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How to avoid overpacking or having to pay for excess luggage

How to avoid overpacking or having to pay for excess luggage

Packing Guides and Travel Gear, Travel Tips

Packing for a trip can be overwhelming, those sneaky doubts cloud your judgment. Before you know it your suitcase weighs more than you, and you’re paying hundreds of dollars for excess luggage. If in doubt you don’t need it; 9 times out of 10 you won’t even use/wear it. I am guilty of overpacking for trips, it is more of a burden to carry it around during the trip. So, without further ado, here are our tips on how to avoid overpacking or having to pay for excess luggage.

1. Make a list

Lists are life, they are the best way to declutter the information that is swirling around in your brain. Grab your Itinerary, have a look at the activities you have planned and if they require any special clothing attire. For example, Quad biking you would need to be closed in shoes and some sort of shorts. Write it all down, day by day so that you can plan your outfits accordingly. Be sure to make a list of your hygiene products, the electronics you want to take, travel docs and the most important your first aid kit. See here for our full essential items to pack.

2. Roll your clothes and use packing cubes

When you pack your suitcase roll your clothes up, this will save on space, keep everything neat and tidy as well as stop everything from getting creased. Packing cubes are a great way to separate your items, have one for tops, pants and undies. (Still roll your clothes just pop them in the packing cubes)

Packing Cube Set

3. Mix and match your clothes

This one is important, choose your clothes so that you can mix and match them with other items, neutral colours that you can put with multiple pairs or pants or a skirt. This will significantly cut down the need to take a million changes of clothes. Choose clothes that don’t crease easy, there is nothing worse than having to find an iron or wear crinkly clothes.

4. Shoes

Try to take shoes that you can wear on multiple occasions, however the general rule of thumb is a pair of sandals, a pair of comfortable walking shoes and one pair of boots/going out shoes. Shoes are heavy so the less the better.

5. Buy the right size suitcase

You may not think it but your suitcase can make or break the comfort of your trip, it needs to be durable, easy to manoeuvre, and the right size. A suitcase; that is too big can be awkward to move around and you can pack too much stuff into it (which could mean going over your weight allowance). Anywhere between 50-60cm in height will comfortably hold 25-30kg which is usually the maximum weight allowance for large airlines.

Tips for buying a new Suitcase

  • Look for a full retractable handle to wheel the case
  • A handle on the top and side to make it easier to carry
  • The wheels on your case will cop a hammering look for the smaller wheels that are close to the body of the suitcase, this way they have less chance of snapping off.
  • Look at the zipper, you can get hard cases with an expandable zipper it may seem like a good idea however it allows for movement in the middle of the case which becomes hard to manoeuvre.
  • I would suggest a hard case one that closes on itself as it strengthens the case and doesn’t allow for over-packing.

 

By far the best out of all of them is Samsonite, they are not the cheapest but it is the old saying of you get what you pay for. I have had the same Samsonite case for 6 years now, it has been on the road with me throughout Europe for 3 years consecutively and is still going strong. Samsonite is the best product in the market and I would strongly recommend looking at their range if you are in the market for a new case, Amazon carries Samsonite and you can often get some great deals.

6. Take mini versions of everything

Your toiletry bag is heavy, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, perfume it all is significantly bulky items. Try to downsize everything, mini bottles, we use head and shoulders who do a 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner combo, reducing the need for 2 heavy bottles. Get travel-size plastic bottles and pop your contents into them again reducing the weight and bulkiness of your toiletry bag.

7. Use luggage scales

Luggage scales are the best invention ever. Do yourself a favour and get some today! Find them here on Amazon. These fantastic lifesavers will be your saving grace to ensure that you do not go over the weight limit. Most airlines have a specific weight limit for each item of luggage, be sure to check this before you pack. Use the luggage scales to weigh your case regularly, this will avoid you overpacking. Try to keep it at least 5kg under the actual weight limit so you have room for shopping.

Luggage Scales Product Photo

8. Wear your bulky items on the plane

If you are going on a winter trip, winter clothes suck to pack they are big and bulky which takes up your entire suitcase. Try to wear your thick jacket and heavy jeans on the plane so they don’t count towards your weight allowance.

9. Now Half it!!

Once you have written your list, packed your bag then stand back and take a breath, be proud of your efforts. Now go to your suitcase and take half of it out. Cut down your original pack by half and this will be sufficient items for a trip. Unless you are climbing Mount Everest there will be shops that you can pick something up in an emergency

The key is to be organised, start with your list and work your way through our tips on how to avoid overpacking and paying for excess luggage; trust us it will be a much more enjoyable experience. Not having to stress about being overweight on for the flights, paying overweight fees and most importantly you won’t be lugging around heavy suitcases for no reason.

There are affiliate links in this blog post to make your trip planning easier. By clicking on these links, purchasing the products or booking your travel through my website. I will be paid a small commission at no cost to you! This commission helps to keep this blog running so that we can bring you more travel inspiration, So thank you very much.

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