6 things I (try to) do every day to keep things running smoothly

I have been trying to live life in a more focused and mindful way (my words of the year!) by cutting out multitasking and keeping my eyes on the prize, making sure I take care of myself and don't make myself busy at the expense of making myself happy. There are a few things that I have always done randomly when I want to be more organized/keep my life put together that I am trying to implement every day or at least consistently, to keep my life and our household running smoothly.

Now, an important disclaimer: I am not perfect. I do not always remember or make time to do everything. In fact, a lot of the time, only one or two things get done each day – but when everything works out and everything goes as planned, my day goes a lot better and I feel a lot less pressure to get a lot done in not a lot of time! Planning ahead and making time for small tasks takes away the urge to multitask and rush and not take care of yourself, later!

Here are the five things I push hard to do every day so I can keep my productivity high and my stress level low.

1. Every night, I sit down and plan out the next day.

This is a no-brainer for me and unless it's a weekend, I always make time for this. I ordered a Day Designer planner and this has been a great system for me. I make a list of everything I need to do and then block out time for it around my meetings – making sure to leave time for random tasks and the inevitable projects or assignments that come up during the day and need to be done ASAP. 

This can be as small as "Put frozen chicken in the fridge to dethaw for dinner by 9 am" or "Start the breadmaker at 3 pm for pizza dough." Just knowing what my day holds makes me wake up with a lot less holding me down.

2. When I say I'll do something or am asked to complete a task, I write it down. 

This is my worst flaw: I say yes to everything, but I don't write it down so I don't remember I ever said yes to it. What's the good in offering to help people or participate in a project if you totally forgot you offered? So, I am working hard to make sure I add things to my Day Designer to do list or to Trello when things come across my desk – whether in an email, a text message or a Slack message, or in a conversation with a person in real-life. I take a lot of notes in my bullet journal and on sticky notes, and then I make sure the notes get somewhere where they won't be lost.

3. I throw a small load of laundry in the washing machine every day.

Patrick looked at me once and said, "Does it feel like we are always doing laundry?" Well, that is because we are. I try to do one load a day and put it away, because I hate folding and putting away laundry in huge batches. Small batches here and there are way less horrifying.

4. I let the dishwasher run overnight and empty it first thing in the morning.

Nothing holds me back more than knowing my sink is overflowing with dirty dishes. Or knowing that my favorite coffee mug is still dirty. I hand wash most of my pots to make sure they last as long as possible (they are All Clad and super nice, I baby them!) as well as my nice knives that I got for Christmas, and I try to do that every night before I go to bed if it didn't get done after dinner (usually it does, love you, Patrick!) and make sure the dishwasher runs while we're asleep, then unload it in the morning or early afternoon while I'm making something to eat. 

5. I set an alarm to be in bed an hour before I really need to be asleep.

This is huge for me. Days when I fall into bed and go straight to sleep are days when I probably didn't get to read, or plan out the day ahead, or have some time to myself to think and snuggle with Theo before I go to sleep. Our bedroom is (mostly) my happy place: 99% of the time, I don't work in bed, I only read and journal and plan. So, that hour before I go to sleep is a great time for me to make sure I start my next morning happy and in control. And of course I have to make time to read! My books are taking over my house!

6. I delegated tasks that I hate and take me more time than they're worth.

I got two things for Christmas that were huge for me: A Roomba and a food processor. 

Why I got a Roomba: I hate to vacuum, and I would put it off for days and days and days until it took hours to get all of the fur and Theo dirt up off the floor. Now, I vacuum three to five times a week and just let Roomba do the work in the mid-afternoon or morning when we're not up to anything. All I do is pick up Theo's toys and bones and call it a day.

Why I got a food processor: I love to cook, so getting pots and pans and a Crockpot were just ways for me to cook more, not to make something I hate easier. But I HATE the time it takes to do prep work! Using my food processor to cut onions, peppers, even tomatoes and spices makes my life 1,000 times easier and cuts the time I spend chopping things in half. 

I also ask Patrick to fold laundry and load the dishwasher after I cook dinner – two things I hate to do – as his share of the household work. And he doesn't mind that nearly as much as he minds things like cleaning bathrooms, which he hates and I don't mind at all! So it works out.

Basically, my strategy for this is: Determine a few tasks you hate, and figure out what you can do about those tasks to take them off your to do list entirely or make them easier, at least. For example, do you hate grocery shopping? Consider using an app like Instacart or pickup at your local grocery store so someone else shops for you – there's a fee, but if you'd be able to dedicate time to something more important to you, it's worth it. Do you hate cooking? Use a Crockpot and whip up some dump meals. 

