My Overnight Bag

As I’ve mentioned a few times here and on Instagram lately, I’m getting ready to take an overnight trip to my college hometown tomorrow night.

A friend and I are driving up after work today, spending the night and most of the day there Saturday and will head home Saturday evening. We’ll probably be gone all of 24 hours, which considering how little there is to do in Western Maryland, it’s just the right amount of time.

This is now the fourth overnight trip I’ve taken in the past 8 months or so, so I’m getting pretty good at packing minimally so that all I need is my large BP. tote bag that I picked up at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale this past summer.

This bag is currently sold out on Nordstrom’s site (which makes me even happier that I picked it up when I did), and I’m not sure if it will be re-stocked, but if you click on the photo above I’ll link a couple of similar-sized bags that would be great for an overnight trip.

When I’m just going away overnight, the last that thing I want to do spend a lot of time packing and then a lot of time putting stuff away when I get home; so it’s all about bringing the essentials and keeping it organized, so I can grab what I need easily and throw it in my bag without worry.

Before I go anywhere, I make a list of what I need to take with me; for these trips, it’s a bare minimum, but it’s the only way I don’t accidentally leave something important (like my toothbrush) at home. Plus. writing it down gives me one more chance to re-think some of my decisions before packing (like do I really need two sweaters….not likely)

Since it’s a quick trip, I like to keep all of my like-things together in their own pouches or bags so I don’t have to spend a ton of time at the hotel unpacking and re-packing my bag or searching for things (plus it saves your overnight bag just in case something opens or spills). Like, skin care is all together, makeup is all together, etc. If you don’t have a random assortment of pouches like I do (for some reason I have all of these), Ziploc bags work just as well to keep it all together.

I’m using these random little pouches I picked up like a year or so ago at Target after Christmas. They’re a really good size and hold a lot of what I need them to.

I love that I’ve gotten to a point where I can fit everything I need for a day into a large tote bag as opposed to one of those huge overnight duffles that hurt my shoulder to carry.

Look at this: It even has a sweatshirt in there….it’s perfect.