Pocket Book Chat

When I travel, all of my belongings fit into a tiny daypack and a large backpack or duffel bag. I have traveled for over a year without ever needing anything more. In fact, I often find I still pack too much!! When friends come and visit me, I am amazed that they took so much stuff. They ask me my tips on packing light. I’ll tell you what I tell them.

Here’s how I pack light and how you can too:

First, scribble a list of everything you think you might want. Everything and anything. From clothes, to toiletries, to electronics, to jackets, and everything in between. This packing list will usually ends up pretty long. But that’s ok, we’ll get it down fast.

Next, look at your list and think about it in relation to your trip. If you are going to the islands, do you really want pants or jeans? If you are going to Rome in July, do you really want to pack long sleeve shirts?

Next, you should have cut your packing list down a bit by eliminating those items that didn’t really have much to do with your destination.

Now, let’s take a peek at your toiletry list. Why are you bringing so much? In this age of over caution, people tend to pack every medicine known to man just in case. Let’s be real- do you ever use most of them? Can’t you buy them at your destination? So go minimal. If you do get sick, you can always by Tylenol or diarrhea medicine there. Take only the bare essentials. A few pills that take up only a little space- you don’t need the whole box.

What about the non-medical supplies your packing? Soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, razor, and shaving cream are what you need. If you are staying at a b &b, you don’t even need soap or shampoo since it is provided for you. You’re going on a trip not to a corporate function so lose the cosmetics and facial products.

Now, think about your packing list. What can you buy there if you really need it? Probably lots. Toss the bug spray, the suntan lotion, and whatever else you are bringing. You can’t take it on the plane anyways.

Ok, final step on the path to packing light. We’ve probably cut out a lot of your list now. The next step is to just throw out another half. You are holiday, relaxing. Things don’t get very dirty and you can wear the same shorts a few days in a row. Get rid of the towel- just borrow the one from the hotel. Take half as many clothes. Wear many longer or don’t wear any! You never wear everything you take and unless spill something or sweat through your shirt, you can use it for more than one day.

That’s it. That is the trick to packing light. Cutting, cutting, and cutting until you get to the essential items you need to pack. If you follow my opinion, I guarantee you will pack light and make the whole packing process much easier.

Let’s face it, packing for a vacation can be more than a little stressful. For parents who have several small children, the experience can be difficult to say the least. But packing doesn’t have to be as complicated as it’s often made out to be. The truth is, kids aren’t picky about whether their clothes are wrinkled or whether they’re packed in an efficient manner. Instead of giving kids a suitcase, grab a couple sturdy duffle bags and tell them to fill them up. Parents should of course inspect to make sure the suitcases aren’t filled with toys and books beforehand, but kids often enjoy the responsibility of getting their own clothes together. Just make sure to set a date a few days before the vacation starts, because kids are notorious for trying to do it all at the last minute!

It’s also a good idea to buy a couple of small locks that can fit on the zippers of the duffle bags, and ensure that the duffle bag has two zippers that can be locked together. This will prevent potential stolen belongings.

A woman’s image is everything when it comes to business. That is why luggage has become so important to the business woman. If you went on a trip and threw all of your clothing in one huge duffle bag, your clothing would be wrinkled and probably dirty from your extra shoes lying on them during the trip. In this instance you wouldn’t be representing your company or yourself in a very good way. It would appear as though you were a mess and not many companies want to do business with someone who can’t even appear as though they are all together.

This is why luggage companies make so many different styles and types of luggage. Each piece is designed for a specific use. For instance a duffel bag is designed, in most cases, to carry more casual or sport type clothing and gear. Something that you are not concerned with wrinkling or getting unfolded during a trip. These can carry clothing as well as gear such as running shoes, bicycle helmets, knee pads and other safety gear for sporting activities. These are the things that you don’t have to worry about breaking or becoming messed up in any way.

It’s a growing need in our communities.

The cold weather coupled with no place to go leaves many people seeking homeless shelters for some heat and hospitality.

The City of Refuge and F.A.I.T.H. transitional housing both say there is always going to be a need in the community.

