Welcome to Day 9 of 30 Days to Packing a Better Bag.
One of the most common questions we receive at Her Packing List involves something along the lines of, “Help! How do I pack clothes for 20 (or 40 or 60) days of travel?!”
There seems to be confusion among fellow travelers when it comes time to pack for an extended trip. Many women feel like they need to pack a new outfit for each and every day of travel, but guess what…
That’s just not true!
You don’t need to pack as much clothing as you think you do.
In fact, packing for trips a month in length should actually be pretty similar to how you pack for those that are just one week.
Shocking, right?
Generations of heavy packers have raised us to struggle with baggage restrictions and packing choices, but you don’t have to suffer any longer if you just remember (and trust) this one thing.
Plus, we have our biggest packing tip coming up later in this post. Keep reading 😉
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This workbook is your dedicated space to work out each day of the 30 Days to Packing a Better Bag series. It’s available as both an editable and printable PDF as well as a Google Doc version.
How to Travel with Less Clothing
If you pack wisely, you should be able to compile several different outfits from one tiny wardrobe. We’ll talk more about how to make the most of a minimal travel wardrobe in tomorrow’s post, but here are a few things to start thinking about:
- Choose Quality Pieces – Not only should the pieces you bring be of a certain quality, meaning something has a real purpose, but these pieces should also be items you love. Make sure what you pack makes you feel good.
Otherwise, you’ll probably avoid wearing it and it will become something that just takes up space in your bag for no good reason. - Stick to Matching Color Palettes – Make sure almost anything you bring can be mixed and matched with each other. The oddball out will get worn less often if it only pairs with one other specific item. In our example photo above, we’re pairing key pieces (pants, skirt, jacket) in neutral blacks and grays with solid popping colors to give our outfits vibrance. The addition of a few colorful scarves brings the outfits together.
Notice how we got rid of anything that had a pattern or was not in the same color class? If you’re a pastel and floral girl, just make sure most of your items mesh with each other. - Do Laundry on the Road – Hotels, hostels, and campsites generally offer washing machines that can be used to wash your travel wardrobe every week, but we don’t shy away from a bit of hand washing here at Her Packing List. (Just pack some hand-washing friendly products.) When you travel with so few items of clothing, doing a full wash isn’t as necessary.
- Wash Frequency – You also have to consider how often you can wear one item of clothing before you actually need to wash it. Like jeans. Jeans are typically articles of clothing that are worn multiple times before an encounter with the spin cycle. Most technical travel clothing requires less washing as well.
So, what are we getting at?…
Our Biggest Packing Tip
✨ You can re-wear your travel clothing and outfits several times on the same trip and not feel guilty about it. ✨
If this is something that horrifies you, try to understand why and then address these worries.
- Are you embarrassed to be seen in the same outfit multiple times?
If you’re the fashionable type who worries about having to wear the same ensemble 4 (or 20) times in Europe, then consider this:
You’ll never see those people again. Practically no one but yourself will ever know. Even your travel companions probably won’t even notice.
- Are you worried you won’t be able to find a washing machine?
If it’s washing you’re worried about, either bring enough socks and underwear to cover a longer duration or plan to hand-wash those key pieces as you go. Washing a few pieces in the sink every second or third night should only take a few minutes out of your day, and if you pack quick-drying materials then you shouldn’t have to worry about your clothes not drying.
- Are you worried your clothes will be wrinkly and smelly after a day of wear?
Once again, it’s all about choosing the right fabric for travel. Certain fabrics are odor and wrinkle resistant which means that you can wear them multiple times and they will still look and feel fresh.
You can also pack your clothes in a certain way to prevent wrinkles as much as possible.
- Do you have an event that you need to get dressed up for?
If you have an event you need to get dressed up for while on your travels, this doesn’t mean you can’t wear those pieces again during your trip. Pack one or two dressier items that can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.
Take Action: Cut It Out
Lay out all the clothes you think you need. Now… cut out half of these. Remember to choose items that are in the same color palette and can be mixed and matched.
Update your packing list.
Let us know how you go with this task in the comments below.
- PREVIOUS – Day 8: How to Choose Your Travel Shoes
- NEXT – Day 10: Accessorize, Mix & Match: Making the Most of a Minimal Wardrobe
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I’m going to Asia on october 1st and I have picked out my three pairs of shoes, the few gadgets that I will need, and all the knick knack like motion sickness meds and earplugs but I dread the moment at which I will have to choose my items of clothing. This will definitely the most complicated step in the whole preparation process. Even more complicated than getting a burman or indonesian visa i’m sure of that.
My mom would ALWAYS tell me to cut half of what I had already packed. Of course I thought she was insane but I quickly learned that it’s the greatest packing tip!
Happy travels 🙂
Yes, mix and match, that’s the key. I don’t do long trips, but I used to overpack even for a week or a weekend. Buy now I’ve learned that you only need stuff that goes with everything else. One pair of shoes + two bottoms + two tops already make four different outfits, eight if you add another pair of shoes.
By the way – you should pick your shoes first (according to your planned activities) and then choose the clothes according to them. When I went a week to Switzerland in summer a couple of years ago, somebody who had been there only ten days earlier told me the weather had been bad and they had been cold the whole time.
So packed jeans and chunky sneakers for our daily sightseeing, I only added a skirt and a pair of heels in case we would be going out one night. It turned out it was about 35 degrees celsius every day of our stay (So hot!). I wore the skirt every day, alternating the chunky sneakers (comfortable yet so unstylish) with the heels (stylish and killing my feet).
The tips about packing around the shoes and choosing items that go with each other are going to help me so much. I’ll be packing for an 18-day trip in the UK and have a little hiking, a lot of walking, and hopefully some going out planned in three different countries. It’s hard enough to dress myself when I’m home–here’s hoping I can pack light and still not look like a schlub.
Pro travel advice: lay out all of the clothes and money that you want to take, then take half the clothes and twice the money! 😉