Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Packing for Camp
Ah, summer. Vacations and holidays and that wonderful time away, so long as you remember to bring a swimsuit. Summer is the season of packing, and all over Manhattan living rooms, bundles of fresh white athletic socks and triple packs of bug repellent are vying for trunk space on their way upstate.
This is the first time I’ve sent all three of my children to sleepaway camp. (And before you resent me for this, trust me, I’ve earned these two weeks.) Packing for camps and vacations can be such a formidable task that the chief packer will fret days before the packing and well into the vacation. So unnecessary. Good packing makes for great trips. The worry is gone, the stuff that’s needed is in the bag and one can ease into a different place while enjoying an actual holiday. So, here are some of my never fear strategies for packing — for camp, for the beach or wherever you may go.
The packing list:
Sleepaway camp comes with a packing list. Although you may not be going to Camp Sloane, a packing list is, in the Perfect Daughter’s opinion, so essential as to bemandatory. Everyone needs a packing list. For camp, leave the packing list in the trunk and make notes in the margin. Better yet, scan it, label it and keep it in your computer for next year.
If there are trips you take annually, or at least with some kind of regularity, make a list on your computer or your smart phone. For example, we usually go to Florida during our midwinter break. So instead of making a new list every year, I reference my packing list so that I don’t forget the aloe vera (because they are going to get sunburned one day). For an added bonus, as your children get older, you can hand them the list so that they can ready themselves. Even if you are still too much of a control-freak (as I am) to let them actually pack themselves, at least have them set everything out on their beds so you can approve before it goes into the suitcase.
An opportunity to weed:
One thing I love about packing my kids for camp is that it is an excellent opportunity to weed clothes. As we pack socks and underwear, the drawers are emptied and we find items that are too small, have holes and are unmatched. Even if you aren’t sending anyone to camp, a thorough inventory of sock and underwear drawers probably won’t take too long and is a worthy ten-minute detour during your packing if just to have drawer space upon your return.
Once back from camp, the weeding is all the more rewarding. The two-week supply of T-shirts that went off to camp can be culled for rips and stains. Besides, who really needs 14 T-shirts?
Pack in advance:
Getting a ready a day or two early lets misplaced items reveal themselves and gives you a chance to remember a few things you may have forgotten. Also, you feel pretty smug looking at that tidy and ready little suitcase. This is also a good time to note whether you are squeezing too much into your bag. Leave some room in there so that it’s easy to find what you packed.
Resist the impulse to buy:
All trips seem to fill people with the impulse to purchase. Maybe it is travel anxiety that sends people off to Rite Aid in search of sample sizes when likely, everything needed is in the back of the bathroom vanity. Save the earth and your dollars by buying reusable TSA-approved bottles for shampoo and lotion.
This year, I withstood the urge to buy the children new towels and sheets for camp, which were so cute and cheap at Target. I sent the kids to camp instead with our spare sheets and towels for overnight guests whom we hardly ever host. It is possible that these will get trashed and I may have to replace them. But for right now, I didn’t run around spending money and adding more stuff to the linen closet.
So, bon voyage, fellow travelers. May these tips lead you to happy times whether they be in a swaying hammock, a canoe, a lawn chair or just the blissful quiet of an empty apartment.