But it seems especially with the freezing temperatures, the recent recession and some just not being able to survive on their own, the homeless population is growing.

Homeless and hungry: just looking for some warmth and welcome this winter.

“I needed help. I don’t have any money. I didn’t have any food, hardly any clothes,” said David Joiner, who’s seeking help from City of Refuge.

This is all David Joiner owns; two duffle bags and the clothes on his back.

And now he’ll have a roof over his head.

“It means I don’t have to sleep under an overpass or crawl into a pile of brush and sleep and that’s a big relief. It’s too cold for anybody to be outside,” Joiner explained.

The City of Refuge says their eights beds are usually taken but there’s always a spot somewhere.

“In the wintertime, we’ve been full. We’ve had 3 or 4 guys on the floor,” said David McKinney, the City of Refuge Director.

Not only do they give them a place to rest, but food to eat too.

The dinner lines are longer these days.

They say now they are feeding 60 to 70 people every night, that’s double compared to last year.

“People aren’t able to provide for themselves quite as well as they have in the past. A lot more people at the end of the month, saying can you help us out,” McKinney explained.

F.A.I.T.H. transitional housing; it’s more than just an escape from the bitter cold, it’s a two-year program to get people back on their feet.

“It’s easy to say the recession, but the reality is people are just finding themselves at the end of the road,” said Mike Glaser, the president of F.A.I.T.H. Transitional Housing.

Mike Glaser says more applications are coming in, creating a longer waiting list to get in.

The need has always been there, he says it’s the numbers that are growing.

“A lot of people say there’s no good left in this world. I don’t believe that. I believe that we each try to help as much as we can,” Joiner said.

Giving back and helping those who are helpless.

Both the shelter and transitional housing organization say even in this recession, the heart of this community is still alive and well and continues to give to meet the needs of others.

The City of Refuge provides dinner every night of the week to anyone who needs a meal. It starts at 6:00p.m

More commonly known as gym bags, duffle bags are large cylindrical bags usually made out of cloth with a closure flap or zipper at the top. It can also be referred to as a kit bag, owing the name to people’s tendency to put their various “kits” inside. The name duffle bag came from Duffel, a small town in Belgium where the cloth used to make the bag originally came from. These days, the name duffle bag pertains more to the style than the material used, as more and more duffle bags are made with different materials, such as synthetic fiber, leather, and other non-cloth materials.

A wheeled duffle bag, as its name suggests, is a duffle bag outfitted with wheels which give it added mobility and greatly increases ease of handling, as the presence of wheels allow the carrier to roll it around instead of carrying the entire duffle bag. Most wheeled duffle bags also include an extending handle, allowing its owner to roll it in an upright position.

A lot of people generally confuse duffle bags with travel suitcases, owing to the new types of duffle bags that have a rectangular shape instead of a circular one. In these cases, the only noticeable distinction is their sizes, with travel suitcases being much more larger and spacious than the duffle bag. The lines, however are blurred once again with the appearance of larger duffle bags aimed to replace its suitcase cousins.

As for choice in brands, there are a large number of quality brands available, but as far as popularity goes, Tumi seems to be the most favored by critics and frequent travelers, due to its extensive attention to details and bag design (Tumi currently holds more than 25 patents for design and engineering), resulting in their bags being regarded as industry measuring sticks for durability and physical appearance. Another advantage with Tumi bags is their patented Exclusive Tracer Protection, which helps greatly in helping owners trace, locate, and reunite with lost or stolen bags. The tracer system works perfectly in tandem with their already exceptional warranty service.

Duffle bags are very useful for traveling and are available in varied shapes and sizes. They are flexible and fitted with accessories like trolleys, wheels, and removable or adjustable shoulder straps. Duffle bags have extra capacity compartments mainly to accommodate several things required for long travels.

Duffle bags are very useful for traveling and are available in varied shapes and sizes. They are flexible and fitted with accessories like trolleys, wheels, and removable or adjustable shoulder straps. Duffle bags have extra capacity compartments mainly to accommodate several things required for long travels.