How to Stop Overpacking Your Luggage

However, there’s one very important detail that many travellers often miss: their luggage. Specifically, a lot of people end up overpacking because they don’t properly plan what to bring with them.

That said, downsizing luggage doesn’t come easy for everybody. If you struggle a lot with overpacking, here are a couple of handy tips to keep in mind the next time you prepare for a trip:

Avoid Overstuffing Your Luggage

The first tip is the most straightforward. Stick with the essentials, and don’t try to stuff your bags and suitcases with too many items. If you see any leftover room in your suitcase after you’ve packed your essential items, let that free space be.

Unfortunately, many travellers struggle with this practice. If they leave any unused space in their suitcase, they may feel as if they’re not maximising their tickets’ baggage allowance. While this feeling is valid, looking at it from another perspective may provide you with some comfort.

To be specific, don’t think of it as wasting luggage space. Instead, view it as allocating free space for future purchases and souvenirs. For example, if you’re heading to Singapore, the extra baggage space will give you enough room to store any mementoes you’ve acquired from Changi Airport shopping. By thinking ahead and allotting luggage space for souvenirs and other holiday purchases, you can feel more at ease about not overstuffing your suitcase from the get-go.

Get a Smaller Suitcase

If you find it difficult to pare down what items to bring, you can downsize your suitcase instead. With less room to fill up, you’ll have to sift through your belongings and carefully consider which ones to bring.

For a rough idea of how small your suitcase should be, use your ticket’s carry-on baggage allowance for reference. Airlines usually allow around seven to 12 kilos for carry-ons. While some items may be heavier than others, this should give you a good baseline of how many things you can bring with you.

Stop Thinking of “What If” Situations

It’s important to be prepared for emergencies, but there’s a fine line between being prepared and overpacking. Unless you’re going to a place where some products aren’t readily available, there’s usually no need to add too many items to your luggage. Instead, you can just bring your essentials (the things that you can’t easily buy) and purchase everything else you need once you arrive at your destination.

One of the most effective ways to stop thinking about “what if” situations is to do your due research on your destination. Check if there are any local shops and see what they usually have on sale. You can also get this kind of information from other people who’ve already gone to your destination. They can give you an idea of what you should absolutely bring and what you may have trouble finding in your destination’s local stores.

Prepare a Capsule Wardrobe

A capsule wardrobe is a term that refers to a small set of curated clothes, accessories, and footwear. Such a wardrobe is usually comprised of no more than 10 base items: specifically, eight articles of clothing and two pairs of footwear. Accessories are optional.

Indeed, preparing a capsule wardrobe for your trip will meet both your fashion and minimalist packing needs. This is because the clothing items chosen for this type of wardrobe complement each other, which means you can mix and match pieces without worrying about anything looking out of place. In fact, not only will you be saving on luggage space, but you’ll also save a lot of time when it comes to styling your outfits.

Avoid Last-Minute Packing

Based on the tips above, it’s clear that packing for a trip requires a lot of thought and consideration. That said, it’s difficult to carefully consider your options if you tend to pack at the very last minute. If you don’t have a lot of time left to prepare your luggage, you’re likely to begin panicking and start tossing random items into your suitcase without really thinking about it. This increases your chances of bringing along items that you won’t even end up using during your trip.

So, while packing the night before may be feasible if you’re going on a quick overnight trip, it’s still best to start planning and packing your luggage at least a few days before you have to leave.

Getting your packing list right can be challenging, but it’s more than doable as long as you follow the tips above. By making more deliberate choices about what to add to your luggage, you can rest assured that you won’t leave anything important behind and that you won’t be bringing anything superfluous with you.