Ten Tried and Tested Packing Hacks

When it comes to packing for your holiday, making use of all your suitcase space is key, especially with all the luggage and weight restrictions in place today. Whether you are packing for a short city break or a long beach holiday, these packing hacks will come in handy for every kind of trip.

Store liquids in straws

This may sound strange, but as you can see from the picture above, squeezing your favourite moisturiser, SPF cream and make-up into straws saves a great deal of space and keeps liquids fresh. You can use tape to close them or if you feel confident using a soldering iron you can solder the tips of the straws closed. You can label them easily using a pen and they take up the tiniest amount of room.

Use old glasses cases to store loose cables

Cables, adapters, chargers and other loose cables can be difficult to find in a full suitcase and can easily get tangled. A simple packing hack is to use a glasses case to store loose cables, which will keep them from getting twisted. If you can’t find any glasses cases then you could store your cables inside your shoes to make full use of all the space you have.

Reuse old toothpaste tubes

Constantly repurchasing travel sized items can really add up, so why not save your used travel sized toothpaste and squeeze toothpaste from your normal toothpaste into the smaller tube. Simply put the two tube tops together and squeeze the product from one tube into the other. If you don’t have a used toothpaste tube, try using a small bottle instead. Simples.

Stop bottles leaking

If you are worried about leaking bottles, the best way to prevent this is to remove the bottle cap and cover the top with a small plastic bag or cling film. Then, put the bottle cap back on tightly and voila! No leaking bottles upon arrival at your hotel.

Stop make-up crumbling

One of the down sides of travelling can be arriving at your destination only to find that your favourite compacts have shattered during the journey. If you put a cotton pad over the top of the compact and then close it, the cotton pad will prevent any impact on the make-up and should make it shatter-proof.

Recycle old contact lenses cases

If you are only going to be away for a few days you can use your old contact lenses case to store your foundation, concealer or moisturiser. A contact lenses case takes up very little space and will provide just enough make-up to last a few days. This little hack was discovered by one of our staff members at our Edinburgh Hotel.

Use a pill case to store jewellery

You can make use of a pill box to store your jewellery for each day if you are organised enough to have daily outfits sorted beforehand. You can store earrings, bracelets and necklaces in the pill box, ready to be worn each day without any fuss.

Pack your shoes in a shower cap

If you put your shoes in a shower cap they will take up less space and will protect your other items from getting dirt on them. You can also store small items in the shoes such as perfume, rolled up socks or any small item you can store in them. If your shoes are less than fresh smelling try putting a normal teabag in each shoe overnight and as if by magic the smell will have gone. Tea...rrific!

Use bars of shampoo and conditioner

If airport liquid size limits are hindering you, especially when you are going away for a while, try taking a solid bar of shampoo, conditioner and body wash. These are much lighter and take up far less space than bottles and last a very long time.

Roll your clothes

An oldie, but still a goody, instead of folding your clothes, try rolling them up before placing them in your suitcase. This stops them from getting wrinkled and they take up far less space in your suitcase and they make packing and unpacking much faster!