organized travel: carry-on bag

anyone who travels understands how difficult it is these days to get to your destination by plane. it's expensive, what you bring (on the plane and the weight of your checked bags) is looked at and scrutinized closely, you have no control of long layovers or plane issues, you may end up sitting next to someone that has a cold (talking from experience)...the list goes on. so when i travel (especially with children) i try to be prepared for anything.

since i'm heading out to see our new home again this weekend - by plane - i thought today i would share how i organize my carry-on tote. aaaaand i suppose i was pretty excited to load up my new bag too! ;-)

the first thing i always do is lay out everything i need to bring on a table. if anything can be pared down to a smaller size or if i question whether i'll really need it, it's done. then i load up my bag.

what do i bring on the plane with me? read on....

tote bag: there are too many options when it comes to tote bags. way too many for me to share or talk about. i guess the one thing i am always careful about, however, is that it can hold up well with travel, it will fit under the seat or in the overhead, and it's a material that cleans easily. airplanes and airports are filthy...you never know exactly what is on the floor under the seat in front of you. eeek! when i go with a bag for plane travel, i make sure it's easy to clean should something happen during the trip.

my new tote bag and my purse have an outer material that clean-up easily...

snacks: when you get delayed or you're hungry in general, the airport is one of the worst (and most expensive) places to grab a snack. sure - sometimes i have to eat at the airport. but if possible, and it's a short trip, i bring along a small, high-energy, fill-me-up type snack. my favorite things to bring are my own trail mix and energy bars...

i rummage around the pantry to find almonds, yogurt raisins, pretzels, or small crackers and throw together my own little bagged snack. the kids and i both love z-bar's so i usually pack a few of those too...

gum/mints: i love gum or mints but i like to carry a smaller size. i love the small altoids tin and i recently found these super cute and tiny packs of gum. have you seen these?...

the pack has 6 small pieces and is the perfect size for a travel/tote bag. i'm all about downsizing so i don't kill my shoulders or back. anytime i can find smaller packaging, i go for it. even if it's mints or gum.

water: airport security makes a pretty big deal about any kind of liquid going through their space - but even more so when it comes to water bottles or sippy cups. to avoid delays, i bring my own brita water bottle and fill it at the drinking fountain once i'm beyond security...

this also saves me from having to buy a $6 bottle of water. the bottle is small and lightweight too.

liquids/make-up: i like to bring lip gloss, hand sanitizer, hand lotion and other liquid-y types of materials, but these bring up red flags for security peeps. to keep issues are bay i load up anything like this into ONE small make-up bag. that way when i arrived at security, i can whip out the bag and have it ready for inspection. no digging though my purse for all of the various items. and no glaring looks from inpatient travelers behind you. this is when the sample section at your local target or drug store becomes your best friend - get small travel sizes just for your plane make-up bag. you don't need to bring the full-size bottles with you :-) and these days you can find almost anything in a sample size....

it's a good idea to bring a small package of kleenex, medicine and maybe even some feminine products...you never know. it's just better to be prepared for anything...

you don't even need to buy a special make-up bag - i found these zip baggies in the target sample section...they're perfect for traveling...

or use a regular zip-loc bag!

reading material: i don't usually take the time to read magazines at home, so the plane is a great spot to catch up on my big stack. this weekend i'm bringing a few home-related reads as well as one celebrity-type magazine...

bringing your own magazines or books is another way you can save money - you'll pay a pretty penny for them in the airport book shop.

technology: smart phone, kindle or iPad...all great ways to pass the time! i bring my iphone with headphones...

and my ipad with noise-cancelling headphones...

i like to rent a movie from iTunes as a treat (i never watch movies at home), play games, or write notes in the various note-type apps i utilize. what did we ever do without these gems?!

you can also bring a small charger - airports are getting better about supplying power outlets for travelers to charge up.

notepad/pens: not sure about you, but great ideas or lost ideas seem to pop up on me while i'm driving or on a plane. why is that?! i carry a small zippered bag with my favorite pens and a small notepad. putting the pens in a zippered, secured bag ensures i won't have any leaks...

