12 Genius Hacks For Packing in a Carry-On Only! Ultimate Guide to Travel Light

How many of you get anxious, stressed, worried when you're gearing up for a trip, when you're packing for that big trip? I definitely do. In this video, I wanna share all of my travel secrets to really help you pack like a pro. These are universal tips that'll work for whatever trip that you're planning, whether it's international, domestic, doesn't matter, doesn't matter the length of time. These tips are so incredibly helpful in terms of reducing the stress and enabling you to relax and really enjoy that process a lot more. Are you ready? Let's get started. Hi, ladies, it's Erin, and welcome back to my channel. I have a love-hate relationship with packing. You know, on one hand, I love looking for shopping finds and finding these really special pieces that will stand out and I'll feel really good in on a trip. On the other hand, I put a lot of pressure on myself to pack all of the right things. Truth be told, it doesn't really matter if you forget something. You can always, pretty much anywhere you go, you can buy what you need on the trip. That said, I think there is something to be said for going on your trip and really feeling amazing in your clothes, feeling confident, feeling comfortable, feeling stylish, you know, especially those more glamorous trips like to Europe or wherever you may be going this summer. One quick note before we dive into the packing tips. There's a huge difference between packing in a carry-on and checking bags, right? Huge, huge difference. These tips will work no matter what you're doing, whether it's the carry-on or the check bags, but I think that there are specific, more strategic things that you have to think about when you are packing solely in a carry-on. So I just don't even think they're in the same universe, really. Checking bags, whole other thing. The benefit of carrying on, and this is the reason why our family always carries on with these gigantic trips that we take. We took one recently to Vietnam and China. The reason being is our itinerary is so aggressive. We're bouncing around like zigzagging both of those countries and we have a lot of travel days and a lot of movement, a lot of moving pieces. It's always more complicated and difficult if you can't in a pinch change a flight or try to get on an earlier flight. You know, if your bags are already on the plane, you have a lot less flexibility in terms of what you can do with your flights, number one. Number two, it's just simpler. It saves time because you don't have to wait for your bags to come out on baggage claim. Then you don't also have that worry of, oh, geez, are they gonna lose my bags, which is a huge worry. Certainly something that's probably happened to most all of us. I know what happened to me was that last year when I went to Paris, my bags didn't come for two days. Now, I made the best of it and went shopping, but you know, we don't always have that luxury budget-wise or timing-wise. So those are the reasons why we carry on for those aggressive trips. I understand and appreciate and love checking bags because it enables me to bring more stylish options. I love to have options. And so on some key trips, I will check a bag, but for the most part, we carry on. One other quick note I just wanted to share is that I personally have traveled to almost 40 countries globally. My husband has traveled like probably 50, 60 countries. I've sort of been there and done that and seen it all and done it all. I've made so many mistakes along the way. And really what I want is for you to feel confident and comfortable and not make those same mistakes. I wanna keep it simpler for you. I want you to be able to enjoy the process and enjoy the journey leading up to the trip more so than I have in the past. Like I shared with you guys before, I get really anxious and worried, but I don't want that for you. I want you to have peace and calm and just excitement for the trip itself. And so if you take that anxiety and that stress away from the packing process, I think you really can have that more relaxing, joyful journey. Packing tip number one is to choose a color story. And what I mean by that is you're gonna wanna create almost like a mini capsule wardrobe. That capsule will be similar color tones that are neutral, that are versatile, that are very wearable. So for example, if it's fall-winter, you're probably gonna wanna do that color story in blacks. If it's spring-summer, you're gonna wanna go more with like beige and white, but you can also do blacks in summer. And by the way, you can do whites and beiges in fall-winter too. I think a fail-safe color story is white, beige, or tan camel in black. And that's traditionally what I go for. I think an exception for me would be if I'm going somewhere really sunny and beachy, then I'm gonna add a lot more color. If I'm going somewhere where I need everything to really work in multiple ways and have that incredible diversity and versatility, then I really go with that color story of those versatile tones. So making sure you choose your color story, and then with your color story and the pieces that you choose, make sure they're pieces you really love to wear, you really feel, again, confident and good in. Last thing you want is just to slap something on and not feel cute and not feel great. You know, traveling is exciting, it's fun, and so you want your style and your clothing to mirror that excitement and fun and joy. So my second tip is to bring basics, and I