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Those are my strategies for being more focused on my goals in 2018! What do you do every day to keep your life and your house running smoothly? I'd love more tips!

Leave a Comment organization, productivity

4 things to do now to get ahead on your holiday gift shopping

If you read the headline on this post and thought, "Oh, my god, she has got to be joking," this post is probably for you.

I love buying and giving gifts for the holidays. And every single year, I get a little bit more excited about it. Unwrapping presents on Christmas morning is one of my favorite things, hands down, but there is nothing that tops giving a gift to someone that they really love and appreciate. Nothing like it. I know y'all hear me.

I haven't mastered the gift-giving operation quite yet but there are a few tips I'd love to share that I use to keep my gift shopping organized and easy.

Make a spreadsheet of everyone you need or want to purchase a gift for.

I am always a spreadsheet advocate, but more now than ever, I am using spreadsheets to organize every single part of my life – from gift giving to planning Friendsgiving to packing for a trip for work or fun. I have always been organized, but having Google Sheets in my life has taken me from "you are organized" to "wow OMG you are really organized."

Here are the columns I include: 

• Recipient

• Gift idea(s)

• Address (for shipping!)

• Amount to spend or already spent

When my gifts are purchased, I'll highlight the row green, so I know it is done and ready to go.

I also have a place to total up my budget/amount spent so I'm not surprised by my credit card statement in January, and I added a separate tab for gifts for Patrick and Theo, since – this won't surprise you – I am probably going to go over the top for both of them.

You don't have to know what you're buying everyone yet – but I promise it will help you keep on track if you start thinking about who you are buying for. It prevents the crazy scramble in December!

If you're shipping gifts this year, go ahead and get addresses for your recipients now.

If you are like me and your best friend has lived in three different apartments since 2016, you're going to want to confirm their address. I am shipping almost all of my gifts this year (or using email gift cards!) and am going ahead and confirming addresses so I don't have to stress about getting their address right and getting to the post office in time. And then keep those addresses in your handy, dandy spreadsheet. Boom!

I also have a few friends that use Postable to collect and keep addresses – you can post the link on your social media platforms or send it in an email to collect addresses, and Postable makes it easy to keep them updated. I haven't started using that yet but it also seems super handy, especially for weddings, holiday cards and gift giving!

Sign up for programs that earn or save you money when you shop.

Seriously. Don't make a single purchase online ('cause, let's be honest, that's where a lot of your gifts are coming from!) without using a program that gives you cash back for shopping online. I use a few different programs for various things – Ebates is my preferred cash back program! (I earned $7 recently for ordering a gift for a friend and clothes for myself! Trust me, it adds up.) 

I also love Swagbucks for earning gift cards and Honey for making sure I do not miss any coupon codes! (It saved me $20 on a purchase just the other day.)

Wrap things immediately after buying them.

OK, get behind me on this – I know it sounds crazy, and I know half the fun of wrapping presents is being surrounded by gifts and paper and tape and wildness when you have an hour before Christmas. But if you buy some great gifts when you see an Amazon Deal of the Day, don't just clap yourself on the back for shopping more than a month in advance! Wrap those puppies. Especially if you have a puppy – wrapping everything at once raises the risk that Theo is going to ingest something he shouldn't.

I haven't started shopping at all, but when I do, I will be wrapping as I go on the gifts I plan to deliver in person.

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Have you started thinking about holiday gift giving? 

Leave a Comment holidays, organization

I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for 12 and didn't lose my cool – here's how

This year, I had the (maybe crazy) idea to host a Friendsgiving at our house for our friends. We invited about 15 of our friends – and 10 were able to make it! – to join us for a Friendsgiving event at our apartment and I set to menu planning. Cooking has become a really fun hobby for me lately, and I always love any chance to hit the grocery store.



But I knew that this would be a next-level experience than my usual dinners or the appetizers I've made for football viewing parties. I started prepping more than a week in advance, and I want to share what I learned / what worked best for me to keep things organized and in good shape in case you, too, are hosting a Friendsgiving or even Thanksgiving in your home this year. It is not easy but I do think it can be low stress and totally worth it.

Shoutout, by the way, to my boyfriend Patrick's mom, Andrea! Her Thanksgiving dinners are seriously amazing (and always huge!) and I always wondered how she kept things so organized and made sure everything made it into the oven on time. But I used her technique – spreadsheets! – and totally get it now.

Make a meal plan ahead of time.

God help you, don't wing it. Don't.

I used Google Sheets to meal plan. I split up what I was making and then linked to the recipes I planned to use so I wasn't scrambling through Pinterest at the last minute. This way I could read off to Patrick what I was planning to make and he could let me know what he thought, and I was ready to tell our friends what I was making too so they knew what gaps to fill in with whatever they were bringing.

