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When I was traveling recently, I saw a girl almost forget her hanging bag she was carrying as she was about to board our plane–she frantically ran back to where she’d been sitting and grabbed it from the back of her seat where she’d left it draped.  I then watched this same girl struggle down the jetway with her rolling carry-on, the bulky hanging bag she almost forgot, and another over-the-shoulder bag.  (I would have offered to help her, but with four children and a husband in tow, I was already at my limit with bags and things to keep track of–not to mention the fact that I left my own bag with my laptop, wallet, camera, and some jewelry in the gate area in the BAHAMAS of all places last month!!  OMG!  Thankfully I got it all back–truly a minor miracle!  Needless to say, after that fine display of responsibility, I was probably the last person who should help this sweet girl keep track of her things!)

As we boarded, this girl then asked the flight attendant to hang the bag in the closet at the front of the plane.  I heard her say that she’d already almost forgotten the bag once, and how that would have been a disaster since she was headed to a wedding that night!  The flight attendant assured her that she’d remind her to get her bag on the way out once we landed so she didn’t forget it yet again!  I couldn’t help but think to myself how much easier her life would have been that day if she’d simply packed her dress inside her carry-on.  But of course nobody wants to wear a wrinkled mess to a wedding!  And if there’s no way to iron your clothing upon arrival, typically we all then lug around a big hanging bag when we’re getting on a plane.

Here’s your solution for easy traveling and wrinkle-free clothing!  I learned this trick a while back, and we live by it now when we travel.  Simply tuck anything that needs hanging inside a dry cleaning bag.  A dress, shirt, skirt, suit, etc.  And then fold it all up in the handy hanging pocket that many suitcases have these days (I specifically look for bags with pockets like this now when I need to purchase a new suitcase). The plastic keeps the clothing from wrinkling because it just keeps sliding back and forth upon itself.

For best results, you can hang each individual item in its own dry cleaning bag.  The bags then slip around against one another, and each item stays virtually wrinkle-free even while packed for hours inside a suitcase.  I must admit that I am usually not that patient, though, (and I’m typically packing at midnight the night before a 7 am flight!) so I will usually put all my hanging stuff in one dry cleaning bag.  There will be a handful of wrinkles that way, but it’s certainly better than packing it inside the main portion of the suitcase or leaving the dry cleaning bag out of the equation all together.

If you take your time, however, and hang things in their own bags, it really does the trick.  I have done this even with long dresses, and when my husband travels for work or we’re going to a wedding, he always packs his shirts and suits this way.  It really works, and it’s so much easier than dealing with a hanging bag!!

Maybe that sweet girl at the airport will stumble on this post someday.  Until then, I hope she doesn’t lose any clothes along the way!  :)

 

 

What travel tip do you swear by?

I hope this Friday Fast Tip was helpful.  Feel free to check back every Friday (unless I’m running late!) for more quick tips and ideas!

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