Hi, My Name Is Lissa, and I'm a Compulsive Over-Packer

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hubby and I are going away for a long weekend-- we’ll be gone a full three days. I started packing this afternoon, mentally kicking myself as I did it because I know, dammit, I know I’ve packed too much again, but I just can’t seem to help it-- the luggage for this trip will involve three large suitcases.

I start with underwear and socks for the two of us-- four pairs each for both of us, because what it one of us has . . . uhm, an accident. You never know-- a bad burrito on the road . . .

I need four sweaters. I may spill something. Two pair of jeans for the same reason. I’ll need a “nice” outfit, because what if we want to go to a nice resturant. Better bring two. Same for Hubby. And we’re going to a hockey game-- better bring extra over-sweaters in case we get cold. But what if he doesn’t like the one I packed? He’s not home to ask, so I better pack an extra one, just in case.

I’ll need my jammies, and a bathrobe in case it’s cold in the room, and I better bring slippers for both of us because you never know what’s been on those hotel room floors. I’ll bring our sheets and down comforter, because those ones the hotel provides are like sleeping on sandpaper.

Then it’s on to the Drug Bag. I take every single medication from our cabinet. Our prescriptions, of course-- which are bulk in of themselves, and you have to bring the original bottle in case you’re pulled over and for some reason the car is searched. Don’t want unidentifiable pills putting me in the pokey. What if one of us gets a headache? Better bring both aspirin and Excedrine because there are some headaches that aspirin won’t fix, and you don’t want to have to take Excedrine if it’s just an aspirin headache.

What if one of us gets cold symptoms? Don’t want to have to go out looking for a drug store, so I better take cough syrup, and cold pills and Vicks. While I’m at it, I better take the IcyHot in case one of us gets muscle aches. And of course, the first aid kit in case one of us gets a blister or a cut-- bandages, alcohol, anti-bacterial cream and anti-ouch spray.

I’ll take the body wash-- both kinds, “girly” and the stuff my Hubby likes, along with the pouf. A big bottle of shampoo, because the hotel’s may suck. Hairspray and gel, a brush and two combs (because one may get lost) our toothbrushes, mouthwash, floss and OraGel in case one of us bites the inside of our lips.

I better take snacks, too. Cheese crackers, chips, cookies and a can of nuts. You never know when one of us will get the munchies and there may not be a convenience store nearby. I’ll throw in some cans of Coke, too, and some bottles of iced tea.

By the time I’m finished, half the house will be piled in the hallway, ready to go. Anyone seeing this mound of luggage will assume we’re going on an Artic expedition. I know it’s stupid. I know it. But I just can’t seem to help myself. I always think “Well, what if we need THIS and don’t have anywhere to get it?” Even if it’s highly unlikely we’ll need it-- I mean, come on, what’s the chances we’ll get sunburn in January? But into the suitcase the aloe vera will go.

Just in case, you know. . . .

2

Hell, I take that much to the gym.

3

Three days?

A pair of boxers and a clean shirt.

4

You and me both. If anything, I’m a compulsive underpacker. When I went to Seattle for four days last year everything I took fit into my son’s school backpack.

5

Trying going to Maine for four days with three compulsive over-packers.
Hmmm, they’re women too. I wonder …

6

When I arranged to meet a then-girlfriend on holiday in England, I told her tenderly (knowing that she was also a champion over-packer): “You may bring as many bags as you wish; however, you will have to carry them.”

Incredibly, she turned up at King’s Cross with one shoulder bag, and one wheeled suitcase. I was quite impressed.

7

The only time I tend to over-pack is when we go camping. Then, I prepare for a siege. Travelling? If it can’t fit in a single carry-on, it doesn’t come with. I routinely do week-long trips with just the single bag.

8

I’m some sort of strange mix of under/over packing.

I’ll have more than enough shirts but not nearly enough socks.

Or I’ll pack both my brown and black dress shoes and then, only bring black pants and light brown socks.

However I usually have exactly enough underwear.

9

If I were married to you, I’d have to kill myself.

You need a couple pairs of clean underwear, a toothbrush, and a clean shirt. That’s it.