(Because, yes, this was a potluck Friendsgiving. I'm just a control freak.)

Make sacrifices. You don't need to make everything from scratch.

I made three sacrifices for Friendsgiving, and one of them really hurt my soul, but I am really thankful that I did what I did for all three.

1) I was not going to make a turkey from scratch or dare to mess with a full turkey. 

Instead, we ordered a turkey breast from Honey Baked Ham and picked it up on the day of Friendsgiving. It was stress free and delicious. And I was not ready to learn how to make a turkey. I also don't have enough oven space!

2) I had planned to make stuffing from scratch. But then I saw that Trader Joe's had a stuffing mix in the store.

Sold! I do not like stuffing so I wasn't going to have it on the table, but Patrick does like stuffing so I didn't want to leave it out. I used the box mix and wasn't thrilled with how it turned out, but it was eaten and satisfied anyone's craving for stuffing, but I didn't have to kill myself prepping all of the fresh herbs and produce to get it ready. I also didn't have to make breadcrumbs from scratch, which I almost did. No thank you.

3) I did not make any desserts and instead bought some cookies from Trader Joe's.

And then, because I didn't make any desserts, our friends filled in my gaps and brought pies! It all worked out and the pies were, of course, delicious. I love making pumpkin pie but hey – it was one less thing for me to do.

Make your grocery list in a spreadsheet.

I knew I was going to have to go to at least three grocery stores (I ended up at four – damn you, Fresh Market, for your lack of asiago cheddar!) This was one of the best event management things I picked up from Andrea, who does make this intense of a grocery list when she's making a huge meal like Thanksgiving – it is so useful.

This was especially useful if you know you're going to have to hit multiple stores to get what you need. I couldn't make a specific list for each store because you never know when Fresh Market isn't going to have the cheese you need, so I organized it by category – basically organized by how stores are laid out! – and went from there. 

We also did our regular grocery shopping, so the list was super helpful to not miss a thing, and I had plenty of room to add things when I thought about it. Which was constant. I looked like a total dweeb with my clipboard and markers in the grocery aisle but hey. It worked.

Print your recipes out.

*clapping emoji x 100*

This was helpful for about 20 reasons, but here are a few: 

1) I like to annotate things and cross things off as I complete them.
2) I doubled a lot of recipes and therefore needed to adjust the totals.
3) I was making multiple things at once, and it would've been impossible to be switching back and forth between things on my laptop.
4) I also just didn't have the counter space for a laptop.
5) My hands were always covered in something gross, so not phone or iPad friendly, either.
6) I recruited a few of our guests at the end to help with some things and was able to just hand them a sheet of paper and let them go. 

Make a schedule in Google Sheets and print that out, too.

Jokes were made about my schedule, but damn if I didn't get dinner on the table by 3:40 p.m., only 10 minutes past my scheduled time – and my first Thanksgiving dinner ever, too. I am nothing if not hyper organized. 

On the morning of, I added a few more things to my schedule – that I needed to boil macaroni for the mac and cheese at 2 p.m., that Theo needed to go out at 2:15 p.m., etc. The schedule was pretty much mandatory to make sure I was on track. 

Do all the prep you can the night before, or earlier if possible.

With my printed out recipes, I was able to identify all of the produce that I needed to wash and cut the night before. I also am a big fan of recipes that can be made ahead of time, so I made both appetizers – the salsa and the pepperoni pinwheels – the night before so they were ready to go at 2:30 p.m. I could not have served hot appetizers! It wouldn't have worked. So I guess that was a "sacrifice" too, but the salsa and the pinwheels are my go-tos.

All of the produce was washed and ready for me to start cooking on Sunday morning. I also made sure all of my ingredients were laid out – measured out, too, if I could – and that my toppings for the baked potatoes were chopped up and ready.

The recipes I used:

• Pepperoni and asiago pinwheels

• Italian salsa

• Cranberry pineapple punch

• Rosemary ricotta crescent rolls

• Macaroni and cheese bites (PSA: these did not turn out well for us. tasted great, did not retain their cup shape!)

• Hasselback potatoes

• Cajun corn

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Have you ever hosted Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving at your house? How did it go?

Leave a Comment organization, recipes, thanksgiving

how to pack a carryon like a pro (and never have to check your bag again!)

