Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Travel Size
Spring is here, and people are packing up and taking off on vacations. And while you may think that vacation is a great opportunity to relax and refresh—and believe me, so do I—packing for vacation is also a great time to get honest about your stash of samples, travel-size products and those adorable hotel shampoos.
When I was little, the hotels we went to didn’t have shampoo; in fact, the first time I went to a hotel with shampoo, I was a teenager and it seemed very fancy. Now, even the most budget-friendly hotels provide a full array of body wash, lotion, shampoo and conditioner.
Moreover, services like Birchbox send a bevy of samples every month, and if you buy a product in a store a notch up from a drugstore, they’ll load you up with free samples at the checkout counter.
Now, I have no objection to free, and sometimes vacation is a perfect time to try the under-eye serum you don’t have time for in your normal morning routine. However, too often the hoarding of those cute sample sizes is aspirational. You think to yourself: Oh, I’ll use that when I travel. But in reality, you’re driving and taking a regular bottle of shampoo for the whole family to share, or you’d rather fill up your TSA-approved 3.4 oz bottle with your favorite shampoo. More likely, you’re staying in another hotel that will have the exact same thing. If they’re worth bringing home, why not just use them while you’re traveling, and lighten your load by not packing shampoo or conditioner or lotion (or schlepping them back with you)?
I know those small bottles and packets are fetching. But if you’re devoting a shoe box, or even a whole drawer, to samples, and you only seem to add to the stash and never take away, ask yourself if you are realistically going to ever use any of those tiny shampoos. Once you’ve done a big purge, you’ll be left with a few really special products (Be Restored Clay Mask? That would be fun to use after a day at the beach.) Keep less, and use what you keep. (One great solution: Donate all those shampoos and lotions and body-washes to a homeless shelter.)
For extra credit, leave the shampoo in the hotel; say, “No, thank you,” to the salesperson wildly tossing samples in your shopping bag; and if you want to get a gold star from The Perfect Daughter, cancel that Birchbox subscription. It was fun, but in reality who has time to keep up with new products every month?
Pack light, travel far and have faith that our universe is abundant and you don’t need to grab every toiletry you are offered.