10

I’m sure the thought has crossed Hubby’s mind, but he’s always been sweet about it, even when he had to use two luggage carts (packed to the tops) to haul in the luggage for our last trip.

11

I go by the “if I forget something, I can buy it there” theory. Ended up buying a bathing suit on my beach vacation last year – !!! – though it turned out I’d brought mine; it was in my beach bag, not my suitcase. :smack:

Oh well, I needed a new suit.

12

DeHusband and I went on a cruise several years ago. When I asked him to bring out the suitcase, he brought the big suitcase and 2 bags. I was thrilled! Finally after 10 years of marriage, he understood my need to pack for any contingency. As I started filling the bags, he said “Be sure to leave room.” Huh? For what? So he proceeded to fold the soft-sided bags and pack *them * in the big suitcase. Why would we need to carry empty bags on a cruise? For all the ubiquitous touristy crap he was planning to buy.

Compulsive shoppers and compulsive packers shouldn’t marry.

13

One (ok, one of many) thing I don’t understand is four sweeters, AND another one for the hockey game? Buh? Ok, bring an extra one in case one gets ruined somehow…that’s two. Why do oyu need a new seater everyday? You can wear the same sweater for up to a week. It’s not directly against the skin, so it’s not gettign oil, sweat, and body odor. Those are the main reasons we wash clothes, not because of external dirt. If it was because of external dirt, we’d only need one pair if underpants and fifty pairs of jeans, but nope, it’s the other way around.

So now we’ve reduced what I gathered was 11 ( :eek: ) sweaters down to four (tqwo for each of you. I wiould say one for each, but I’ll let you slide with a spare set.)

Two nice outfits? You might only go out once. Bring one outfit. The only way it can get ruined, realistically, is at the restaraunt, so you don’t need two. We jsut eliminated a set of pants and a shirt for him, and either a dress or some kind of skirt/pants and blouse combo for you.

Jammies AND a bathrobe? Nope, One or the other. Sorry, if you want to be a lgiht packer, these are the things you sacrifice. Why do you need a bathrobe anyway? I mean at all. I never use one and fail to see why it’s ever needed. :confused:

You’re own sheets and comforter? Yeesh. It’s three days, Can’t you suffer through average sheets for three days? That’s only two nights. If you honestly can’t, then just take the sheets, not the comforter. The comforter doesn’t touch you’re bare skin, so why do you need yours? Theirs will do.

And taking whole bottles of pills? Never. Only bring the amount you need in those travel cases that seperate them by day. You honestly think you will EVER get pulled over and arrested because a cop can’t identify your meds? :confused: Also, you are just plain bringing too many. OK, so what if you get a cold? It’s three days! Can you really not live with cold symptoms for three days without medicine? I can see taking aspirin for a headache, cause those are WAY more annoying (to me) than a cold, but also excedrin? One or the other. If you’re afraid of a big headache, only take the excedrin. It will take care of a small headache too, you know. The medicine dosen’t know it’s a small headahce. It won’t punish you because you used it on a small headache.

All those bottles are reduced to a travel medicine thingy for each of you, and a small bottle of excedrin. You should already have a first aid kit in your car 24/7, so no need to bring the one from the house. Leave it in the car, no need to bring it up to the hotel room, so that dosen’t add any more unneccesary things.

Whole bottles of shampoo and body wash? Get those small little empty plastic bottles! They sell them in the toiletries section in most large Wal-Mart-esque stores, or in camping stores. You can take all your self cleaning supplies in the space one large bottle of shampoo will fit.

I can get ALL of my toiletry stuff (pills, soap, shampoo, t-brush, comb, razor, shaving cream, q-tips, nail clippers, deoderant) into one 1-gallon plastic bag. I wrap it in another gallon bag in case the first one leaks, and stick it in my one and only bag.

Snakc and drinks? Nope. Not a convience store? What planet do you live on? If there is a hotel/motel, then there will be a store within a mile, I assure you.

In the end, no more than one bag a piece should do you. If they are large, as you claim, one should be enough for both of you.

14

I don’t wear t-shirts under my sweaters, and Hubby has a bad habit of getting spots on his shirts.

Yeah, but what it we want to go to two nice resturants?