I travel a lot for work and even though I've been home for the most part over the last two months, I am on a work trip right now and September will be a busy travel month for me as well. My first two or three trips, I was definitely still mastering the art of packing a carryon for a short work trip, but now I consider myself a pro. I'm getting pretty close to Gold Status with American Airlines, too! #perks

For the most part, I don't fly anywhere for longer than four or five days, but I've gotten packing my carryon down, to the point where I can pack a week's worth of clothes in just half the suitcase. In fact, my carryon suitcase (Patrick got it for me for Christmas) is substantially smaller than most people I fly with, but I can assure you that I've got just as much stuff if not more packed in mine that I will actually use on a trip. Here are my tips for packing like a pro.

Roll your clothes, never fold them flat.

I have been rolling my clothes for years when I pack, whether it's in a suitcase or in boxes when I've been moving. The main complaint about rolling your clothes is that your clothes will wrinkle. Well, listen: They won't, not really. Unless all of your clothes are made from the most wrinkle-prone fabric on the market – and if that's the case, what the heck is wrong with you? – you should have no issues. When I get in to my destination, I open up my carryon and pull out any dresses, skirts or blouses to hang up in the hotel closet, and everything is just fine.

If you travel often, invest in clothes specifically for your travels.

If flying on an airplane is just a once-in-a-great-while thing for you, this won't be as crucial, but if you're hopping on a plane once a month or more than that, look for clothes that don't wrinkle and things that are very versatile. When you're shopping, envision what you already have in your closet and how what you're picking up will pair with those things. Avoid fragile or stiff fabrics that would wrinkle in your carryon, and go for polyester, spandex and cotton blends. 

Don't bring more than one of things like jackets, shoes, etc. unless you have to.

When Pat and I went to San Francisco in May after we graduated last year, I brought multiple jackets. I told myself, "You'll wear multiple different outfits, so you'll need different jackets!" We ended up checking two bags for that trip and paying a lot for checked bag fees. (I'm sure my jackets weren't the only reason, but hey.) Similarly, Pat often traveled with both his black and his brown dress shoes. My new rule once I started traveling: I don't bring duplicates of things. I bring one pair of heels and one pair of flats or boots; I bring one cardigan that goes with all of my outfits; I bring one jacket that goes with all of my outfits. 

Wear or carry your heaviest items.

I always wear my booties or heels (I promise I have a comfortable pair) on the plane and carry my jacket or cardigan with me, to minimize the weight in my carryon. You can use the cardigan as a blanket or a pillow on the flight, and shoes honestly take up way too much room in a carryon. Maximize your space! 

Use packing cubes and pouches to organize.

I don't use packing cubes for everything in my suitcase unless I'm packing for a longer-term trip, but I do use cubes and other pouches for my unmentionables, my toiletries, jewelry, etc. I use pouches in my personal item (aka my purse) too – to hold snacks, pens, electrical cords, all of that. The cubes keep your carryon tidy and help compress things in your suitcase, and when you get to your final location, everything doesn't explode everywhere. Win-win.

Put your shoes and bulky items at the bottom, fill in the spaces with smaller items.

I really try to make use of as much space in my carryon as possible. Most carryons have a side that is completely or mostly flat, and then a side that has grooves from the handles (or in my carryon's case, the battery pack for charging devices). I tuck my lightest clothes into the grooves (thin blouses, cardigans, t-shirts for sleeping, leggings) and then stack heavier clothes like pants or cardigans on top of those. On the flat side, I put my shoes on the bottom towards the wheels, and then my toiletries and flat iron above it, closer to the handle. You want your suitcase to be balanced, and it's easier to tuck smaller items into the spaces around your shoes and other heavy or bulky things.

Have a usable but not outrageously large tote bag or backpack for your personal item.

I made this amateur mistake the first time I traveled for work – I flew with my Stella & Dot Getaway bag. Now, the getaway bag is amazing, and I love using it for weekend trips where I'm not flying, because it's a more stylish duffel bag. But it was a terrible personal item, especially because I was also using it as my bag for work during that week. You want something small enough to stash under the seat but still have leg room, but large enough and structured enough that you can organize your items without losing your mind. My Getaway bag – and again, I love using it for lots of trips – was too big for me to put my legs under the seat and was huge and difficult to lug around to the newsroom and to dinner afterward. But it also had very few pockets and lacked structure if it wasn't full. Look for a bag that stands up on its own, has a zipper and has some pockets inside and outside. If you're a backpack girl – and I am certainly not one – look for one that isn't too tall to fit under the seat without cutting out all of your leg room. I am passionate about my leg room. 

Avoid full sizes of every toiletry – have reusable bottles or sample sizes. 

It's totally wasteful to have a full size of every toiletry and a sample size, but when Nordstrom or ULTA has samples or a free gift, take advantage of that. Most of the time these days, samples come in actual bottles and tubes, not those stupid packets, but if you can't find a sample size of your favorite product, you can buy affordable reusable bottles or containers, too. Even if the full size of your toiletries are below the cutoff for TSA, don't bring them. You don't need all 2.7 ounces of your foundation for a four-day trip! 

