The Easy Number Rule To Follow When Choosing What To Remove From Your Overflowing Luggage

Folks always overpack more than they underpack. Maybe you'll cut your finger and need some Band-Aids, you think. Maybe you ought to bring a backup swimsuit in case you want a different style. Maybe you might need your big headphones, not the small earbuds, because they sound better, and if your train gets delayed ... blah, blah, blah. Packing is often like this: convoluted, overcomplicated, and tangled. So how do we cut down on unnecessary bulk? Sage advice from seasoned travel experts reduces it to a simple rule: Remove 10% to 20% of your stuff. Just one in five items, that's it.

Then again, this is the final step in a multistep process. If all else fails, take an inventory of your suitcase and decide what you can live without. Do you really need five pairs of pants? Probably not, and this one-in-five method helps eliminate up to 20% of what you plan to pack. But before then: plan, plan, plan. Some experts recommend architecting entire, economized wardrobes weeks ahead, accessories included, and trying them all on to determine what works. It's also helpful to reduce the number of shoes (three pairs maximum), use lightweight accessories like scarves rather than thick, heavy items, and even make the most of space by using packing cubes.

This level of planning might be a bridge too far for many people, though. Even if folks want to fidget over every clothing item, scrutinize their outfits in a mirror, or buy additional items to help them pack, they might not have time to do so. For these individuals, we would recommend mixed-and-matched outfits, i.e., packing tops and bottoms that can be matched in any way and which will be servicable for the whole trip. T-shirt and jeans people will have the easiest time of all here. Beyond these overall rules, there are plenty more tips that travelers can employ to streamline their packing process and avoid lugging around bulky bags.

If you want to reduce the overall volume of what you pack for a trip, even before you extract 10% to 20%, you can start by doing laundry. Rather than pack every item for every day, pack for maybe half the length of the trip, do laundry in the middle of the trip, and then carry on from there. Consider Rick Steves' laundry day travel hack that turns laundromat hunting into a mini adventure that you can use to check out otherwise unexplored areas.

Our second pro-tip relates to toiletries. Rather than packing your beloved, yet extensive regimen of hair and skin care products, try packing only small bottles and buying toiletries at your destination. That way, you can mingle with locals off the heavily-touristed path in shops that you usually wouldn't infiltrate. And since the TSA's ever-annoying 100-ml bottle rule still stands (although it might be ditched in the future), you can even confine your toiletries to 100-ml bottles and pack them wherever you want, including in your carry-ons.

And speaking of carry-ons, it stands to reason that folks who tend to overpack their main, checked bags probably tend to overpack their carry-ons. You can easily apply the 10% to 20% rule to your carry-on. And if you've still got serious trouble overpacking, try rolling your clothes up rather than packing them flat. This saves way more space than you might realize. Once your trip is all said and done, reflect on what went well and what didn't. It's unlikely that your trip is going to go off without a hitch, in the baggage department or otherwise. But no worries, because you can always adjust your strategy next time.