Tomorrow, we head to the lakehouse in Windsor, Ontario. I’ve gotta say, winter packing is my least favorite because of all the stuff required for cold weather! I’m super competitive-with myself most of all-and am absolutely determined to fit every single thing we need into two bags and a carry on. Here are a few of my travel favorites, including the packing cubes I get asked about every time I pack!!

I’ve been asked to shoot a travel post of how I pack so I’m looking forward to that, but for now-here is a little breakdown of the method to my madness.

I bought two sets of packing cubes early this summer and I can’t express how much they’ve changed my packing game. I’m amazed at how much I can fit in each one and it makes staying organized so simple! I also love that I know exactly where each item is so I don’t need to dig through the whole suitcase the entire trip to find that one onesie/shirt/sweater.

I roll everything and pack Oshiolema’s clothes in one cube, Keogena’s in another, then I split O’s clothes and workout clothes into two cubes and do the same for me. The kids socks, pajamas and Oshiolema’s undies are packed inside nylon drawstring bags (blue for her and pink for him) and ours just get shoved to the bottom of the bag. I line the bag with our shoes and lay out the largest items instead of rolling them to place them flat underneath the cubes. Toiletries always get split between bags- ziplocks for leaky things, pouches for hair accessories like bobby pins, scrunchies and hair ties and my non-liquid makeup comes in the carry on. Pouches are a non-negotiable for me, I have to have at least 3 each trip! I have the Tumi hanging cosmetics carrier and it’s fantastic.

Our vitamins and essential oils are packed in a zip bag in the carry on too since I once had an entire bag of essential oils stolen from my checked bag. Whoever took it bypassed some pretty fancy stuff for that bag of Doterra oils…that’s gotta be saying something.

Side note, we have Nike suitcases and they are my favorite of all time. O had them when we were dating and so many of our friends that played in the NFL say they choose them as their hands-down favorite luggage too! We have two big suitcases and one roller-bag from the same Nike collection and they’re still in phenomenal condition, 9 years later! Unfortunately they’re no longer available, but I think the key is a buckle strap or zip section to close off the insides rather than huge open spaces with no separation-everything floating around and getting all unfolded is the worrrrst. I’ve linked similar suitcases with two separate contained compartments just like mine.

What are your travel essentials? Thankfully Windsor isn’t supposed to be unbearably cold and I’m pretty set on wasting 90% of the luggage space to bring my robe for our cold house. I’m the packer, I get to dictate the space allowance and I say-the robe goes.