These items are always on my packing list:

• Lightweight blouses that don't wrinkle and don't require layering underneath or overtop.

• Leggings, lightweight dress pants or lightweight skirts – if I bring jeans or heavier dress pants, I wear them.

• One extra outfit than I need – you never know, but I don't go overboard.

• One sweater or cardigan, which I wear on the plane as a blanket/pillow.

• Unmentionables, packed neatly in one travel cube and compressed. 

• Two pairs of shoes, one pair of nice heels or fancy flats and one pair of more comfortable flats in case my feet hurt.

• Basic toiletries – deodorant, toothpaste, tooth brush, makeup removal wipes, body wash, razor, dry shampoo. I don't bring shampoo and conditioner unless I will be gone for four-plus days – I only wash my hair two to three times a week anyway because it's so thick. 

• Curling iron or straightener – depending on my mood, I sometimes go curly and other times go straight. I always bring one or the other in case I wash my hair or it rains on me and I go frizzy.

• Two to three books, even though most people will tell you never to bring hardback books while you travel. I'm not perfect, and I do almost always finish them.

• Snacks, because you will get hungry in your hotel room at 9 p.m. after a smaller-than-you-expected dinner, or you will miss breakfast because you slept in, or you will get hangry on your flight. 

• A water bottle, because I can live through hangry-on-a-flight but cannot live through being thirsty. 

• A notebook and plenty of pens/markers/sticky notes, because I always feel inspired on a plane and want to write down all of my hopes and dreams and my many, many, many to do lists. I also have to take a fair amount of notes during our newsroom visits, and I can never be without my pens.

• My iPad, laptop, phone and Apple Watch, and all necessary chargers, because duh.

And that's about it. I will bring an inflatable neck pillow if I have a late flight or a redeye to look forward to, but I really do keep my packing minimal whenever I can. I've never been a minimalist kind of girl, but traveling two to three times a month teaches you a lot about packing light. The first time I flew to Sacramento and had a stuffed suitcase, a huge personal item (my Stella and Dot overnight bag, eep!) and both of my laptops. I thought I wouldn't survive.

If you enjoyed this post, consider sharing it on Pinterest!

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What are your packing tips? Did I miss anything?

Leave a Comment organization, traveling

how I'm managing my to do list (+ a free printable!)

I have been on a mission to find the perfect planner/to do list/brain dump/task manager/note-taking system solution for all of my organization and productivity needs, but I haven't been able to find the right thing. I am still thinking about the white marble Midyear Day Designer and I've been working in a Moleskine cahier for a bullet journal over the last couple of weeks, but nothing was quite right for me.

When I lived at home and was juggling so many tasks, I actually typed up a to do list every morning and categorized it in my usual way [you can read more about my Trello system here] and absolutely loved that. I had room to add in additional tasks, it was a very visible way to see what I had already done and I became far better at completing tasks that absolutely had to get done before I moved on to fun tasks that I'd rather be doing.

I stopped doing that when I moved in with Patrick because my computer wouldn't connect to his printer. I do love my Trello system and it works great for me, but I like to have a visual piece of paper with my to do list written down on it. At the same time, I also wanted to be able to block out time for tasks and meetings, so I could visually see my tasks on my schedule and make time for everything.

If it's not clear to you, I am very particular. I wanted a very specific kind of page, and every other option I've tried or researched wasn't quite right. The Day Designer was too big and didn't allow me to categorize my tasks in Must Do, Should Do and Would Be Nice. (You know, my frogs.) I can't have anything that will weigh down my carryon. Mainstream planners like the Ban.do and the Lilly Pulitzer day planners didn't have room for my expansive to do lists, just a few priority tasks and events. I was making it work in my Moleskine, but I didn't want to invest in a larger Leuchtterm or hardback Moleskine and I was tired of redrawing the same things over and over again.

Here's what I needed and wanted in a to do list:
• Enough room to write with whatever pen or marker I choose (I can write rather big if I'm using a Crayola Supertip or a Papermate Flair pen, and some planners/notebooks are too tight for that!)
• The option to categorize my tasks the way I prefer
• Space to block out time and keep track of my appointments on my to do list, on the same sheet of paper as the to do list
• The freedom to skip a day and not lug all of the previous days around with me

In the end, I had one option: I had to make my own. And voila.

[Want to try out my to do list system? Download a free PDF version here!]

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How do you manage your tasks? Are you as picky as I am? (It's OK if you aren't – I am definitely special in that regard!

