Why do we always over pack?

If you were to look up the definition of 'over packing' you'd see a huge photograph of me with bulging bags beside me. Whether I'm packing the family up for a holiday, a day trip to visit the family or I'm just preparing the kids for a sleepover at Grandma's I always take more than what's needed. Now I'm not obsessive about it BUT I'd have to say that we always take about 10% more than what's needed.



I'll pack extra underpants, shirts, shorts and skirts just IN CASE SOMETHING HAPPENS and that's even if I have access to a washing machine and clothesline. Mr Opoes was a scout and he doesn't even take additional items with him when he takes business trips. Over the last 8 years I have worked hard to reduce the number of extra items I take with us. Until yesterday I thought I'd been successful at not taking too much clothing with us while we are living in the granny flat at Grandma and Grandpa's place, BUT then I saw this and I realised I was over compensating what our clothing requirements were.

So I started putting our clothing into piles which needed folding after doing the washing over the weekend. How many pairs of underpants do you think a 7 year old needs, can I tell you 10 would work for him but I've got a least 16 pairs and I keep finding more  of his underpants all over the place. So over the next few days I'll be going through everyone's clothes and I'll pack away the items we don't need and I'll keep the things we DO need. I am hoping that this simple job will help us create some floor space so that Quinlan can have a play and so the other 3 can sit and play as well.

So with the amount of time it takesd to sort the clothes, fold the clothes and then count the various groupings of clothing 'm going to need I think I should come up for air early next week. I'm hoping I can reduce the amount of clothing we need for the next month or so.

Megan