When you plan a trip away, people search the web looking for traveling tips and tricks to packing light and ensuring they have all the essentials for their beach getaway or a snowy ski trip. Most people don’t google “how to unpack,” but, I am here to tell you that unpacking is the hardest (most dreaded part), at least for me. There’s no reason to have your relaxing vacation create more clutter upon arriving home.

Many people (not saying names here…) come home from a trip, exhausted from traveling and throw their bag on the floor. Instead of unpacking completely, they slowly grab items out of it as needed over the next several days (or weeks!), declare it a tripping hazard to ignore, and it isn’t until company is coming over that they begrudgingly tackle the daunting task of putting everything away. They live in cluttered chaos until they finally are forced to put it all away. Do you fall into this group of people? (No judgments passed. I’m here to help.)

Unfortunately, I can’t come and unpack for you…though that may be the most fun solution for both of us. Instead, here are three easy steps to help you tackle unpacking that suitcase.

1. Unpack right away. If you wait over 24 hours to unpack it wont happen because you’ll already be back into catching up on all the other things you missed while you were gone. The best time is to do it right after walking in the door. It will be worth forcing yourself to do it right away.
2. Stand Still & Sort. Sort into piles of “like with like” on the floor – toiletries, dirty clothes, clean clothes, shoes, souvenirs, etc. As you take items out of the bag, you are tempted to walk out or around the room to put things away, but every time you move to put something away you tend to get distracted. By sorting into categories first, you can bring all the like items to the designated place at one time, instead of walking into the bathroom 8 times to put items away.
3. Create a home for new items. You’re bound to have new clothes to fold, knickknacks to hang, or conference materials that require action. Decide where you will put the items or create a place for them, rather than leave them on the floor to deal with later. If it’s items you want to keep but not display, (possibly items to scrapbook or refer back to) create a file/box for keep sakes and label it accordingly.

The feeling of being completely unpacked within 24 hours of arriving home is priceless, I promise. Put on some fun music and consider this the finale of your vacation.

Oh, and PS…the less you pack, the easier it is to unpack…just saying. 🙂

A Few Traveling Musts:

• Packing list & Tips for a Novice
  
• Tripit app for managing Itineraries
• Easy Luggage Scale
  
• Favorite Bag!