think this goes for whatever trip you're taking. So an example of a basic piece would be a pair of white jeans or a pair of blue jeans. Like this time of year, I would do white and blue. Another basic could be white pants. Some people don't wanna travel with white pants because of the stain situation, just depends on your comfort level there. Black pants could be a good basic. You know, having a white tank and a black tank is nice, or if you don't like tank tops, maybe you have a white tee and a black tee. I usually do both. Like I'll have a white tee, black tee, white tank, black tank for pretty much every trip. So those basic pieces are really important, and those are the pieces that you can wear over and over and over again on the trip. They're not necessarily gonna be like the outfit makers, but those are the basics of the canvas that you're gonna use to then add other pieces to make your outfit more interesting. So you need those basics. You need that canvas to make it work while you're traveling and at home, by the way. We do have wardrobe basics checklists that we give out when you sign up for our email newsletter. So if you haven't already done that, make sure you sign up, and then you can get those checklists and really make sure that you dial in your basics wardrobe at home, and then you're taking inspiration from that for your travel wardrobe, and obviously that's gonna change a little bit depending on your location and the time of year, et cetera. The third thing, and this is especially important for carry-on bag travelers, you're gonna edit, edit, and edit some more. So it can be tempting to just throw some things in a suitcase and be like, yeah, I'm gonna wear that, I'm gonna wear that, I'm gonna wear that, I'm gonna wear that, bring the new shoes, this, that, and the other. Really take a critical eye to everything that you're putting in that suitcase and think, is this something that I really am gonna feel great in? Is this something that's really gonna make me feel cute and stylish and pulled together? And if it's not, don't bring it. I did this recently where I brought a Runze, like a onesie sportswear kind of thing. I thought I was gonna use it or maybe on sightseeing days because I could make it look really cute with cute sneakers and a hat, but it's not really my style. I do like to be a bit more elegant versus sporty, so I brought that, didn't really need it. If it were hiking involved, yes, I would have used it, but there weren't. I could have really edited that out. So editing is a big part of this process, and it's the same for your wardrobe at home. I tell my kids, we gotta go through your closets twice a year and weed out these old clothes that don't fit you anymore or that are too worn out. That editing process is really important for packing, and that's really gonna help you avoid overpacking because the other thing is if you overpack, even if you're checking a bag, if you're moving around at all, you still have to pack up and move to your other destination. That's kind of a pain if you're overpacking and shoving things into the suitcase, so making sure that you edit's really important. Compression cubes are amazing. I've tried a lot of things over the years. I've done the vacuum-packed garment bags that you kind of roll the air out of. They still sell those, and those are great. You can buy those on Amazon, but I think the compression cubes are better, just more practical. All the compression cube is, it's got two zippers. So the first zipper is like the expander zipper, and then once you have your clothes in there, you can zip the second one to really make sure that your clothes shrink down into a smaller, skinnier size, and this really does help quite a bit. So I traditionally, with a carry-on, I'll use three compression cubes like this size, and I'll do two on one side and one on the other, but you can also get different size compression cubes. These are by BASE. I do have the BASE carry-on suitcase, and I also have the Mini Weekender, and I love the carry-on suitcase because it's the largest carry-on suitcase you can find, period, end of story. Now, I got the beige BASE one, and it does scuff quite a bit. I did figure out that the magic eraser can take out a lot of the scuff marks, so that was exciting on the last trip. The Mini Weekender that I used for our recent trip to Vietnam and China, I packed it too full, and the zipper broke, which was not a disaster, but not ideal either, but we'll get more into the second bag in a second if you're carrying-on. Just like the compression cube, if you have an expander suitcase, and an expander suitcase means it's not a buckle close, it means you have a second zipper that can expand the size of the suitcase. So what you do is you unzip the expander zipper, you fill your suitcase, then you might kneel on your suitcase and close the expander zipper. So you're using that extra zipper as the compression for your clothes. Simple but genius. Okay, so let's talk about your second bag. So when you're carrying-on, the second bag is vitally important. You're not gonna bring the YSL beach tote on top of your suitcase. It looks really cute. It's not gonna be your second bag. You're not gonna bring the Fenny Sunshine bag that I have as your second bag. Your carry-on second bag has to be a very strategic choice that will hold a crap ton of stuff. The mini weekender that I just mentioned is a great second bag, it's just you cannot fill it as full as I did. So in the second bag, traditionally what I'll do is I will put