Before I tried folding clothes the KonMari way and mixed it with a bit of minimalism, my husband and I always had something hanging out of our ears while travelling with my little boy. We had separate shopping trolleys to carry different sized suitcases, travel bags and of course separate hands for the bottle and stuffed animal we couldn’t live without. Honestly, it was a mess…

And when we arrived at the hostel, sometimes I didn’t even unpack and we lived out of suitcases for those few days, which is not really an advantage with a small child. Then on our recent trip, I packed according to the suitcase organizing tips and rules we had established and never looked back.

I’ve compiled the most important things to know about what to do for an easy-to-manage suitcase, and later to maintain clarity once you’ve unpacked it

Get the suitcase that makes you happy

In the spring, we said goodbye to a suitcase that was missing a wheel and required constant attention when we walked with it at any time recently. So when I started packing for the last long weekend, I chose from our remaining quality suitcases.

I pulled them off the top shelf of our wardrobe. Surprisingly, they fit right inside each other, so they don’t take up much space for storage. I suggest you also use the empty space in your suitcase when you’re not using it and store them stacked. Then I chose the right size: for us, it’s important not to have to turn around too much, so a big suitcase that fits everything was the winner.

Tip: Before you start putting your clothes in it, it’s worth checking to see if there’s anything left in the suitcase from the last trip (paper towels, sand, or other small items) that you won’t need this time.

Plan ahead what you will wear on each day

By the time of a holiday, most of us plan exactly when we’re going to go where, what we’re going to do and buy tickets online in advance. In the same way, you can use these to plan your holiday outfits.

What do you need?

Number of days. (Why +1? I get it for a toddler, but when was the last time you needed extra socks or panties?)

Weather app – What will the weather be like that day? During the day? Evening? (No, you don’t need that extra thick sweater in Mexico.)

Where are you going? Will you be out on the beach? Are you climbing a mountain? Going to a fancy restaurant?

What kind of outfit do you need for that particular program? Which piece of clothing is more functional? Can you wear it more than once?

The amount of clothing for a long weekend determined by these criteria has already fit neatly into a larger suitcase and a small backpack with the other extras needed for the trip. All three of us!

Fold your clothes the KonMari way

Most of us have learned to fold and store our clothes throughout our lives by forming a rectangle shape of some sort and stacking them on top of each other, piling them up.

The problem with this method of folding is that you always have to rummage through the clothes somehow, even on the shelf, and certainly in the suitcase. Once you’ve found the right piece, the whole column of clothes is left crumpled, jumbled, a bit tilted.

That’s why the KonMari method works for us, because we can see through all our clothes instantly.

The idea is to place the clothes next to each other, so that they hug each other tightly vertically. No need to search. No need to move the clothes pile aside. You see each piece and can easily and instantly choose which one you want to wear.

Lingerie can be folded in with the rest, but you can also fold it into a small bag so it’s all in one place. This method of suitcase organisation is particularly useful when travelling, as you can instantly judge if you’ve forgotten something, or if you’ve packed enough socks for the trip.

When the three of us go anywhere for several days, we usually spend the days before doing laundry so that everyone has the right amount of clothes for the trip.

So when I fold these after washing, I fold them specifically to the size of our suitcase, making them a little narrower to fit comfortably in the suitcase. Then, after the folding and refolding is done, I arrange our suitcase to make it as transparent as possible for us.

Gather all the shoes and accessories

The point of home organization and especially the KonMari method is to ask yourself, “What brings you joy?”. When it comes to travel and packing, ask yourself this minimalist question “What do I really need?”.

This is when a few high heels or more stylish tops and dresses go back into our wardrobe, because we realise that the idea of wearing a nice top on holiday appeals to us. However, if we look within ourselves, we know that we’ll only be going sightseeing in our comfy footwear and not pushing the pram on the cobbles in stilettos – but we’ll be glad to be alive after a tiring day full of happiness and new experiences.

And when it comes to jewellery and other accessories, we need to realise that the earrings we wear when we travel are exactly what we need.

So ask yourself again, “Do I really need this? Am I sure I’ll wear it?” For most trips, one pair of shoes that can be worn on more than one occasion and one pair of slippers is enough.

