Packing: Create a Master List

I admit, I inwardly smirked at the people who write about their packing lists; packing lists are for the weak! I had a system, developed over years of practice. But then, I tried it. And, despite believing that my “system” for getting us packed for a trip was efficient enough, I have now changed my tune.

I admit it, I made a master packing list for our trip out west. I put the list in my Google Docs so that I would be able to update it from wherever as new things came to mind. The list is organized by category (clothes, camping, diversions, etc.).

When we started packing today for our camping trip tomorrow, I pulled up the list and copied it over to my computer. I removed the things we won’t need — please tell me we don’t need long underwear this weekend. And then we tackled packing. In under an hour, we had Evie all packed for a four-day camping journey. It was really that easy. It will probably take me more time today to cut up all the fruits and veggies in the fridge to prepare our CSA takings for the trip.

I’m converted. The list rocks. And I hope it reduces the chance we forgot something.

Plus, the list saved us enough time that we were able to go out and get a little treat:

yogurt tap - 24 aug 2011