A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about how when I was visiting my sister for a month I just had to go out and purchase some baskets to help organize my stuff in a couple of the drawers she emptied for me.
At the time I remember wondering if perhaps I had really gone over the organizing addict edge.
Fast forward to last week when a wonderful friend from BC drove out to visit us. When I walked into the guest bathroom that she was using and saw what was sitting on the counter I immediately burst out laughing. She doesn’t travel with a toiletry bag, she travels with a toiletry basket for herself and four kids.
Be still my heart.
It’s such a brilliant idea! It keeps the counters cleared off and it’s so much easier and quicker to keep track of everyone’s stuff. Not to mention the fact that she makes me feel completely normal in all my organizing freakness. Ahh I can’t even begin to tell you how nice it is to have friends like that. And did you notice, it’s even the same basket!!
Anyone else in the travel with baskets club? Don’t worry, you can admit it here, you’re in good company 🙂
Kate says
I’m impressed, but how do you travel with the basket? Doesn’t the stuff spill all over?
I’m also a fan of baskets. My husband is a bit baffled but he knows where stuff is now. When I met him he had 6 dental floss things around his apartment because he could never find it when he needed it. We have one now….
Suzanne says
I actually keep my makeup, hair gel, and hair spray in a little craft tote. It’s easy to keep organized, and I just keep it on a shelf and grab it when I need it. I often use it when I travel, too, although not when flying. When flying, I just pull out the makeup necessities and use travel sizes for hair stuff.
Carol - The Lazy Mama says
Brilliant! I have a basket like that on our master bath. However, I’m not seeing it when I travel because it can get bulky. However, I have a foldable travel pouch where I keep all my toiletries when I travel. It also got that thingy so I could hang it in the hotel bathroom or in a cubicle. Now, that’s a soon to be posted organization item.
Angela says
I now travel (car trips) with small laundry baskets. We pack bags into them for the trip there and on the way home they hold dirty laundry. Learned this from my aunt who has 6 kids and they didn’t even use luggage-just the baskets. I have 4 boys & love keeping the dirty stuff separate and ready for the laundry room!!
Randi says
I travel with clothes baskets! We cloth diaper, and if we’re going to be gone for an entire weekend it’s so much easier to just bring a basket with the diapers in it rather than trying to fit them all in a diaper bag (which is impossible). We also have 3 young children so when we travel to great-grandma’s house and have to bring our own toys along, a clothes basket is the easiest option!
Rachel says
With 2 kids in diapers still we leave a trail of changing paraphernalia in our wake, so when we visit family I take our downstairs changing basket loaded with about 3 days worth of diapers and all the other creams/wipes/bags etc, and I stick the kids other toiletry in there too. If we are staying longer we can keep tabs on how supplies are doing and when needed go to the store to get more, and it’s much easier than trying to keep a nappy bag stocked up from supplies stashed in various other bags. We also try to pack toys in containers or bags that can act as storage when we are away from home. It makes little difference when travelling by car if things are in a box or bag, and it makes a difference to our sanity while we are there.
Tracey Garcia says
We use laundry baskets as luggage too when we visit family. It is just so much easier to see what you need rather than digging through a suitcase. I also try to pack things like books, toys in bags that they will be stored in when out of the car. Soooo, much easier. Backpacks are also great to tote snacks for kids, movies, etc. This way you only have to have one bag in the back seat with them. One more thing, if I know we are going to be swimming, going to a water park, etc. while on our trip, I pack our swim bag with all the the swim things we will need rather than trying to get them in a suitcase. This way when we hit the water park I just grab our bag and we are good to go. And after everything can go right back into the same bag.
Sarah says
For toiletries, I travel with a clear plastic bin about the size of the basket you use, but it’s solid with a hinged lid. I found it easier to keep everything contained while it’s in the suitcase!
Kayren says
What an awesome idea! I think I’ll be a plastic bin traveler now too.
Michelle says
we use laundry baskets instead of luggage when we vacation! Much easier to organize and find everyone’s stuff.
MemeGRL says
Ditto on laundry baskets as luggage! Dumps in the drawer, refills, and goes right back to the laundry room. Love it when possible!
