Originally Posted by
dulciusexasperis
Rebelyell and sbm12, I use the 'Rule of 3s' for packing. It refers to items where you pack multiples like shirts, pants, socks, underwear, t-shirts, etc. The Rule is, 'one to wear, one to wash, one to spare.' It makes no difference how long you plan to be gone for, 3 days or 3 months, you pack the same amount.
ICK.
3 shirts for 3 months?
Originally Posted by
dulciusexasperis
Learning to wash socks and underwear in a hotel sink in 5 minutes is a necessary life skill for a frequent traveller who travels for more than a few days at a time. It's just like getting into the habit of brushing your teeth before going to bed. Once it's a habit, you don't even notice it.
Trying to wash cotton or wool socks in a sink, expecting them to get actually clean that way and dry by morning is not realistic. Maybe if all you wear is synthetic fabrics they might dry, but nobody here wears those. My kid prefers socks with a thick, cushioning sole, they take as long as a towel in the dryer, and buying different, quick drying socks for travel that he'd never wear at home makes no sense.
For short trips, less than a week, I pack 1 item/day (socks, shirt, underwear) for the kid, pants can be worn multiple days. For trips longer than a week, I build in a chance to hit a laundromat or find a hotel with washers available. If you're traveling solo, laundry is less of an issue, but for a leisure trip with the family, it's usually a necessity.
And sometimes when laundry facilities aren't available - like our summer trip this year - the simplest thing is to find a discount store & buy the kid a packet of underwear and a couple cheap t-shirts. His suitcase was well under the weight limit outbound, so bringing them home wasn't a problem. If weight had been an issue, we might have done what some FT'ers suggest and discard older or frayed underwear, socks or t-shirts rather than bringing them home.
The OP mentions kids outgrowing clothes - packing the older, almost outgrown ones and then discarding/donating them at the destination might reduce the complexity of packing for kids.