That way you can comfortably zip your suitcase without the expansion feature, and you won’t have to have a member of the family sit on it and painstakingly zip it up bit by bit.

Items that fall into the “I might need it” category: prohibited

If you’re going to the beach, you don’t need a jacket. No, there will be no blizzard, even in the evening the temperature will not go below 20 degrees. You also don’t need a folding umbrella at the beach. But if you do for some reason, do you know how much it costs to buy an umbrella at this time of year? Not much.

My 15-1500 rule comes in handy. Those “I might need it” items that you can get for about 1500 ft in 15 minutes while travelling are not worth putting in your suitcase.

A medicine kit is essential for a family. However, surely you need a full box of each? Especially if it’s only half full? In this case, it is a good idea to collect all the possible medicines in a small medicine dispenser box, label them and take only a minimum supply instead of a large bag of medicines. Compared to the original bags, we put everything in the small box, but only the practical amount.

If you’re going on a longer trip, visit the Tales from the Footsteps blog to read what Dóri and Edvard packed for their 2.5 month trip to South America.

Technology and holidays

Do you really need to lug your laptop on holiday? If you’re going to get out and relax a bit, take advantage of it. You’ll have time to check out the latest from your favourite YouTube star when you get home, or if you’re really curious, you can watch it on your phone.

Also, if you’re into technology, if you like to read, instead of hundreds of pages of a novel that would double the weight of your hand luggage, you can download a book to your phone or tablet. Trust me, the experience of reading the book will be the same, but you’ll be carrying 500 pages less.

Wet toiletries and other bathroom essentials

It’s best to plan in advance where your toiletry bag will go and leave a little hole for it in the pack. Then, in the bathroom, you take out everything you want to take with you and use it until the last minute.

Here again, it’s true that you need to organise everything next to each other to reduce the need to search for items. It’s a good idea to pour shampoo/shower gel into smaller plastic containers or jars to take up even less space.

Suitcase organizing tips in practice

The suitcase you see in the picture is two storeys high as it is quite tall. Pants, sweaters and t-shirts are on the bottom and lighter materials are on the top: shoes, scarves, belts, swimsuits, a wet wipe and a medicine box. And we took the heavier clothes for travel, so we were able to travel with one suitcase and one backpack (other baby-related stuff).

You can see how this packing method makes it easy to get around in your suitcase when travelling!  Now that you’ve packed everything, enjoy your holiday, your light suitcase, stress free and get on with what you really want to do.

Trust me. Enjoy every minute of your trip!

When you get there – storing your clothes in your accommodation

To avoid having to live out of your suitcase, you can simply take out your clothes and arrange them in your wardrobe. Who wants to live out of a suitcase for several days?

If you’ve packed so neatly in your suitcase, why not unpack and enjoy your regularity while on holiday? See what the difference is between an unattractive and organised wardrobe on holiday! (I folded the towels when we arrived at the hostel and we didn’t take them with us)

And when you get home…

A Good | It’s important not to leave your suitcase in the hallway somewhere. When you get home, unpack it. Dirt in the laundry hamper (you can start a wash – you’ll get it over with sooner and won’t have to do 3 days of laundry in a row), unused clothes (because there’s always those left over eventually) back in their place in the closet.

Then slide the suitcases into each other and they can go back into place on the top shelf. This can be done in 30 minutes or less, and then you can enjoy your home – while the laundry is going.

The Bad | Did it take you all day to get home? Tired? Is it evening? Everyone loves a holiday, but no one loves packing back up. More than once I’ve made the mistake in the past of going around for days with my suitcase, packing things in different sized bags and it was a week before I got the items back in place.

I can tell you, every time I saw the packs, I felt guilty. Also, different things started piling up next to the suitcase: it just attracted other items, so the pile never really ran out, and just more and more stuff was lying in the aisle, under my feet, in the way.

The Ugly | Although it seems very simple to just fold our laundry into a bag, folding clothes back into their original state makes it easier to sort out and organise our laundry. That way, if we have the extra strength, we don’t just fold and fold them when we put them back in the suitcase, or at least put them back in the suitcase, sorted and ready to wash.

I hope you found some useful tips in this post and that your next suitcase packing will go smoothly and stress-free. If you have any more ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments! In the meantime, have a nice holiday, organised luggage and good rest!