my toiletries, my tech, just supplements. I have like hormones and supplements and a water bottle and things like that, those go into the second bag. And this mini weekender holds some shoes on the bottom, which is really cool. The other thing is if you're moving a lot of different places, like if you're going on an aggressive trip where you have a lot of travel days on the trip, I'm not talking about like, oh, I'm going to Florida and I'm running an Airbnb and I stay put for a whole week. Like you don't really need to worry as much about it then. But if you are going from place to place to place to place to place, then you really wanna have a second bag that has the passenger sleeve. You know, the sleeve that goes over the carry-on handle. Trust me on this. I've done all of the designer cute tote bags on top of my suitcase that you see on Instagram that are so tempting. And I've done the more functional, you know, with the sleeve. It's so much better to have the sleeve because then when you're moving through an airport, you don't have to worry about your top bag falling off the carry-on suitcase, which it can be a nightmare if things fall out, slows you down, you're in a hurry to get to a gate, it slows you down, you're worried about your stuff and your kid's stuff. It's just too much, right? So just take the worry out and make it simpler for yourself and make sure that second bag has the sleeve. Before I move on to the next tip, I just wanted to tell you guys that in addition to those wardrobe basics checklists, when you sign up for our email newsletter, we also do have various packing lists that you can access, you can download and print out for specific types of trips. So we have a Southeast Asia one, I think way back when we did an Iceland one. We have a Europe one, we have a beach vacation one, a lot of different packing lists. Take advantage of those, those are really carefully thought out packing lists that I think will make it much easier for you as you're packing. All right, for carry-on only, now again, not for check bags, but for carry-on only, three pairs of shoes, that's it. Now my little mini weekender, I could put two pairs of shoes in the bottom of my second bag, which was cool, but ordinarily I would put my two pairs of shoes in my suitcase and then I would wear the third pair of shoes. So traditionally I wear the heaviest or the biggest pair of shoes. And in the case of like a spring summer trip, that is traditionally a pair of sneakers. In a fall winter trip, it's probably a pair of booties or snow boots even, depending on where we're going. Now if you've got really small feet, you could probably sneak in like a flat pair of sandals if you wanted to as a fourth pair. So I do that sometimes on a spring summer trip, I'll throw in a pair of flip flops or a pair of Sam Edelman sandals or whatever. I can get away with that. But I would say for the most part, try to think about keeping it and minimizing it to three pairs of shoes. Okay, the next tip is to maximize your space. And what I mean by that is it can be tempting to use all cubes and you want everything to look so beautiful, like the little cube on top of the big cube. You're not gonna get the most use of your carry-on suitcase or your regular suitcase unless you take some items and shove them into the corners and those little places in the suitcase that the cube doesn't reach. And that could even be inside a pair of shoes, inside a handbag, inside the hat. Like you can actually use the socks and the underwear and a pair of jammies and your workout set to preserve the shape and integrity of those things like your handbag and your hat and your shoes. There is this temptation to be like, I just want everything in its place and my underwear's in this pocket and my socks are in this pocket, I get it. Totally like that too. But in the case of packing in a carry-on suitcase, you have to maximize every single little space in that suitcase. And that means not having that perfect space for your underwear, your socks. Using those little pieces and putting them into those corners and crevices. So you've fully maximized and used that suitcase. One of the things that can take up a lot of room, especially in that second bag, are your toiletries. And this is where things like, you think you're doing such a great job and it's so light, it's where things can really get out of control really quickly. So for me, I do everything travel-size. I do a travel-size hairbrush. I do travel-size skincare. I do travel-size makeup. Most of it's travel-size. I do a travel-size perfume container. Actually, it's a viral thing that I saw on Instagram that I ordered from Amazon and it's amazing. I love it. The next tip is to scrap your hair stuff. There's gonna be some of you who are like, I have to have my hair stuff. No problem. You've got really, really curly hair and you need smoothers and you need your diffuser and you need certain tools for your hair. I get it. So what you're probably gonna have to do is compromise a little bit on the toiletry side. Maybe keep it real lean on the skincare side. Maybe you do two pairs of shoes instead of three pairs of shoes. You can kind of make trades and make it work for yourself. For me, I scrap all hair things. I don't bring a curling iron. I don't bring a hairdryer. I don't bring shampoo or conditioner. Pretty much every hotel that you go to that's a decent hotel is gonna have shampoo and conditioner. Most Airbnbs that you stay at nowadays have shampoo and conditioner. Both of those have a