Kristi says
I’m not currently in the club… but I’d love to apply for membership! We are taking a trip to Florida in September and you better believe I’ll be stashing a basket to keep our bathroom organized! Genius! Simple and genius!
Thanks for sharing!
Kristi
Sue R says
I don’t travel with a basket, but would appreciate it whild I was visiting…better that keeping it all over someones counter…Maybe I should travel with my own basket…:)
Kathleen says
Great Idea!
Becky L. says
I think your friend has a great idea. Works for car traveling. I have a close basket (old) in trunk of car to keep purchases from sliding all over the back. We had some neighbors that lived across from us that were Russian. When they were ready to go on their trip to Alaska or visiting somewhere, their luggage was large plastic bags! Like garbage bags! Believe it or not. I never saw them with a suitcase! I guess that worked for them….not me! :0-
Gabe says
I love that idea! I don’t use baskets like that when we travel, but I may start.
I DO use laundry baskets when we travel. We have a large family, and our stuff can easily spread out and make quite the mess. I use the baskets to hold shoes, blankets etc.
Nicole says
Too funny. I guess you rubbed off on her! I need to get serious about decluttering around our house. I did some today and it felt so good. I probably found about a trunk sized load that I can send out the door!
Deb @ Green V-Neck says
YES! I travel with those same bins, at least when we are on the road; air travel is different. I have a bin for first aid (band-aids, neosporin, inhalers, epi-pens, benadryl, steroids, sunblock, solarcaine, etc.), another for meds/vitamins (we are a family of six, so we need, collectively, more than a bottle or two). I also have invested in the same bins for our two linen closets, one upstairs and one down, to corral extra toiletries when they go on sale. Right now I have 15 liquid hand-soap dispensers in my linen closet that I bought for 88 cents. We have four bathrooms, those will go quickly, but I know that in six months I will encounter the same sale. I also have 24 toothbrushes of good quality that I purchased at 2/$1, but with these bins I have the ability to organize those and see what I have.
My heart goes pitter-patter for the organizing bins!
Natasha says
Good Morning,
I just love your blog, and wow, what a brilliant idea…our toiletry cupboard is in such a mess at the moment, definately need to reorganize everything. I love this mobile toiletry basket 🙂
April @ Birch in the Breeze says
Haha it’s always great to have friends who make you feel normal!
I don’t travel with a basket because most of the time I’m travelling abroad and need to keep the weight down. I did discover packing cubes recently though so I can lift them out of my case and unpack quickly, makes me feel less like I’m living out of a suitcase.
I have a toiletry bag which opens up and most of my stuff sits in there but I would like one of the ones with a hook which you can hang up.
Amanda M says
I’m glad I’m not the only one who travels with baskets. I have two that fold up flat: a smaller one that will fit into a back pack, and a larger one that fits into my larger suitcase, that’s big enough to act as a laundry hamper. They are so very handy!
Amy Lynne says
LOVE it!! I am a basket girl too!
Lisa says
Good idea! Wrap it in Saran Wrap to keep it all together on the trip. I like it!
Sue from Livin In Duckville says
Does camping with baskets count? Much of our camping equipment is compartmentalized in bins, baskets or gear bags. I never realized how much I do this until reading this post & just getting back from camp today. When loading our trailer I know what is in which container & then I can say ‘We need that green bag & the blue & white totes… etc)…. Hey! At least I’m organized totally someplace! Maybe that’s why i feel so relaxed camping…. everything has a place & everything is in it….
Marcia Francois says
Okay, you’re going to love this – I travel with a collapsible material basket (it has one piece of cardboard on the one side/ material on the other for the bottom) since the babies were born.
When we arrive at our destination, I set it up for their nappies/ wipes, bum creme and other toiletries 🙂
Living the Balanced Life says
I have used baskets before when car traveling or camping. Now we have bought an RV and I have already begun using baskets for carrying things out to the RV and then for keeping them contained while driving (so they don’t move around) and then they just keep everything handy and organized while actually camping or parking! I love baskets period!
