Photo by Jason Meredith
As we are approaching the date of departure for a vacation we have been planning for nearly a year, there are a lot of things on our to-do list that have yet to be accomplished. While planning a vacation, you will definitely get advice from people about how to plan or pack for a vacation, whether you ask for it or not. Here are fifteen tips that you might not think of when getting ready to leave for a vacation.
1) Clean the house
This may seem unusual as you won’t even be in your home for the time you are gone. But speaking from experience, there is not a lot worse than coming home from vacation to a disaster of a house. Make sure you clean your home before leaving to prevent stress when coming back to reality.
2) Make sure all your credit card companies and banks know where you are traveling and the dates
Unfortunately, I have been on trips with people who have not called their credit card companies or banks before leaving the state they live in or even the country. Let’s just say it didn’t work out for them as planned. Typically, you will get declined eventually. It may work the first one or two times, but do not try to press your luck with this type of thing
3) Plan things from a guidebook
Often people will tell you to research online about the place you are going to before arriving at your destination. The technology the way it is today, people often don’t think to look through a written, published guidebook. However, while we were planning for our vacation this time, I found it really useful to make a stop in the library for the latest edition of a guidebook and found places that would be great to see while on vacation.
4) Pack at least one outfit in your carry-on
Again, this is one where I have learned from experience. While on a mission trip to Boca Chica, Colombia, a member of the team got her bag lost while we were transporting things (not her fault at all, it just happened in the shuffle while our large group was traveling). Good thing she has a positive attitude because she didn’t get her bag for at least three days. And in a hot, humid environment with no extra clothes, I am sure she was uncomfortable. Don’t let this happen to you and make sure to pack at least one outfit to get you through an extra day or two if your bag gets lost.
5) Use space saver bags or a compression sack
I didn’t even know they made these until I was reading a few travel blogs the past few months. Compression sacs seem like the best option while packing, especially for indecisive packers.
6) Bring versatile footwear and accessories
Don’t waste precious room for various clothing items on shoes that take up awkward amounts of space in your luggage or extra accessories that just add to your weight limits. Bring items that you can wear with multiple outfits and in all kinds of weather and occasions.
7) Roll your clothes when your packing and put your socks in your shoes
Until I saw my sister pack for deployment for the National Guard, I never rolled my clothes or put socks in my shoes. Sure, your clothes will get wrinkled a bit, but most hotel rooms have irons to fix that problem, or you can purchase wrinkle releaser.
8) Put all toiletries in a plastic bag, separate from everything possible
It is never fun to have shampoo or lotion all over your stuff as soon as you open your bag. Avoid this by putting things in Ziploc bags. Be sure to bring extra Ziploc bags for the return trip, just in case some of your toiletries spill in the bags on the way there.
9) Don’t pack things you can buy there if they are not necessities
You get into packing trouble when you make a list of things that you “might use.” For example, you wouldn’t necessarily need to bring more than one razor (depending on how long you are traveling for.) Don’t pack things you “might” use if you can buy those things at your destination.
10) Put paper clips and duct tape on your packing list
Have you ever been traveling and in the middle of your trip had broken luggage? Sadly, this happened to me when we went to Maui, except my luggage broke as soon as we got off the plane. If you find yourself with broken luggage, having a paper clip to clip through what is left of the zipper or duct tape to tape through broken parts will make traveling a lot less stressful.
11) Bring a sunscreen stick rather than a bottle for sun protection
The sunscreen stick- an amazing invention for kids and travelers alike. These sticks are great for packing while traveling because it isn’t a liquid, aka you can bring it in your carry-on, and it won’t take up a lot of space in your bag.
12) Pack extra plastic bags
Bring plastic bags for wet or dirty things that you wouldn’t want all over your luggage or all over your clean clothes. Bring more than you think because you never know how dirty or wet things may still be when you are leaving for home.
13) Bring your own snacks
Snacks in the airport are ridiculously overpriced. Why spend precious traveling money on expensive snacks in the airport when you can pack them in your carry on. Just be sure you don’t pack bigger than 3oz bottles of liquid.
14) Bring an empty water bottle
Fill up an empty water bottle in a drinking fountain rather than paying for a costly bottle of water in the airports.
15) A special tip for parents
If you have children, put every outfit for each day in its own Ziploc bag. That way, they can pick out what outfit they want each day and everything they need is already put together, rather than trying to find things they need while they are antsy to do things.
