Try starting with just 3 of each type of clothing item:
3 underwear
3 tops - 1 long sleeve, 1 short sleeve, 1 sleeveless
3 bottoms - 2 long, 1 short, or a dress
3 pairs of socks
And
2 bras
2 or 3 pairs of shoes - closed toe running or walking shoe, pair of sandals, ballet flat or other more dressy shoe
1 pj or nightie, lounge type item. I have a Sweaty Betty Ave explorer midi dress that I use for lounging and sleep, or outdoors

I like to bring merino wool and quick dry synthetics. Can wear merino wool many times and it stays fresh. Synthetics can be washed and dry by morning.

Toiletries are all trial/travel size, including makeup.

Tablet
Phone
Charger
Umbrella
Raincoat
Hat if it’s hot
A small travel towel

Water bottle
Set of eating utensils
Travel cup and bowl

The last time I flew to Europe (summer), I brought one small backpack 28L that is small enough that I can check it at museums and carry it around town.

You have to be okay with rewearing and have clothes that all matches each other

So like here would be my packing list for 1-3 week long trip this summer

One rayon tank dress
One pair of flowy linen pants
One pair of shorts
One sleeveless tee
Two t shirts
One button up sleeveless shirt
One hoodie
One casual jacket
Two pairs of shoes
Underwear—one pair per night times 1.5
One bra

With the caveat that all the tops can all be worn with the bottoms. Like I’ll wear the tops over the dress so the dress is like a skirt and also the dress by itself. The hoodie and jacket has to go with all tops and all bottoms. Etc

Hi - I have gone three weeks in a carry on, with two laundry services. Here’s what I learned:
1. A scarf or a necklace can change an outfit, use them.
2. Do not “cheap out” - but the nicer stuff that lasts and washes and you love
3. Featherweight stretch material from athleta is amazing
4. Do not buy super patterned or catchy stuff unless it goes w everything - this is hard for me but it’s critical
5. Practice as someone said above
6. Stop worrying about what other people think about what you are wearing..and I don’t mean dress like crap, I mean don’t pretend you need to be an influencer, don’t worry if you have similar outfits on different days etc.

Make a list a week out. Wash everything. Put into packing cubes. Think through outfits. I also need choices in the am. But have pard down. All my stuff matches all other stuff. I think i wear like 4-5 colors now. I pack for a week maximum and assume i will wash stuff. We had a carryon each for a month on our honeymoon. In about to go on a 2 week beach trip (drive) with 2 kids and we each have a small duffle and i think we may fit into 3 of then. 3 pairs of shoes each (sneakers/walking shoes, sandals, crocs/flip flops). Dh will add running shoes. For me: 2 dresses, 1 cover up, 1 pant, 1 legging, 2 shorts, 5 tshirts, 1 hoodie, pjs, under things and swimsuits. If we were planning to go out I'd bring one fancy outfit. If we were skiing instead, i would do sleeve ts, thermals instead of swim suits and and extra pant. For a city/Europe vacation, i just pick nicer dresses/shirts and it all looks put together. All my ts are a variation of white for example and dresses are grey and pink and pants are navy. Its boring but easy to toss together.

Research your destination - the weather forecast, for example, will help streamline your clothes.

The toiletries can be streamlined too - do you really need to bring uour bottle of shampoo when the hotel m/resort has one?

How much can you buy at your destination? Since we have to make a grocery store run on a vacation we cab easily pick up things like sunscreen, umbrella (if needed), etc.

Do you pack for all the low probability what-if situations? Kid might need cough syrup so you pack that? This sun hat might get wet by the pool so I'll need to bring a 2nd one...type of examples.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We once packed for 6 weeks in carry ons. This was for a trip to Paris and the Alps in the summer, and what took up the most space was the hiking boots. We carried our fleece and rainjackets with us on the flight. We knew we had laundry facilities available, and just packed minimally. No electronics for the kids either - they watched movies on the plane, and had books at their destinations. Just capsule wardrobes, shared toiletries and important medications (Epipen and Synthroid: you can't get Synthroid in France). We had an Embassy event to go to and had one nice outfit for that, that we rewore for nights out.

My parents are like you. They cannot travel without several suitcases for every short trip. I have no idea what they put in there.

Did you buy books or were staying with family who had books?

We bring one kindle & headphone per kid and a deck of cards, plus chargers for kindles and phones.

Would love books but a) our kids get motion sickness while reading but can listen to audio books and b) books are bigger and heavier than a kindle.

PP you replied to. In Paris we stayed with family who had books, and in the Alps we were pleasantly surprised to find that our chalet resort had a bilingual library. DD finished all the Harry Potters there! We were just planning on letting them be bored, so that they'd run around and make friends. Yes, we have motion sickness too. No reading in the car or on the plane. I'm not bringing audio material, everyone can just sleep or watch movies.

21:15 again.

If this is your first time doing this, you get the largest acceptable carry on and basically you just pare down until all your essentials fit, OP. It's trial and error.