money, credit cards, your ID: finally, i ditch my big bulky wallet when i travel and use one of the zippered inner tote pockets to secure my important items like cash or credit cards. i bring a credit card, my ID, medical cards, a little cash (tipping curbside check-in workers or taxi drivers), and any gift cards that would be helpful on my trip...

leaving my wallet at home makes a significant difference in the weight of any bag i carry. my wallet tends to be on the heavy, bulky side.

now that i have everything i need for the plane, it's time to load up my carry-on bag...

ready to go!...

oh - you may notice that binder....that would be my moving binder. normally this would not be in my tote bag, but since i'm heading to the new house this weekend, it's making the trip with me. even with everything else inside the tote, there's still plenty of room for it! :-)

i do bring along my purse as well when i travel...

sometimes i pack it in my suitcase so that i have a smaller bag on hand when i arrive at my destination. and sometimes i carry it on. this weekend, i'm bringing my purse on board because it will hold my big camera. i'm planning to take high-quality house images because my cell phone won't do the job. my sunglass case, not pictured, is also in my purse.

that's it! carry-on contents are a personal choice so while the images i shared with you today may not work for you, i hope the take-away from this post is...

1. going smaller will always help you in the long run - and help your back!

2. try to keep liquids to one bag. this will make it easier for you to quickly get through security.

3. bring what you can so you're not spending a fortune in the airport.

i'd love to know what your must-have carry-on items are. share in the comments below!

(i linked up with a bowl full of lemons, house of hepworths, the 36th avenue)

organized move: home furnishings inventory

i hope all the mommies reading along had a perfect mother's day weekend! my husband and kiddos completely spoiled me. i stayed in bed until 9:30, they made a light, beautiful breakfast - i'm not a big morning eater so this was perfect!...

the little hand you see is our 8 year old presenting the table to me - ha!

they gave me lots of cards and a few handmade gifts...and even a couple big gifts that blew me away. remember when i shared this little tote bag? guess what magically showed up on our mother's day table? someone is being sneaky and reading my blog for ideas. i suppose this could work to my advantage - kidding!!! anyway, i LOVE my new tote bag....

and i'll have a chance to use it soon because i'm taking off again for the bay area this weekend! can not wait to load it up for the plane/trip. have to admit, it's a bit nicer than the diaper big i've been carrying around for the last 8.5 years :-)

speaking of my trip, i'm heading back to meet with contractors at our new house. i'm looking forward to meeting with them to get the ball rolling on the 3 big jobs that will get done before move in - flooring, interior paint, and updated/repaired pool.

while i'm there, i'm going to scope out the house with a fine toothed comb and begin the process of determining what furniture can / can't make the move along with us.

when you move sometimes you don't have enough furniture, sometimes too much, or sometimes you want to start from scratch or update a few pieces. in our case, we love our home furnishings and want to keep as much as possible. however, we know not everything will fit. we're going down in square footage - which makes me happy, because i no longer have to clean and maintain that additional square footage. while i'm there i'm going to measure out the bedrooms and figure out what will fit.

this was a long overdue project. i think whether you're moving or not, it's good to have a list of everything you own. it's a good list to have on hand should something need to be repaired, replaced or, as in our case - SOLD. it's also good to know for home / renter's insurance info. or should something uncontrollable happen, like a natural disaster. it's been on my to-do list for years. this big move finally gave me that swift kick in the you know what to get our list together.

assembling the list took a little time, but it's going to help me in more ways than you can imagine...

1. i will know exactly what we own (including the model name), where we purchased it and how much it cost.

2. i will have the measurements on hand for every item we own while i'm at the house this weekend. which will help me...

3. quickly figure out what needs to be sold when i return home...which will...

