Packing for the Road

During our thirty-two days on the road, these bins were essential to our my sanity.  Each one had a special place and purpose in our car.

I kept the snack bin stocked with goodies like trail mix, granola bars, crackers, fruit snacks, cereal bars, peanuts, and raisins.

This little container held the family's health and beauty essentials such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, a hairbrush, lotion, chapstick, etc.  It started out with just housing the kids' things, but I quickly moved in all my stuff, too. It was my favorite container because gone were the days of digging through a huge bag to find a tiny container of dental floss. When we landed at a hotel for the night, I just needed to grab it and go.

This extensive first aid kit was a key player when Ellery came down with a virus in South Dakota,  and it then spread like wildfire to almost everyone we came into contact with in Minnesota.  It contained a thermometer, aspirin, Tylenol, band aids, Pepto, bug bite cream, Benadryl, Neosporin, Mentholatum, eye drops, aloe vera, and sanitizing wipes.

This one also could be called, "In CASE of Emergency..."  This bin came in handy with its flashlight, sunscreen, bugs spray, lighter, tweezers, crazy glue, scissors, scotch tape, safety pins, rubber bands, Sharpie marker, batteries, and duct tape.  We used it multiple times when Marin and Liam needed splinters removed along the way (hello, wooden railings on trails in Yellowstone).

This little box of magic provided hours of DVD-watching and game-playing fun for the kids during those big travel days.  From parents who claimed at one point (when we were pre-Liam and knew everything about parenting) to never want a DVD system in a vehicle, it prevented multiple meltdowns and endless choruses of "Are we there yet?"  Glorious!

 The kiddos picked out their favorite compact toys to go in this portable toy box.

And the clothes went in these versatile cargo totes from Thirty-One.  Liam and I each had our own large tote, and the girls shared both of the medium-sized bags.  Ellery's contained the warm-weather clothing, and Marin's had the clothes for cooler weather. Jon had a small suitcase, too.

After folding laundry, I always pair up the girls' matching/coordinating outfits in Ziplock bags, so it was no different when we were traveling.  See all the Ziplocks?

 I like them to look like they belong together.  They are twins, after all.  :)

So that's how I packed for our family's life on the road, and it worked well for us. I'll definitely do it again on our next major road trip because it saved space, kept things organized, and cut down on clutter in the car.
And when we finally ended our journey, not only did we have to unpack everything in the bins and bags, we also arrived home to this big o' pile of mail.  Thankfully, they weren't all bills.  Yikes!