How can I be more organised about packing?

The balm to sooth a troubled soul

There’s more than one way to pack a bag. You can start with a list, or you can try some different techniques, creating visual reminders and practical layouts.

I’m an inveterate list maker. I even make lists of lists. I love a notebook, cannot resist a post it note and am soothed by the very existence of diaries, charts and planners.

This is possibly because I’m also the world’s greatest worrier. For every worry there must be a plan. And every plan requires a list. I’ll write down all the things that are required, allocate them an order (or even a time) and possibly even rewrite the list neatly. Because lists must be respected.

However, there is more than one way of making a list than using tiny block capitals and check boxes (oh yes, you see me). I’ve found that where there’s an early morning start and sleepiness may lead to poor attention I’ll set everything I need out in a trail across the floor to make sure that I pick up and pack (or put on) each item in the correct order. Leftover items indicate a problem which is immediately obvious. It’s not that the block capitals don’t get deployed though. Food will be laid out on the counter and an empty flask set up to be filled. Everything is done when the worktop is cleared. There may a secondary back up checklist pinned to the back of the front door which I’m hopefully not too bleary to read.

By 6am all these things must be on me or in my pockets…

 It's the same for cooking. Food waste is bad on every level but I worry that things will perish neglected at the back of the fridge because my great idea for a fresh pumpkin I spotted and picked up for a bargain price will be forgotten when I’m trying to think of something to cook for dinner. It’s best if I think of how and when the pumpkin (or whatever) is going to be eaten as quickly as possible. Strike when the iron is hot and before it’s exhibiting the first signs of wilt.

 So I’ll unpack the shopping and make up little bags of the ingredients that I will need for each meal, dividing out and allocating staples like onions and garlic between dishes along with the principle ingredients. Then I’ll organize them in the fridge so that they’re to hand on the intended day. Future me is always hungry and prone to poor decisions when I am so it makes better choices easier. And reduces the number of times I’ll find a distressed beetroot and have to consign it sadly to the compost heap.

Spicy butternut and lentil stew right there…

 Visual reminders are great in practically every way.

 I will set out clothes for a work trip lying them flat on the floor to check that there are full outfits and things that go together. Ironing them and packing them (into a Fold+Rºll) means I’m ready. The list is complete and I can relax for the intervening time.

A few days out of the office - clothes for work, travel and leisure

 Or lay out the pieces I need for a sewing project. It’s the planning and folding of the fabrics that helps me think ahead. There’s nothing more annoying than not having all the constituent parts – but they can be found and organized once the piles of cloth, thread and fastenings have demonstrated their absence.

Everything you need for a weekend of bike packing

 Drawn plans are almost as good as the piles of items. I’ll map and chart the things I need with little pictograms that make me smile. The process of adding them triggers new one thoughts and realisations. A lot of paper is expended setting them down, thinking of more things that fit in or are required and then redrawing them.

 So, lists are lists but so are piles, arrangements of laid out items, bags of things that go together and drawings of processes and their constituents. They’re the visualizations of the future in material form. And I completely recommend all of them.

Draw. Write. Make order…