Saturday

packing for the beach

I used to stress about packing for the beach. Now I don't.

Tomorrow we are going to Tybee Island for the week (well, almost a week. I have to come back to work for the %%$&^^ election, which I forgot about when I scheduled vacation).

Anyway, all I am bringing for each family member is three t-shirts, three pairs of shorts, flip flops and a swimsuit or two. I take all clothes in one large garbage bag. Plastic. Yes, I said a large plastic garbage bag. I bring several extra plastic garbage bags for the wet clothes and towels that will come back. I bring sunscreen, shampoo, tooth brushes, tylenol and band aids. These travel in a plastic ziplock freezer bag. Reading material and beach chairs.

That's it.

I learned this super low=stress approach to packing for the beach over years of practice as a mother taking kids to the beach. I used to bring our clothes to the beach house in several suitcases and backpacks. This assortment of luggae was unwieldy and they all came back wet and sandy. The plastic garbage bag approach works best for the beach.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

We pack for the beach in laundry baskets, very low stress. One for sheets, one for towels, one for my husband and me, one for my boys. They stack up very nicely in the back of our van. This year I had one for books too. Boogie boards and chairs. We have to take 3 sets of golf clubs though, so the car gets pretty full. And an overnight bag for the hotel because Knoxville only halfway there for us so we stop on the way out.

Liz

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a good packing system!
Katie You're a mother of invention!
I'm going to Maine next week and staying on the beach. However, Maine is COLD in the summer it has been in the 60's and low 70's during the day.
I have to pack more stuff then I'm happy about schlepping on vacation.

Lisa said...

Are you planning on packing any undies?? And maybe a hairbrush?? Very ingenious. I like the commenters laundry basket idea also.

karrie said...

That's my kind of travel!

During a previous time in my life I would leave the country for a couple of weeks with one very small carry-on. Its amazing how little you really need.

Have fun Katie!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Great idea!
In fact we'll be leaving for a 3 week beach vacation in a couple of weeks and I guess I'll have the same approach as you: in past vacations I've taken far too much clothes than the ones that end up being used, as we're on the beach most of the day and the clothes we put on for dinner will last for two or three nights. There's also a washing machine, so, no use for 8 sets of undies and t-shirts!

Thanks!

Marta

The Wonderful Wonderful World Of Us! said...

I really like that idea!!! I hate hate hate sand that comes home!! I mean I know some of it will but you can throw the garbage bag away. No shaking, ect.
I will think about that next time I go to the beach! We usually do a week vacation but we were unlucky this year and didn't get to go :(