehensive post.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Preparing for travel: Packing

Confession: I love packing. I love packing for trips and I love unpacking at my destination. I like the idea of anticipating my needs, choosing my favorite things, and figuring out how to live on less stuff for a few days. In this case, I'm getting ready to be gone for almost three weeks. I'll be on six planes and spending time in four states, and I have to pack for snow, rain, heat and swimming. Luckily, no formal attire will be required and I'll be able to do laundry when I need to.

My packed toiletries for a 20 day trip. The small bag contains my makeup.

I hate feeling stressed, and packing for a trip at the last minute is guaranteed to cause stress. Therefore, I look at packing as a multi-day event. First, I compile an initial list of what I need to bring, or at least think about bringing. (I'm usually so excited about the trip/the prospect of packing that I do this a couple of weeks in advance.) Then, I check the weather at my destinations. I start a pile of things I want to bring in my carry-on as they occur to me. Right now on my coffee table are an odd assortment of thing not all of which will end up in the bag, but I like being able to see them all together. Two days before I go I make sure I launder all of the must-bring items. Then, a day in advance, I get out the suitcase, and start making piles of clothes and shoes. Approaching packing gradually like this means I'm less likely to forget something, because I have given myself plenty of time to remember it. Also, I'm able to think about outfit combinations and options more clearheadedly than if I'm in a rush and must pick five shirts-any five shirts.

As with everything in life, packing for a trip involves a balancing act between packing more than you need and enough to get by without excessive clothes washing or having to buy something new. A few rules of thumb that I go by:

• Pack at least one sweater or jacket that is warmer than you think you'll need.
• Pack your nicest sleepwear, socks and underwear. In situations where you might be waking up in the vicinity of family member or strangers, you'll be glad you left your ragged stuff at home.
• Don't bring jewelry you couldn't stand to lose, and don't pack anything delicate that will get tangled if you aren't wearing it.
• Pack only clothes that are in the same color family so you don't have to bring extra shoes or accessories.
• If you can help it, make your carry on as light as possible, especially if you have connecting flights. Try to find lighter books, and leave items you might normally keep in your purse like an address book at home, unless you are traveling for business. If you are planning to write postcards, enter your addresses in your cell phone or PDA, or type up a quick list of those people you know you want to write to and bring a single sheet instead of an entire book.
• Don't put anything in your checked bag that you absolutely would hate never to see again. Obviously, you'll have to check your favorite jeans, but those are replaceable. Anything truly precious to you should be left at home. You just never know.
• Don't bring anything on your carry-on that is forbidden by TSA. They have a lot of rules, so to pays to pay attention, especially when it comes to medications.

Part of my trip is going to be spent helping my relatives plan and pull off a three-family yard sale in rural Maine. Expect photos and reporting on how it goes upon my return. In the meantime, have a fantastic Father's Day/Summer Solstice and Independence Day!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com