I don't use packing cubes, because those just add more volume. I have hiking backpacks with dimensions that are at the limit of the carry on measurements. I need to stuff them in a certain way so that if need be, they can fit into the airlines' metal carry on dimension checker, so instead of bulging out in the middle, they have to be more rectangular. Underwear slides down in the inside pockets and socks are balled up and pad the bottom corners. Clothes are folded tightly and put into two squarish piles in the middle. Heavy stuff goes at the bottom, so the bags don't topple over every time I set them down. Little items go into other interior pockets. If I bring a laptop, it's slid down against my back. We have one toiletry bag to share, and it goes in whichever bag is less full. Everyone has a bag. ALL the available space is used up. When we accumulate dirty laundry, we sometimes need to fold that up too in its special bag, to avoid it taking up too much space. At the end of the trip, we sometimes have one backpack full of dirty laundry, all neatly folded, and the others with clean clothes.

Keep a list.

Write down anything you didn’t use.

Strike it off the list next time (except emergency meds/supplies).

I only take things I don’t use when I fail to follow my lists because I am too rushed. Pack 2 days ahead and plan your outfits. Get an AirBNB with a washer-dryer midweek. I also hand wash and dry in suitable locations, super easy.

You have to set a date one week out from your trip to begin packing. Set a goal to pack a carry-on sized suitcase.

Look up the place you’re traveling to and add it to your weather app.

Think about what you’re doing on your trip, ie going hiking, fancy restaurants, etc. Make a list of possible outfits. Start assembling them.

Anonymous wrote:We once packed for 6 weeks in carry ons. This was for a trip to Paris and the Alps in the summer, and what took up the most space was the hiking boots. We carried our fleece and rainjackets with us on the flight. We knew we had laundry facilities available, and just packed minimally. No electronics for the kids either - they watched movies on the plane, and had books at their destinations. Just capsule wardrobes, shared toiletries and important medications (Epipen and Synthroid: you can't get Synthroid in France). We had an Embassy event to go to and had one nice outfit for that, that we rewore for nights out.

My parents are like you. They cannot travel without several suitcases for every short trip. I have no idea what they put in there.

Did you buy books or were staying with family who had books?

We bring one kindle & headphone per kid and a deck of cards, plus chargers for kindles and phones.

Would love books but a) our kids get motion sickness while reading but can listen to audio books and b) books are bigger and heavier than a kindle.

You need to have access to laundry, either washing machine, laundromat or a laundry service. Bring different items that all work well with each other and rely on layering. Make a list in advance of things you will need. Start about a week before so you have time to cull it. Aim for 1 dress, 2-3 bottoms (pants, skirt, shorts), 3-4 different tops, swimming suit,… depending on where you are going and what you’ll do there. We just traveled for a month with enough clothes for 3-4 days and were washing regularly. It was easy to wash cause all our families clothes fit into 1 washer. So it wasn’t a hassle to do washing.

For trips lasting more than a week, I only pack a week's worth of clothes because I do laundry at the end of the first week. I can fit everything in a carryon. Even then, I find I don't wear everything I take with me. Start there. Pack for one week instead of two and plan to do laundry.

don’t wait til the last minute. It sounds like waiting to pack stresses you out and then you try to pack a bunch of stuff to compensate for your lack of planning in advance. Check the weather and think about the activities you’ll be doing on the trip. Then pick out an outfit for each day of your trip. If you actually plan outfits instead of just randomly adding pieces of clothing, you’re less likely to overpack clothes. Unless absolutely necessary only pack 1 pair of shoes and then you’ll have 2 pairs for the trip since you’ll be wearing the others on the plane. If possible wear your bulkiest clothing on the plane (if I’m bringing a jacket/coat with me I generally will wear it on the plane.) travel size toiletries and no extra toiletries that are “just in case” type items (like don’t bring a whole first aid kit w you unless you have reason to think you’ll really need it). Unless it would be really inconvenient to do so, I typically wait til I’m at my destination to buy some things. Like I don’t typically pack sunscreen I just buy it once I get there or if I’m staying w someone I’d buy a host gift while there instead of packing one.

We once packed for 6 weeks in carry ons. This was for a trip to Paris and the Alps in the summer, and what took up the most space was the hiking boots. We carried our fleece and rainjackets with us on the flight. We knew we had laundry facilities available, and just packed minimally. No electronics for the kids either - they watched movies on the plane, and had books at their destinations. Just capsule wardrobes, shared toiletries and important medications (Epipen and Synthroid: you can't get Synthroid in France). We had an Embassy event to go to and had one nice outfit for that, that we rewore for nights out.

My parents are like you. They cannot travel without several suitcases for every short trip. I have no idea what they put in there.

I have read on here about people who can travel for 2 weeks in a carry on. I always have a large checked bag. What are some good tips for finally stopping this. I don’t use 1/2 of what I take, but I get stressed out trying to decide what to pack. I am also a very last minute packer. Any help would be appreciated.