Minimalist Packing into a Personal Item

One of my closest friends struggles to pack small for our many dance weekends out of town and I thought I’d make a short little video showing how I do it. I don’t think I’ve ever paid for carry-on luggage and I’ve fit as many as seven days worth of clothes into a bag a bit smaller than a backpack.

So here we go. For a dance weekend I’ll pack:

• Two or three outfits for the evening dances
• Two outfits that are generally thin and comfortable enough to wear for classes.
  • Leggings, tank tops, and a sports bra
• A pajama – leggings and a t-shirt, or some thicker pants if it’s cold.
• A makeup bag with only the essentials I know I’ll be wearing
• Toiletries
  • Deodorant, a reusable makeup remover wipe, toothbrush and toothpaste, face cleanser, body wash, lotion, a hair product for my curls, clothing wrinkle release spray, and a small perfume
• Misc.
  • Rechargeable phone battery, hand sanitizer, sunglasses, wallet, headphones, a small notepad and pen, reusable bamboo utensils, water bottle, a couple emergency bags of tea, and sunglasses. Maybe a book if I have room.
  • A canvas tote bag. I’ll use this to carry my bathroom toiletries to the bathroom wherever I’m being housed and to bring in my shoe bag, wallet, and phone into dances. It rolls up very small and I can keep it in the front pocket of my luggage.

Each outfit gets rolled up so I can pull out one single roll and everything I’ll be wearing for that bit of the day is all together.

I pack only what I know I’ll need for each trip and limit any “just in case” items to save space and take some weight off my shoulders. Literally. It’s actually become really easy to pack this way, partially due to budget, but because I’ve spent the past couple years trying to eliminate the unnecessary things in my room and life and thinking about minimalism (or essentialism, or intentionalism, or whatever you want to call it) it feels so much better to not travel with much. Unless it’s Lindy Focus, of course.