4. help lower our moving costs. the moving company typically quotes by how much you own / weight. if i sell everything we don't want on this end, it will save us the hassle of paying for it to be moved...and then dealing with it yet again on the other end of this move.

i threw together a simple inventory sheet...

then i went room to room writing down everything we own and where it was purchased....

i made sure to measure the full length of items like tables that have a leaf insert...

once everything was down on paper, i first searched out our items online. finding them online gave me an accurate measurement and cost (if i didn't know how much we paid). if i couldn't locate the items online, i took the measurements myself and put a ball park guesstimate for what we paid or located the original receipt.

now i finally have a complete inventory of our home furnishings...

and this will help me so much during my upcoming weekend trip to the new house. it will be fun to plan out in my head where our various items may fit. then when i'm back at home next week, time to sell what won't work for us.

not sure about you, but it's so easy for me to forget a few items we own. even when we made the move from our home to this rental house, i forgot that we have my husband's grandmother's piano along with a few other big items. ?? the way this mommy brain works - it's shocking at times. :-)

if you would like to have an inventory of your home furnishings, here is the document i created - yours to download for free...


enjoy!

(i linked up with a bowl full of lemons, house of hepworths, the 36th avenue)

organized home video cassettes

we purchased our sony handycam a couple months before our first child was born. the camera has received a lot of love over the years. it was there for every birth, every first step, every school event, every halloween and Christmas, each and every birthday....anytime something special was happening, guaranteed the video camera was in hand.

as you can imagine, in the last 8+ years we've accumulated quite the collection of video cassettes. over the years i've struggled with exactly how to keep them organized. not just organized, but easy to locate specific events we want to watch them too. and at some point, when life slows down a bit, i'd love to turn these videos into fun dvd's using our mac's iMovie program!

a few weeks ago when i was looking for a baptism video, i had enough and this organization project quickly made its way to the top of my list. here is how i kept our cassettes previously...

no, it wasn't bad. they were all at least living together in one box. but the box was overflowing and it was too easy to just toss a cassette in when there was no order to begin with.

and i wanted some order.

i couldn't believe it when i did a quick online search for "organized home video cassettes" and found this product...

it's an organizer made specifically for containing your mini dv cassettes! (if you're interested in this product, it can be found here. NO, i'm not getting paid to tell you that.)

it was instant love. i did search around online to make sure i was getting the best price. for this size - holds 50 cassettes - this was the best price i found, with the smallest shipping cost....

while i loved the organizer, i knew it wouldn't be ascetically pleasing on its own. it's pretty ho-hum. after it arrived, i spent a few weeks lugging it in and out of various stores to find the perfect storage box. i wanted a box that would not only keep the cassettes clean and safe, but also a box large enough to hold the actual video camera and accessories....

i found the perfect box at the container store - right here...

i chose a grey color since i'm not sure what color scheme will be going on in the new house. and besides, we all know a box can be covered with pretty paper. the box is sturdy and comes with a bookplate for labeling...

i brought the box home to be certain all of the video camera accessories would fit...

we're good to go!

with the easy part of this job behind me, i spent the next several nights going through each and every cassette to label accurately....

honestly, i can't say it was a "job" because i totally enjoyed it! this sentimental mush of a girl loved looking over the last 8.5 years of our life. chalk it up to being nostalgic and getting ready for a big move/life change, but this was just what i needed to lift my spirits. 

how did i label the cassettes?...i wrote the month/year or event/year on the top...

on the front i wrote the specific events on that tape...

and just in case the cassette gets removed from its plastic case, i also labeled each cassette...

have no idea how this moment came together so beautifully, but i had exactly 50 mini dv cassettes, including the video camera cleaning cassette...

a perfect fit!

the completed box/project...

time to pop the lid on and slap a label on this bad boy...

*sighs of organization bliss*

beyond happy to have this project completed. there is going to be a lot of video taping over the next several months as we say good-bye to the south and hello to the bay area/west coast. am happy to go into this next chapter with a clean, organized slate.

if you have been looking for a solution to organize your mini dv home video cassettes, you can find the links to both products i purchased above in the post and here is the cost breakdown:

box = $12.99 (container store)

miniDV plastic rack = $13.95 plus shipping (my total with shipping was $20)

$32 well spent!!!

have a great weekend!

** thank you for the comments - i will be sending these off soon to have them professional transferred to dvd for extra safe keeping. but until then, i know they are in order and safely tucked away in a box.

(i linked up with house of hepworths, serenity now, liz marie blog)