Space Savers

I don't know about anyone else but whenever I go on a trip somewhere I always over pack! But I have a perfectly good reason for it...what happens if I only take a minimal amount of clothes and then change my mind about what I want to wear once I get there? I need to have lots of options when it comes to picking out the perfect outfit, not to mention the shoes to go along with those outfits! I usually end up with a big suitcase full of clothes and another suitcase full of shoes and toiletries.

I knew that my trip to New York this weekend wouldn't be any different....except for one small problem. We decided that we are not going to check any bags in at the airport, that way we save a little bit of money and we don't have to wait to get our bags when we land. That's right...all I'm taking with me to New York is a small carry on suitcase!

Seriously...how am I suppose to fit everything into that?!?!

You can only imagine how much I have thought about how in the world I'm going to be able to fit everything into that one, small suitcase! Then one day I thought of the PERFECT idea!

Space Saver Bags!

You know what I'm talking about, those bags that you can put 12 sweaters in, vaccum the air out and voila it is the size of nothing! Come to find out....the make travel space saver bags too!! Man I'm a genious....this is going to be the perfect way to fit all of my stuff into a carry on! So I searched the internet and found these wonderful live saving devices at Bed Bath & Beyond. Again....perfect, that just happens to be one of my favorite stores, so of course I had a coupon to use! I ended up paying $14.99 instead of $19.99 and since they are reusuable I will be able to use them over & over again! Have I mentioned that I'm a genious for thinking of this perfect plan!

I picked out all of my clothes that I wanted to take and even though I have the wonderful space saver bags I made sure to keep it to a minimum {which was not easy!}. I got my clothes and folded them up to a pile like this:

And looks can be decieving...there are more clothes there than you think!!



Then I went to work....I put about 4 or 5 shirts in each space bag. Then I simply followed the directions, zipped up the bag, and rolled the air out. But if you use these, make sure you roll in the right direction or else none of the air will escape...I learned that after trying to do it a couple of times and nothing happened! I have to admit that Ryan saved me and figured it out! I got all of my clothes in my handy dandy bags and put them in the suitcase.

                                      Before space bags:                                         

With space bags:

I have so much more room now!! I have plenty of room left for all of my toiletries and shoes! If you didn't notice, my jeans are not in the bags....the directions said to use shirts in them so I didn't even try putting jeans in there but it's no biggie, they don't take up much space. Now I just have to make sure I don't change my mind about what outfits I want to take....otherwise I have to redo everything! {between me & you...I'm already starting to change my mind about one of my outfits...I think I will be taking a trip to Target on my lunch break!}  After a little last minute packing tomorrow morning  I will be ready for my girls weekend in New York!!