Holiday Packing & Today's Freebie

I am sure that I am not alone in that I hate packing for my holidays. That sounds like I am really spoilt because it is lovely to go away and I count my blessings that I can go on a couple of holidays every year. However, I still hate packing, so to make life a little easier for me I have a number of tactics that I adopt.

• Always have a packed toiletry bag.

I keep samples of toiletries (read my Samples Post here) when I find them and also buy small travel size toiletries from car boot sales for taking on holiday. When I return from my holiday and am emptying my case I take out any bottles and tube of toiletries that I can use up at home and re-fill my toiletry bag before putting it away full and ready for my next trip. I have two toiletry bags; one I use for sunny holidays abroad and a separate one for weekends away in the UK. Both get the same re-filling treatment so that they are ready to be packed into my case.

• Use your empty case or bag to hold holiday essentials.

Once I have emptied my case I put holiday essentials back into the case ready for next time. This includes items such as plug-in bug machines and tablets, beach bags and beach towels, travel adapters, travel kettle and beach shoes (those rubber soled ones for walking on pebbly beaches).

• Put "holiday only" clothes together in a storage bag.

Maybe I am a bit different in having "holiday only" clothes or maybe a lot of you do this. I find that I tend to wear kaftans or sarongs only on a beach holiday over my swimwear so put these straight into a storage bag once they have been washed and ready for the next holiday. I do not iron them after washing, and just put them washed into the bag, so that they just need a quick iron just before packing. This makes holiday clothes easy to find and I can easily remember what I took last time and what got worn the most. I am constantly striving to reduce the amount that I take away with me after being stung for excess baggage on a return trip.  This has happened only once and will never be repeated. 

• Keep a collection of holiday read paperbacks

I buy paperback books from car boot sales and charity shops throughout the year and store them in a box in the garage. When it comes to packing I just go through the box and pick out which books I want to take with me for some poolside reading. The most I will have paid for them will be 50p and many have been 20p. I refuse to buy books from high street shops as their prices are extortionate.

We have a number of Samsonite suitcases which we have again bought from two car boot sales; the Cheshire one and one that is held indoors at the local grammar school. These suitcases are so solid and hardwearing that they should last a lifetime. We have paid between £1 and £8 for the ones we have and when we are not using them for our travels we use them for storage. These cases usually cost from around £130 upwards so I am always suprised that they come up for sale for so little. We do not buy all the ones we see because sometimes we do not like the colour or they may look a little too worn. We once bought one that was unlocked but the combination was forgotten so it could not be locked. We bought it anyway after knocking the price down accordingly and I patiently went through every combination of numbers to find the correct combination. It took me nearly an hour as the number was in the 800s and I had started at zero. The triumph I had when I found the correct combination was great.

Today I received two full sized products in the post that I got free by signing up to the Supersavvyme website. This is owned by Proctor & Gamble and they are a great company that makes a lot if every day products that we all probably have used at some point. Today I received Pantene Age Defy shampoo and conditioner. These usually retail for £5.99 each and are on offer at £3.99 each at Boots. Not bad getting nearly £12 of product delivered to your door for free.

So no posts for a couple of weeks while I'm away but I look forward to posting again when I come home.