Bernice
As go your days, so goes your life
Emilie says
I stumbled onto this blog last week and was instantly inspired!!!! I figured if I was 26 weeks behind on the challenge and since I do not teach in the summer, I had better get moving. I made a list of 36 items in about 5 minutes and got to work. I organized my junk drawer, got rid of the “shoe pile” by the door, cleaned off the coat tree and the closet the coats went into, then I started on the guest room closet which includes the scary file cabinet with pile. That was one day! I still have some work to do on the file cabinet and need to find a way to organize shoes/boots in my porch, but I feel so much better and inspired to finish the rest of the list in the next 6 weeks. The list is what did it for me! I could not believe how many things in my life were unorganized. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I went back and read many many many posts from the last 27 weeks: here is my conclusion:
I have LOTS or clutter.
I have an OCD for my paperwork. It is either filed in alphabetical folders with chronological order with in OR left in a heap. I follow the ‘all or nothing’ plan with organization.
I NEED to get my bill paying/budgeting re-set up and FOLLOW it.
My children NEED to help me out more and it needs to be part of their routine. I am sure this will help prevent “psycho-mommy” from coming out and having to yell and scream for everyone to get organized!
I do not wash my towels after every use. I let them go til they smell and then change them out….and I am fine with that even if it is gross to some people. I would never be able to keep up washing towels for 5 people everyday! YIKES! I also let my sheets on the beds go for a long time too even though I own many sets. I let (make) my kids wear jeans, pajamas and church clothes more than once.
I wash whites, colors and underwear all together in cold tap water in an HE machine and use liquid fabric softener and a color safe brightener. I LOVE the idea of just washing each kids clothes at one time to stop the sorting issue. I WILL but one more basket for my youngest so he can have his one spot instead of sharing with my middle son.
I am ADDICTED to magazines. My in laws get them with their credit card points and so I get at least 3 or 4 a month from them. Plus I love to get Family Fun and Readers Digest. I let them pile up til I can’t stand the stack and then toss the whole thing at once. I should pass them on, but when the mood strikes, I go with it and TOSS a lot of things.
I also hope that once the areas are organized and I can establish some sort of routine that I may have time to scrapbook the last 4 years for my three boys. I was caught up and then life happened.
“Horizontal surfaces are for piles”. I need to change my mantra to “do I really need this anywhere in my life? If so, then put it where it lives NOW!”
I too love boxes, file folders, labels and the look of organization!
I love this blog.
Kel says
When I was an exchange student, I used a lot of random stuff for organizing, including a few of those wooden crates that you get 2 kg of mandarin oranges / clementines in. I kept socks, underwear, and undershirts in them. And for my big end-of-the-year trip, I stuck the boxes into my suitcase and packed larger items of clothing on top. It was so nice to be able to pull them out to instantly “move in” to a hostel for a couple of days.
For those worried about packing a basket and losing the contents– wrap a pair of jeans around it or something! Don’t let the worry stop you 🙂
Love the idea someone posted of car travel with laundry baskets instead of suitcases!
Larissamj says
BRILLIANT! Love it and when we are traveling on the mainland…I will be packing laundry bins and such! Thank you for posting and thank you so much for sharing all of the wonderful information you have on this blog…you are a blessing to those of us who are organizationally challenged!
sarah@boxwood says
Yeah my sister totally go me into this. When we road trip for stay over just a night we always pack a laundry basket instead of a bag, it’s perfect because you can fit everything in so nicely and it’s accessible as you mentioned. Now my car as permanent baskets in the boot for my shopping, returns etc..
Precious Crafts says
I honestly don’t but I wish I do. My toilettries are all over the counter! I’m learning to be better. Thanks for sharing, very useful stuff for a hopeless organizer like me.
Sandy says
Well I do this now and it works a treat. My husband thinks I’m mad but I always challenge him with the comment, “well, here we are at our destination. Did the basket perform?”. Rhetorical question. I use a cane basket for when I am visiting my folks who are 3hrs south of me. The basket sits in the back of my car. Simple. It can also go into our caravan and fits in a cupboard perfectly. I haven’t tried a suitcase, but all in good time.
Krissy F. says
i travel with a similar (a little bit bigger) basket with my kids toys, coloring stuff, and reading books. I will def so this for traveling!