Taking trips with the kids on my own is nothing new to me. The Captain was often working whenever there were family weddings, reunions, and other getaways, so I’ve been heading off on adventures alone with the kids since they were babies. And each time, I get a little more clever and find something else to make the trip easier.
On our recent camping trip to BC, these 4 tricks saved me a lot of time and hassle.
- I typically plan and pre-cook most of our meals, so that most of the work is done beforehand. But this time, I avoided all of that and went the path of least resistance…and work. Haha…It was a 5 day trip and I packed convenience foods and snacks that all fit nicely in an *under the bed* size tub.
Kraft Dinner, Ichiban {Ramen}, Bear Paws, Cheese and Salsa {Tortilla Chips in a separate bag}, Trail Mix, Honey Nut Cheerios, Plaintain Chips, White Bean Crackers, Campfire Popcorn, Oatmeal, Cup-a-Soup, Fruit Source Bars, and I ended up buying Hot Chocolate, Tea and Hamburger Helper as well
2. I packed our clothes in laundry baskets for years, which I love but over the past couple of years I’ve switched to packing in reusable grocery bags. Trust me, it’s a much better solution! Even better, this time I used our MASSIVE Ikea bag. It held clothes for the 3 of us for the 5 days plus towels and there was still room. Plus the handles make it super easy to carry.
This photo was taken after the trip, with the first load of clean laundry, but you get the idea. lol
3. I hate not having something to put dirty clothes in. When I used to pack in laundry baskets, we would use it if we were somewhere with dressers {hotel, condo, etc.}. But now that I use the reusable bags, I grab Brooklyn’s old collapsible laundry basket and it’s completely awesome. It doesn’t take up any room AND keeps everything off the floor, which is especially important in a tent.
Added Bonus: Since I always wash everything after a trip {especially camping}, worn or not, there needs to be a reasonably easy solution that doesn’t take up more space. This trip, I emptied the dirty clothes back into the Ikea bag, collapsed the laundry basket and was on my way.
This pop up hamper was from Walmart – similar
4. We set off on our trip a day early to shorten the trip a bit and stay in a hotel. I’m sure you’ve all been there before – vehicle nicely packed and no real interest in mucking around. We were staying over for one night and our main purpose was to enjoy the pool so we really didn’t need a lot. I LOVE these small lululemon bags and use them for so many things {like my lunch at work} and knew they’d be perfect for this.
I packed:
1 bag for each kid – Swimsuit, pyjamas and clean underwear. I added mine to one of the bags as well. You could fit the next day’s clothes in as well, but we just wore our same clothes again to make it easy.
1 bag is our permanent goggle/swim bag
And the blue bag {I clearly need to shop at lulu more lol} was for my toiletries.
Heading into the hotel was super easy and even if you have small kids, these bags are easy to carry for them too.
What tips and tricks do you have that help make travelling easier?
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