Leave a Comment organization, productivity

10 smart packing tips to make moving a breeze

I was going to post a little bit about unpacking but realized if you pack well, it makes unpacking a lot easier! Maybe I'll write more on unpacking tomorrow.

Don't bring anything into your new home that you don't want, need or use. 

I wrote about decluttering last week on the blog – here are 5 things you can throw out right now – and I encourage anyone going through a move to take the time to declutter every area of their life. Some people swear by the konmarie method, and I like some of the techniques: Throw out everything that doesn't bring you joy. Turn decluttering into a one-day event, not an activity you take a little bite out of every day. 

Basically, you need to leave your apartment/home/dorm with the same amount of stuff or less stuff than you came with (unless you came with absolutely nothing), and don't bring something with you to a new home with the thought, "Oh, I'll just get rid of it when I get there." No, you won't. You'll stuff it in a closet and forget to deal with it until the next time you move.

Be clear with the members of your household on who will "get" what room and whose things will go where.

I think Pat was going to kill me, but it is really important to decide where things will go before you move. Don't start arguing about who gets what room when you get there – decide now! I asked every apartment complex we looked at for a floorplan, and then when we decided on our current complex, I sat down with Patrick and decided whose dresser would go where (my dresser and clothes go in the master bedroom and master closet, which has more hanging space, and the gentleman's chest and Patrick's clothes go in the guest bedroom and guest closet, which has more shelving). 

I also decided whose decor would go where – Pat's sports things will go in the dining room, the living room and bedroom will be neutral, and my decor will go in the guest room, which is my office. 

I don't know how Pat hasn't killed me yet.

Pack by room and item.

It's really easy to start packing up anything you aren't using into one box, but I recommend organizing your items by room and item, always, always, always. And when I say room, I mean room that the items will go in when you get to your new home, not where they were located when you packed them. It was superbly frustrating for me this time around when I realized that I had (stupidly) packed the books that I kept in the living room in the same box as Pat's XBox games and my office supplies. It was really impractical, and I had to carry things all across the apartment to get them where they needed to go. That makes me less likely to unpack!

We had a lot of big boxes and containers, so I combined more things together than I usually would, but I prefer medium-sized Uhaul boxes so that you can keep separate things separate.

Use reusable storage containers whenever possible.

I was hoping to use as few cardboard boxes as possible. We ended up using more than I'd like, but that's OK. They're sturdier, easier to carry and keep things a little safer if you have to keep things in storage for a while before or after you move in.

If you end up using cardboard boxes, store them if they're in OK shape. I know grabbing used boxes from a grocery store is free and easy, but Uhaul or Lowe's or Home Depot packing boxes will hold up for a couple of moves, while the boxes you get for free likely will not. Store them if you have the space for the next move, if you see yourself having another move, or list them on the Facebook Marketplace – someone else who is moving will appreciate it, and the boxes will get used again before they're tossed out.

Label everything clearly, and number your boxes, too. 

I labeled everything with a pink sticky note (that I taped onto the box). That sticky note had three things on it: 1) the room where the box should go, 2) a general summary of what was in the box and 3) a number. 

I number every single box, bag, suitcase, etc. so that I know if anything has gone missing. When I make larger scale moves, I also make a spreadsheet with a detailed description of everything in each box, by the number. That way, if I get to my new home and I desperately need Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, for whatever reason, I know where it is. This last move, I didn't need to do that, but I didn't want to lose any boxes in the shuffle.

Pack your clothes on hangers, if space permits.

If you have the space and the boxes, this just saves you five thousand hours of re-hanging clothes when you get to your new home. When we unpacked, the clothes were the easiest – I could reach in, grab the hangers and hang them right up. Uhaul even makes hanging boxes now that are total game-changers. We used them for Pat's dress clothes – no wrinkles, no damaged clothes and no hours on hours on hours of hanging everything back up.

To make this even easier for you, organize the clothes you pack by who they belong to, season and style, and then label the boxes accordingly. That way, when you need a shirt for work, you aren't digging through winter coats to find one. 

A friend of mine, Samantha, wrapped her clothes on the hangers in garbage bags – she was moving just across town – and when she unpacked them, she could reuse the garbage bags for the thousands of pounds of moving trash. Smart and thrifty! 

Have a "go box" of things you'll need right away in your new home.

This should include a set of clothes or two, first aid kit, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, towels and washcloths for the shower, toiletries, pet supplies, medicines, etc. What can you not live without on your first night in your new home, if you are totally not in the mood to unpack? I also recommend throwing some snacks in there! What if you're too tired to grab food and you have no groceries?! 

