Seven packing tricks that make family holidays 100 per cent easier.

The holiday is booked, the kids are excited, and now it’s time to pack. So much rides on this moment. How will you tackle it? What’s your packing style? How much of the house will you attempt to squeeze into the car? Will the kids be given unsupervised packing rights? (Hmm, didn’t think so.) And how many moments on the holiday will you grimace and announce – “Oh no! We forgot the…”

Well, fear not. We’ve got you covered with our ultimate list of packing hacks this summer.

1. Roll, don’t fold.

Now this tip is often applied to overseas travellers, but is just as useful for summer road trips with the family, when everyone needs to pack beach towels and other extras like wetsuits and rashies.

Fold each item or piece of clothing destined for your bag in half long-ways, and then tightly roll them up, sushi style. Then line your bag one row at a time with similar sized rolls of clothing. If you’ve never tried this before, you’ll be amazed at the amount of space you can save!

"They see me rolling...." Image: iStock.

2. Pack the internet this summer.

Forget bringing clunky devices like DVD players that can only be used by one person at a time, and pack the internet this summer. With Telstra Pre-Paid 4GX Plus, you can connect the whole family at the same time – up to 10 devices – and with 10 hours of battery life, it’s perfect for road trips, heading down to the beach for the day or a camping trip to Bateman’s Bay.

The kids will love being able to access music, movies and more, and there’ll be no more squabbles over who has the one connected device! Plus until February 13, you can enjoy double data on Pre-Paid mobile broadband recharges from $30 (Excludes scheduled monthly recharges).

3. Make use of all the spaces.

As everyone will be packing at least a few pairs of shoes, make use of the protected little spaces they create. You can use them to store things like cords, chargers, ear-buds and other little things that can easily get lost amongst all the items being packed.

You can store the items in socks or plastic bags to protect them before you put them your shoes.

Prevent this by taking advantage of all nooks and crannies. Image: iStock.

4. Do an outfit audit.

Before any clothes get packed, make sure the packer in question hasn’t gone completely overboard… If you’re going away for a week, that doesn’t mean you need seven separate outfits. For any holiday, you reasonably only need about four basic outfits, with items of clothing you can mix and match to form more options. Include one warmer item each for the top and bottom in case of any cooler weather. (It’s a good idea to check the weather forecast for where you’re headed too.)

If you’re away for a longer break, you’ll need to wash clothes anyway, so there’s still no need to take anything more than a selection of your wardrobe – not the entire thing.

5. The sandwich bag hack.

Plastic sandwich bags are a great beach hack – store your mobile phone, keys or other things you need to keep sand and water-free in them, and avoid the stress of chasing away sandy fingers and dripping water.

All the beach fun with none of the wet-phone heartbreak. Image: iStock.

6. E-readers, not paperbacks.

You have visions of yourself reading novels poolside, right? Well if you haven’t already made the move to digital, now is the time to consider buying an e-reader, and loading it up with a great smattering of summer reads. E-readers today are light and durable, and this is a huge space (and weight) saver if you’re a summer holiday book-lover. If you don't have an E-reader, a phone will make a great substitute in a pinch. You can use your Telstra Pre-Paid 4GX Plus to download your book of choice. Now all that's left to do is exhale and unwind.

7. Jigsaw puzzles over board games.

While it can be tempting to load up the car with the family’s favourite board games, they do take up a lot of space. Why not take a really big jigsaw puzzle? Long stretches of lazy summer days are the perfect time to tackle a jigsaw puzzle challenge as a family. It’s oddly relaxing and extremely satisfying when it’s done!

So with a bit of pre-planning, you can reap the rewards of upping your holiday packing game this summer.

This post was written thanks to our brand partner Telstra. 

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