What tips do you have for planning and preparing for a vacation?
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We always make sure to have the house clean before we head out. We definitely don’t want the stress of coming back to a messy house!
@GregatClubThrifty Same here!
Great tips! We like to leave to a clean house as well. Having a extra outfit in the carry on is a huge thing, especially if you’re luggage gets lost.
@FrugalRules I sure as heck hope ours doesn’t get lost. I’m not sure I would enjoy the cruise much if I didn’t have my luggage : /
Theres nothing worse than coming back to a dirty, untidy house. Its even worse when you go away on holiday in a rush and return to see no-one tidied up, thats the last thing you want!
Awesome tips. Great kick off with #1, too. I love coming home to a clean house. When I was a kid my mom made us do that and I grumbled about it. Now that I’m a parent, my kids grumble about it, too!
@AverageJoeMoney HAHA so true we were just talking about that! I totally understand their reasoning now!
These are all great tips! I’m so bad when it comes to packing. I’ll pack everything and anything.
@SenseofCents For a guy, I’m pretty bad at packing as well.
Great tips! I always clean my apartment before I go anywhere. I totally agree, once you get home you just want everything to be peaceful and nice. I’m pretty bad about packing too much though. That’s my downfall. I get anxiety about packing. My tip is to leave a friend all your hotel and travel info, especially if you are going out of the country.
Great tips. I’ve been burned so many times on trips by NOT remembering to do some of these thing. I always forget to pack snacks and then am angry about having to purchase some tiny bag of something for an outrageous price in the airport. One thing I never forget is to clean my house beforehand! I love coming home to a clean house after a trip. :)
@Joanna@OurFreakingBudget I actually really like to get McDonald’s at the airport :0 #ShameOnMe
If you are traveling to a foreign country, it is wise to let the consulate know when you will be in the country, just in case. Also, always call and confirm all of your reservations, no matter how sure you are that everything is ok. Mistakes occur and it is better to have all errors eliminated prior to your arrival.
BTW – have a great time on your vacation! :-)
@RobertaRenstromNyquist Thanks Roberta!
I love your first tip, it makes me SO HAPPY to come home to a clean house!
@frugalportland I like coming home to a clean house any day, but especially after a vacation.
Excellent tips! We used the space saver bags when we packed for our last 2 week cruise as we took alot for 2 weeks away. They worked out very well.
Have a fun and safe vacation :-)
@TacklingOurDebt Ah 2 weeks sounds amazing, but I’ll take 1 week for now : )
One thing that helped when we went on out two week long honeymoon was to have a family member check our house. I’ve heard some horrible horror stories of pipes breaking/freezing, break ins and other negative things happening while people have been out of town. Having someone check on your house can help set your mind at ease.
Nice! Make sure you give a set of keys to someone so if anything happens you can get back in your house!
#1 is a great tip. It is so much nicer to come home to a clean house. I like to have all the laundry done as well, so we don’t come home and have to wash trip clothes with other dirty clothes. Really great list. I love the idea of packing the kid clothes in plastic bags, and you proved that there is always a reason to have duct tape!
I HATE coming back from a vaca to a dirty house. Nothing ruins a nice long vacation like coming back and having to clean.
This is a great tips, especially for us, we have two kids and we are planning to visit Boracay and Bohol in Philippines.
#2 is something I always forget to do. So many times my card got denied… an empty bottle of water is ok in airports if it is a water container, not a normal empty drinking bottle apparently. They kept one of mine that was empty. It may be a country thing though. I roll my clothes and try to travel light, even if going to a hotel, it is annoying to carry a heavy luggage around.
Those are all great tips and I actually already do most of them when I travel. One thing I also do is either travel with a very distinguishable luggage set or I get special tags to mark my bags. Once while traveling to the Philippines, someone mistakently took my back from the baggage carousel. After about an hour, it was returned. But it could have really ruined my vacation. From now on, I make sure my bags stand out clearly from the rest–not the same old black or red bags that everyone else has.
One big one is to lay out an itinerary. You are more likely to spend more money with no agenda by making impulse purchases than when you have a planned agenda.
These are the best one ideas for going on a trip.. I’ll definitely follow this tips when decided to going on a trip..Thanks for this great post..