I almost always wear a bathrobe when I’m in my jammies at home. Hey, we might order pizza, or a hotel staff person might need access to the room for some reason, and then I’d feel self-concious standing there in my jammies.

Hotels don’t wash the comforters after every use-- who knows what’s on them. (Haven’t you ever seen those “expose” news stories where they send a comforter to a crime lab to see what’s on it? It’s gross.)

Okay, yeah, we’re spoiled when it comes to sheets. But once you’re used to 1000 thread-count, it’s hard to sleep on cheap sheets. They’re itchy and rough. Why not be comfortable?

Hey, it’s January. Maybe it’s been a really warm year, but what if we get snowed in, or for some reason, can’t get home when we planned? Some of my medication I cannot be without. (If I don’t have my heart meds, I could actually* die.*) I’d rather bring too much than have a situation where we’re stuck for some reason and unable to get more.

Secondly, what if I need my meds for some reason and I have to tell a person unfamiliar with them what ones I need? “It’s [med name]. No, it’s the white, round pill. No the OTHER white, round pill.” Better to have the name on the bottle. Or, if I have to go to the hospital, and they need to know my dosages-- I can’t remember all the milligrams of the different meds off-hand.

I’d rather not. Why be miserable? It could ruin our whole trip. We once went to an island in one of the Great Lakes which didn’t have a convenience store. Getting to the mainland was at least an hour trip, and we’d have to take our car on the ferry.

Because I’m on so many different medications, I’m paranoid about my liver. I try to avoid acetominphin if I can, and try to take as little OTC meds as possible. My liver may thank me for it some day.

Yeah, but when you’re relaxing, you don’t always feel like getting re-dressed and driving to a store.

I know-- I put WAY too much thought into all of this.

15

You can not be serious. Three suitcases? For three days?! I’d probably slay myself if we travelled together.

SpouseO has shown me the value of packing a bit more than I normally would to be prepared for unexpected situations (I usually travel lightly; all you really, really need is clean underwear), but you’re a new breed all your own.

16

I’m going on a three day ski trip this weekend. I’ll pack: (for the slopes) 2 pair long johns, 2 long sleeve shirts, 1 pair ski pants, 2 fleece pullovers (rain/snow mix forcasted), 1 ski jacket, 1 pair ski boots, 1 pair goggles, 1 stocking cap. For the hotel: 2 pair jeans, 2 short sleeve shirts. I’ll probably take 4 pair undies and 4 pair socks because of the rain possibilty. Toiletries fit in a zip lock bag. All told, it’ll take one medium suitcase for the long weekend.

If this were a long weekend without skiing, one overnight bag would do nicely.

17

Three bags for three days? I lived out of one bag for five weeks and two for nine months.

I probably could have cut down the size of the one bag for the five week trip as I could have eliminated one pair of jeans and one pair of shoes.

As for toiletries, I brought a toothbrush, some tooth paste, and a hair brush.

18

I too am an over-packer. But to complicate matters, I also refuse to check luggage. Therefore, I have to pack everything I own into something that will fit in the overhead bin. I’m actually pretty good at it. Mr. K and I did too much for our 3-day D.C. trip. I’m going to force myself to trim it back next time.

My big problem is with my purse. I carry cosmetics with me. I NEVER use them (a little lipstick…that’s it). It’s like I’m afraid I’m going to be swept away to mars and I just might need my make up!

19

What, you think the restaurants have spies to make sure you don’t wear the same outfit at another restaurant?

You wear your nice outfit to dinner, then go back to the hotel and hang it up. Unless you’re a really sloppy eater, it will still be clean enough to wear again.

20

I’m not quite as bad as you with the clothes, but I’m a book over-packer. My rule of thumb is one book for each day I’m away. This works okay for a seven-day cruise where I spend a lot of time reading, but I really felt pretty dumb when I brought home FIFTEEN books (for an 8 day break) over the Thanksgiving holiday, despite going home to my very own bookshelves. Here’s my reasoning: when leaving the country or travelling around, I may run out of books and NOT BE ABLE TO OBTAIN MORE and will have to be BOOKLESS! This causes me great anxiety. So I throw a few extra books in.

It’s kind of funny, the more emotionally perturbed I am when I pack, the more books end up in the bag. I was having a bad day when I packed for thanksgiving!