We were foolish. We did not grab toilet paper! I got to the apartment about 8 hours before everyone else and spent those 8 hours without toilet paper! 

Avoid buying new things and bringing them with you to the new place. 

Unpack what you have and then decide what new things you need or want. The most frustrating thing is to buy something new for your new apartment and not have a place to put it or decide that it doesn't work with the room. We bought the larger furniture before we moved in, but smaller things like frames for the walls, a desk and a chair for the guest room, etc. I waited on. I'm also adamant that you shouldn't buy storage and organizational tools until you're moved in and unpack – that's how you end up with more storage than you have belongings.

Instead of figuring out how to pack baskets, suitcases, duffle bags, use them for packing.

Why pack a suitcase in a box when you can fill the suitcase with things that need packing? We have several suitcases and duffle bags that we use regularly, and I filled them all up with clothes, socks, underwear, etc. One of my carryon suitcases was full of office supplies and other things I would need in my office. If you have an item whose purpose is to carry things, use it for that. Not everything needs to be in a box! 

Load boxes from the same room together onto the truck.

When you're packing boxes, keep boxes from the same room together and make sure your movers or your boyfriend (let's be honest, you're probably not carrying many boxes yourself, because you're too busy organizing the process!) know to keep them together. If it's helpful, color code boxes so you can ensure they stay together. 

This way, when they come off the truck, it will be easier to make sure they make it to the right room and it will make the process far easier for you and the movers. 

•••

What did I miss? I am a master packer, if I do say so myself, and packed almost everything from our Charlotte apartment while Patrick was working during our last week. I almost enjoy it! Almost. Now, unpacking... that's a different story.

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5 things you can throw out right now if clutter is taking over your house

Even though Patrick and I just moved from our one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte to a two-bedroom apartment in Durham, I was adamant that less stuff needed to leave Charlotte than what came in. Both of us are terrible about hoarding things – for me, it's clothes and school supplies, and for Patrick, it's t-shirts and papers and media books from games he covers.

I read Marie Kondo's Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (CHECK?) earlier this year and use a few of her techniques, although I don't subscribe to her entire philosophy. (You'll never catch me emptying my purse every single day when I come home. Sorry kids.)

NOTE: whenever possible, PLEASE donate your gently used and still functioning items to a responsible organization. I usually donate to a thrift store in my hometown that supports women and children who are victims of domestic violence. Do your research. We also had a lot of success selling furniture on the Facebook Marketplace. Most importantly, don't throw something away that could be reused!

Clothes and accessories with holes or other major damage. 

If you've been hanging onto a shirt with a ripped seam or a pair of pants with a broken zipper and you haven't repaired anything yet, toss them. This also applies to socks with holes. You don't know how to darn a sock, I'm guessing, so toss them. You will probably never use those extra buttons, either.

Kitchen appliances and tools you've literally never used. 

My kitchenwares are very minimal because most of my stuff is still in storage, but consider each and every appliance and tool and gadget and Tupperware container you have in your cabinets. How can you minimize? If you haven't cooked with an item more than once in a year, I think that's a good barometer for sending it on its way to a new, loving home.

Clothes and accessories that you haven't worn or used in more than four seasons.

If you can't remember the last time you wore something, and it isn't very nostalgic to you, it probably can serve to go. My rule of thumb is six months, since most of my clothes aren't seasonal, but if you rotate clothes in and out for warm and cold weather, look at the length of the season – if you have a few sweaters you didn't reach for at all last year from October to March, what makes you think you'll want those sweaters this year?

Papers that you aren't ever going to look at again.

I'm looking at you, Patrick. This includes but is not limited to:

1) Magazines that you will never frame or read again. If you need or want to keep an article from a magazine, rip it out or find it online. (Why do we forget the internet exists when it comes to hoarding paper?)
2) Brochures, playbills and other items that you are keeping in a box. I know you want to keep your playbill from every Broadway show and your ticket stub from every concert you've ever seen and I am here for it. Frame them or put them in a scrapbook.
3) Manuals. If you need to figure out what is wrong with your microwave, you will Google it. I guarantee you that you will never read the instructions for putting together your IKEA bookshelf again.
4) Other papers, handouts, etc. from work, doctor's offices, puppy training that you don't need for your records. (And if you do need them for your records, scan them or put them in a file folder. Stop piling them up.)

Books that you aren't ever going to read again.

I am definitely a re-reader, but I won't re-read anything. It has to be a book that I really enjoyed or that brought about a real emotional response. So, for the most part, I donate books that I am unlikely to read again to the library. Most of the books on my shelf are books that I've never read! I do not subscribe to Marie Kondo's method of getting rid of books that you've never read – there's too much possibility there for me – but if you did read them and you doubt you will re-read them again, they can and should be easily donated. Be really critical of yourself when you do this – if you are not a re-reader and you aren't hanging onto a book for any sentimental reason, why keep it?

