Want to reduce vacation stress? Follow these packing tips

A perfect vacation can be one of the most memorable and enjoyable experiences you can have. For kids, lifetime memories of beaches, mountains, and theme parks are created during the family vacation. However, the only way to go on vacation is to break out of your daily routine and leave the familiarity of home behind, so along with the unparalleled joy comes a certain amount of stress. This is especially true if you’re trying to cram a family of four into a standard hotel room. The good news is that you can reduce that stress with a few simple packing strategies.

Pack strategically. There are plenty of incentives these days to pack lightly, thanks to excess baggage fees from the airlines. However, your packing can play a big part in how much you enjoy your vacation. Spend a little extra time at home choosing your clothes. It’s common for people to be in a rush when they’re packing so they throw a little bit of everything in the bag. Unfortunately, once you get to your destination, everything you’ve packed becomes something you have to manage, so the less you pack, the better.

Become a packing minimalist. Bring as few pairs of shoes as possible. Pack clothes that match, no matter how you combine them. Unless you’re planning on a night out at a nice restaurant, you probably don’t need your finer attire. In fact, in most tourist areas like Orlando, Las Vegas and Myrtle Beach, it’s acceptable to wear very casual clothes at almost any restaurant. And lean toward things you can wear more than once, like jeans and outfits that don’t show dirt easily. Remember, unless you have a washer and dryer in your room, you probably won’t be doing laundry until you get home.

Don’t live out of your suitcase. Inevitably, this results in a pile of rumpled clothes in the suitcase. Use the closets and the drawers for your clothes and stow the suitcases wherever you can find room for them. Or, you can use the suitcase as a place to throw dirty clothes for the trip home. In addition to keeping your clothes from looking wrinkled, it will help you feel like you have more room to relax because you won’t be constantly tripping over your bags.

Keep toiletries organized and separated. With everybody sharing the same bathroom, you’ll want to set up the counter so that everybody’s stuff is organized and easy to get to. You tend to use this area at two times during the day: right after you wake up and right before you go to bed. These are times when you least want to deal with chaos, so make sure you put things away when you’re done with them. And again, spend some time at home really considering what you need to bring, and leave items you won’t use at home.

Andy Cingolani is a freelance writer and marketing consultant for Wyndham Vacation Ownership. He is also a timeshare owner with WorldMark, the Club.