10 Of Essentials Rule
No matter where in the world you are going, and no matter for how long you should follow the 10 of essentials rule. This is a piece of advice you can follow so that you suitcase doesn’t look like this before your next flight.
Essentially the rule is simple to follow, only carry at most, 10 of the essential clothing items. This gives you enough for a back up in case you lose bladder control, and enough cushion to wash your stuff so you’ve always got clean items queued up.
Essential Clothing Items
- Underwear – this is a given and you can always hear your mom’s voice in your head when you are packing, “don’t forget to pack your underwear!” You only need 10 pair at most (10 bras too for you ladies and trannies). Even if you soil yourself it will probably be only twice a day.
- Socks – let them stink, they mostly stay in your shoes if you are out and about anyway. Make sure not to pack any with holes in case you are visiting a mosque, Japanese home, or somewhere else you’ll need to take your shoes off – especially if you are the World Bank President.
- T-Shirts and Sweaters – yes both are combined and always wear them in pairs. Not wearing layers causes excessive sweating and you can remove the sweater when you start to get hot. This is better than getting your sweater sweaty and stinky. By keeping the perspiration under layer #1 you won’t smell so bad. Besides most of the world has a higher tolerance for body odor than Americans.
- Shoes - are big space hogs in your suitcase. Your main pair should be shoes you can walk in for at least 8 hours. It might seen like a long time but you’ll need to be comfortable and you’ll be on your feet. If you bring a second pair, make them sports shoes for backup to the first. If you need a third pair go formal. Make sure to use the space efficiently and pack your clean socks inside and shoes in your suitcase.
As for pants you’ll only need 3 pair. One to travel with, the other once you get to your destination and the last a formal one.
This idea may seem Spartan, but it’s well worth it to travel light and it can be difficult to estimate how much you’ll need if you are gone for a longer vacation. Usually we stress about how much of everything we’ll need. At most you’ll need 10 of the essentials – trust me. 3 pairs of pants and your toiletries will get you more suitcase room and less headache if you’ll be gone for a week or more.
Too little, too much? I’m curious if (woman especially) agree.
Earl (49)
blahh (13)
Deniz (12)
Maureen (12)
Audrey (11)
Dan (11)
and i think the problem is always when you are coming back
i mean for me you know 
i didnt bring anything to us and then what happened 
i did payed 100$ overweight _for each of 3 luggages of me 
so
DO NOT GO SHOPPING “so much”
I have another strange thing I do when I travel. I take all of my old underware and socks and after each day I discard them, so that I do not have to worry about carrying around dirty underware. I also creates room for the added items, from shopping. This includes shoes too!
@ burchu:
i’ve updated this post to include shoes, can’t believe I forgot! also, i laughed when i read what i wrote but maybe 10 bras is a bit overkill – true even in hot weather? i mean if you go to libya wouldn’t you want to change it everyday?
@ uncle.a
that’s a good idea for creating space. usually i make use of the hotel bathtub (if there is one) and wash the little things to make them last a bit longer.
ok
aop = gross
uncle.a = brilliant!
@ jeffer:
why gross? some remote places in the world you might want/have to
10 bras is an insane amount! Most people don’t even own that much!
Was just trying to be consistent, but now you’ve got more room for other things!