hairdryer. You're on a trip and you really want your hair to be wavy. You can use a lot of dry curl tricks. I just saw one the other day where it's just a silky sash that's shaped like a tube and you can use that to curl your hair. The old-fashioned braid your hair and then sleep on it. You can figure out creative ways to make your hair look fab and not bring all those hair care products. But again, if you really do need those, if you have kind of high-maintenance hair, then you can make trades in other ways. The next tip is to plan your outfits. And I think this is really important because on certain trips, you have certain activities that you're gonna participate in. You know if you're just going to a beach for a week, like, oh, I'm gonna want swimsuits, cover-ups, hat, sunglasses, sandals, sunscreen, and probably multiples of each of those. But maybe you're going on a trip and you're gonna be doing a bike tour or hiking or sightseeing or going to churches and synagogues and chapels and you're gonna need more conservative clothing to tour those sites. Game out what you're gonna wear to those different activities. Game out a couple of daytime outfits. Game out a couple of dinner outfits. Think about, well, if I go to dinner and it's gonna be in the 60s, it's kind of chilly. Well, I wanna wear this dress. What am I gonna wear over the dress if it's chilly? So game that all out. What if it pours down rain? Do you have a rain jacket? For our family, everybody has a North Face rain jacket with a hood that's waterproof, Gore-Tex, and just really lightweight and easy to pack. So that's like a slam dunk for like a rainy hike or a rainy sightseeing day. Trench coats can be really amazing too for rain, but you have to, again, game it out. Like, if you're going to Europe and you're just gonna be sightseeing in Europe and you're not doing anything outdoorsy, then probably a trench would be great. But if you're going to Europe and you're doing bike tours and hiking, then you're probably gonna want something a little sportier like the North Face jacket. The last tip I wanna highly, highly recommend is to take pictures in the mirror of all of your outfits. This is gonna make it simpler for you to edit. It's also gonna make it simpler for you to look at everything with a really critical eye and say, yeah, I thought this was really cute, but it's actually not. It doesn't photograph well. If you're gonna take lots of pictures, you wanna look good in the pictures, right? And then you have a different perspective. That doesn't really photograph well. It's making me look boxy or it's not very flattering or the color really doesn't look good. And you can really see it in the picture, sometimes more so than just trying it on and looking in the mirror. So making sure that you take those pictures of your outfits helps you on the edit side and helps you really dial in what it is that you really, truly wanna bring that's gonna make you feel as comfortable and as confident as possible. There's a few just travel tech things I wanted to talk to you guys about. One is camera. Obviously, your iPhone works beautifully, but if you wanna take nicer photos, I did just get the Sony compact mirrorless camera full frame. It's the smallest, most compact, full frame mirrorless camera. It's very lightweight and it's very easy to take on a trip. I have the world's greatest travel tripod. We can link it below. Another cool thing that I discovered are these. I think this was another viral thing on Instagram. These are called iFly. You can plug this into your headset on the plane and then that way, you can use your own AirPods or headphones when you're listening to the in-flight entertainment system. I will say that if you want to go back to using your own device, you have to actually unplug this. You can't have both at the same time. Another really cool thing that I got recently that I think is just worth taking a look at is the Lark water bottle and that actually purifies the water in your bottle. You just press the top very gently and it purifies it. I actually got the Lark water bottle because I needed something that would keep my hormones cold because I use a trochee that needs to be refrigerated. So I put some ice cubes into a baggie and then I put my hormones in there. But it has this dual purpose of also purifying your water. So if you're traveling and you're just not that sure about the water, like you can just bring your water bottle and tap the top and purify it anytime you want. I always bring my own headphones. I bring both the AirPods and I bring my Bose headset. I always bring a backup battery. For international travel, I bring an adapter. And that's pretty much it on the tech side. So I hope you found that helpful, those tips helpful. These are very carefully thought out tips that come from experience. I've traveled to almost 40 countries globally, mostly using just a carry-on suitcase and a second bag. These are the tips that I can share with you that can most help you to really enjoy the full process and take some of that stress off your plate, leading up to the trip and to take that anxiety out of the packing. Let us know if you have any questions, just comment below. We'll put links to the things I talked about in the description box below. Thank you guys so much for watching. I'm really excited to hear about all of your trips coming up and where you're going and what you're planning. Please do share that in the comments as well. Thank you so much again for watching. Love y'all. See you next time. Bye-bye.