De-cluterring

DE-CLUTTERING ROSIE BARRON IS THE TIDY COO

Rosie Barron is The Tidy Coo, an award winning Professional Organiser. Scotland’s only Master KonMari Consultant and member of APDO (the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers). Rosie lives in Aberdeenshire with her husband, four Home Educated children, eight ponies, five dogs, three cats, four bunnies, chickens, ducks and fish which all Spark Joy.

Images: Laura Walter Photography

With restrictions finally lifting, many of us are looking forward to a break this summer. Whether you are heading away to the sun, or intending on staying closer to home, with holidays back on the agenda, Rosie is here with some packing tips.

Decluttering Travel Products

Packing is a good time to declutter your travel products. I always suggest to my clients that when it comes to storing items in their home, they store like with like and with that in mind, I suggest that you make a Travel Box in your home. In the Travel Box, store anything that you only use when travelling or on holiday, such as neck pillows, travel sized toiletries and luggage scales. You can include clothing that you only wear whilst on holiday too. I like to store the travel box with the suitcases, but you may find it more convenient to store it elsewhere – as with everything else that I do, this is very personalised to each individual, and you must work out exactly where it suits you and your lifestyle to keep it. Packing is a good time to look at decluttering your travel supplies, especially as you need to pull them all together into one place to pack. See which supplies you have used and which ones you haven’t and consider letting go of the ones that you haven’t, particularly if they are travel sized toiletries that have been open since you last went on holiday! I often discover lots of travel sized bottles taken from hotels in my clients’ homes. Some people like to take them away on holiday with them, and others like the idea of this, but never actually do so. If you have a set of hotel bottles for this purpose and you really don’t want to discard them, I suggest relocating them to your Travel Box. The next time that

you go away, see if you use them. If you do, then that’s great. If you don’t, then release the ones in your home and make sure to leave the others in the hotel next time. I have a set of refillable bottles that I use for travel that I fill up with my favourite products to travel with. This is also a good time to look at sun screen. Most sunscreen should be thrown away after being open for 12 months. This is a safety issue as it degrades and doesn’t provide as much protection after it has been open for a while. Check your suitcases and other travel bags. See how many you have and whether or not they are in good working order – particularly check the stitching and zips. We used to have all sorts of hard-shelled cases, but unfortunately, once they were packed, they tended to exceed airlines’ weight allowances, so we moved to lighter soft-sided ones. If you are discarding suitcases and other bags, do make sure to check them thoroughly! My husband found a pair of cuff links that his late Grandfather had given him, that he thought he had lost, in the pocket of a suitcase.

Pack like a Pro

Preparation

The key to a well-packed suitcase is preparation. I have a packing list so that I don’t forget anything important. Although it has changed over the years, the change has been relatively gradual, and the list has gently evolved. The first thing that I do is to check the list and edit it according to what type of holiday we are going on. I remove anything from it that we don’t need. I also have a look at the holiday and sketch out a plan of what we might be up to each day. Then I gather everything that I need for the holiday and bring it all together in to one place.

Minimise

I try to pack the absolute minimum that I can get away with. I like to travel light and have a manageable amount of stuff, but also, with four children, we all have to pack as little as we can get away with so that we can fit in the car. To that end, I often decant large toiletries into smaller bottles to take up less space. I also choose clothes that can be worn as part of several different outfits. It’s like travelling with a mini capsule wardrobe.

Fold into outfits

Once I have gathered everything together, it’s time to actually pack. I like to fold clothes in to outfits, based on what I might be up to on the various days, and pack the things that I will need first at the top of the suitcase. If I am wearing something twice, then I will pack it in the first outfit. This is particularly helpful when travelling with children as they can just grab a whole outfit rather than rummaging through the suitcase.

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