The week before a vacation I feel crazy

[Anonymous]

Anybody else? All the packing, organizing, arranging. Yes, I'm a type A person. I have lists and notes and what not but it's still hard to dial myself down.

[Anonymous]

I haaaate packing so much. I don’t start until the day before, but it’s torture.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I can relate. It’s a lot of details and you don’t want to forget anything. Even after the vacation you often need a day or day to wash and put away laundry and get food etc. So, both bookends around the vacation have extra tasks.

[Anonymous]

This is my husband, even though I do 95% of the work to get ready for vacation. He just has to pack himself and get the dog's stuff together to go to FIL's house, while I pack for 4 kids, do all the vacation planning, etc. But, somehow, he's a stressed out mess.

[Anonymous]

I spend about 8 minutes packing just before we leave. I do dread the travel in advance, but I am happy once we set off.

[Anonymous]

This is me. I have little kids so it’s a lot. And I’m not sure why, because it’s not like we go anywhere without laundry and a store nearby.

[Anonymous]

No I am great at it. I do all my laundry and packing the day before we leave. I take the day off from work (keep childcare) or if it’s a Saturday, I make DH keep the kids out of my hair all day.

Then, all I need to do beforehand is add things I remember on my packing list, or place orders on Amazon.

[Anonymous]

Yes!

This is what works for me, OP:

We typically leave for vacation on Saturday, so this is how I plan my week:

Sunday: Sit down and make a detailed list of things I need to pack and do. It’s detailed down to things like “pack swim covers” and “lock windows”.

Monday: Bring out suitcases and dust them off, then leave them in the spare bedroom. (Before we had a spare bedroom, I kept them in the dining room.) Throughout the week, pack things that are going but that won’t be needed all week.

Tuesday: Nothing, the calm before the storm.

Wednesday: Laundry. This is my “final call” for familial laundry. This is the last load of clothes before the trip and after this, everyone is on their own. If anything is washed that is going, it gets packed now.

Thursday: Clean the house. Everyone pitches in and blitz cleans the house. We will do a lite clean again tomorrow.

This is also the day I stop cooking. The kitchen is closed and we get take out until we leave.

Friday: I like to take this day off of work if possible. We finish packing, and prep as much of the house as possible. The plants are watered, the fridge is emptied, and as much of the checklist is done as possible. I also change sheets and wash them if I have time and feel like it, if not, I wash them when we get back.

Saturday: Finish checklist, and now you’re on vacation!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes!

This is what works for me, OP:

We typically leave for vacation on Saturday, so this is how I plan my week:

Sunday: Sit down and make a detailed list of things I need to pack and do. It’s detailed down to things like “pack swim covers” and “lock windows”.

Monday: Bring out suitcases and dust them off, then leave them in the spare bedroom. (Before we had a spare bedroom, I kept them in the dining room.) Throughout the week, pack things that are going but that won’t be needed all week.

Tuesday: Nothing, the calm before the storm.

Wednesday: Laundry. This is my “final call” for familial laundry. This is the last load of clothes before the trip and after this, everyone is on their own. If anything is washed that is going, it gets packed now.

Thursday: Clean the house. Everyone pitches in and blitz cleans the house. We will do a lite clean again tomorrow.

This is also the day I stop cooking. The kitchen is closed and we get take out until we leave.

Friday: I like to take this day off of work if possible. We finish packing, and prep as much of the house as possible. The plants are watered, the fridge is emptied, and as much of the checklist is done as possible. I also change sheets and wash them if I have time and feel like it, if not, I wash them when we get back.

Saturday: Finish checklist, and now you’re on vacation!

This is similar to how I handle it. Also, I don’t work and my kids go to school or else I would be much more frazzled. My husband is usually working overtime until the last second because he knows he will be away from work for the week (and will likely still work some on the trip) so it falls almost entirely to me.

[Anonymous]

That's how I felt when my kids were too young to pack for themselves. I secretly dreaded traveling for awhile, although I did enjoy myself once I was at the destination.

[Anonymous]

I have a Google spreadsheet file that includes packing lists from all of our trips over the past few years. The "miscellaneous" list is pretty consistent regardless of what kind of trip we're taking. The clothing I usually just copy and paste from a recent similar trip (beach trip, city trip, hiking trip, etc). I usually pack for myself and our kids the weekend before we leave, assuming we don't need the clothes. I check off what's been packed, and I circle things that still need to be packed. My daughter is old enough now to follow the list and pack for herself.

I also have the list of things we can do to prep the week before, day before, and the day of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's how I felt when my kids were too young to pack for themselves. I secretly dreaded traveling for awhile, although I did enjoy myself once I was at the destination.

I think the chaos of the days leading up to a vacation helps me feel more relaxed on, or at least helps me appreciate the relaxation of, the vacation.

[Anonymous]

Oh the relief I feel when we are finally at the airport, with our bags, flight is on time, just waiting at the gate. That’s when I feel my vacation begins. The plane hasn’t even left yet, but there is no more for me to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a Google spreadsheet file that includes packing lists from all of our trips over the past few years. The "miscellaneous" list is pretty consistent regardless of what kind of trip we're taking. The clothing I usually just copy and paste from a recent similar trip (beach trip, city trip, hiking trip, etc). I usually pack for myself and our kids the weekend before we leave, assuming we don't need the clothes. I check off what's been packed, and I circle things that still need to be packed. My daughter is old enough now to follow the list and pack for herself.

I also have the list of things we can do to prep the week before, day before, and the day of.

I use to have a lot of packing/travel anxiety until I started doing this. So much of what you do to prepare for a trip, pack for a trip is just copy-paste. Once I had a good check list a lot of the stress was removed. The biggest thing tends to what you need on a trip that is very specific (ie backpacking, or a wedding). I like to use the weekend before to do a trial pack, try on things I'm unsure about etc. Then the night before do the final pack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh the relief I feel when we are finally at the airport, with our bags, flight is on time, just waiting at the gate. That’s when I feel my vacation begins. The plane hasn’t even left yet, but there is no more for me to do.

Same here!