•••

What are your decluttering tips? Don't you feel fresh and lighter when you get rid of a big pile of things that you stopped using a year ago?

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how to organize your apartment search (without losing your cool)

If you read my post yesterday, you know that we're moving to Chapel Hill. And if you've met me or read my blog ever, you know that I am the Type A-iest of the Type As, so an apartment search is quite the undertaking for me. And nothing brings me more joy. 

So, let's talk about the game-changer in any apartment search: Apartment List. I've got a few tips for organizing your apartment search, and they all begin and end with that amazing site. If you need an apartment or rental home soon or in the future, this is where you should start.

This post is not sponsored in any way by Apartment List. I really like the site, and wanted to share my experience with the site with anyone else who will need an apartment in the future!

Step one: Make a wishlist. 

How many bedrooms do you want? What's your ideal square footage? Do you need a porch or a patio, or is that negotiable? Do you need a washer and dryer, or are you fine buying/renting your own or using a community laundry center? Townhouse, cottage, apartment, house?

We decided we wanted a two-bedroom apartment with more than 1,000 square feet. We wanted a patio or terrace, and our complex had to have a dog park and plenty of sidewalks and green areas. Our unit had to have a washer and dryer and we were pretty flexible on other things like hardwood floors versus carpet.

Step Two: Set your budget.

This is crucial. How much are you willing and/or able to spend on the place you're going to rent? Factor in your usual expenses, the cost of living in your new town and utilities.

Apartment List manages this in two ways that makes it super helpful – 1) it asks you what your budget is and 2) it asks you what your annual income is, so it can calculate the units you can actually qualify for. (Most complexes require that you make 3 times the rent each month, sometimes more than that.)

Step Three: Find apartments that have everything you want and fit into the budget that you've set for yourself.

There are a lot of ways you can do this – check a site like Apartment Guide or Zillow and narrow down what you want, plugging everything into a spreadsheet; look on Google Maps in your desired area and find complexes in the neighborhoods you're looking for; or by using Apartment List to find apartments that match your preferences and needs and package them up for you to look through.

Know what you're willing to make an exception for – will you pay an extra $100 over your budget to have a much shorter commute? Are you willing to sacrifice hardwood floors for a fenced in yard? 

Step Four: Make your shortlist. Narrow down to 5-10 apartments you want to tour.

You're going to end up with hundreds of apartments that fit into your budget, more than likely. Narrowing that down by all of your needs and wants, you want to make sure you have five to ten complexes you could actually see yourself living in.

Again, I used Apartment List to narrow down all of our choices to our shortlist. We had four units we decided to tour – we wanted to tour five but one never returned our calls – because that was all we could fit in the one day we had. If you're moving somewhere from out of town, you'll likely be in the same boat; if you're moving down the street, you'll have a little more flexibility to see more units.

We tried to be really picky. If we weren't absolutely sure that we might want to live at the complex, it didn't make the cut. Like I said, we had five great places on our list that we felt were right for us.

Step Five: Write down the questions you need to ask at each unit.

You will not remember when you get to the complex to ask if they do have 24-hour emergency maintenance, but you will regret it when your ceiling starts leaking at 4 a.m. and you have to wait until the maintenance guy is awake in five hours.

Some examples of questions we made sure to ask if they weren't answered for us already...
• Do you have a maintenance staff member living on site for 24-hour emergency maintenance?
• What is your pet fee and pet rent? Do you have a dog park? Do you have dog friendly events?
• What is the parking situation like? Are there enough spots for residents and guests?
• Do you have garages that can be rented?
• Do you have storage available for rent?
• Have you ever heard complaints about noise or thin walls?
• Do you offer valet trash? If not, where is the nearest dumpster?

Step Six: Ask for floor plans and dimensions. And everything else they have.

When you tour an apartment, especially if you like it, ask for every single piece of paper they have. List of amenities? Yes. Floor plans of the unit you're looking at? Oh, definitely. Dimensions? Hand it over. Any other promotional materials or packets that a potential resident may want to look over? It will all come in handy when you make your pro/con list, friends.

Step Seven: Analyze your remaining options and break down what's most important to you and how those options deliver on those needs/wants.

We wrote down the 15 most important things to us – distance to the Dean Dome, distance to the airport, convenience (is it near a grocery store? Is the stoplight slow to change?), dog park, etc. – and scored each of our final three options in each category. (One of our four complexes took itself out of the running when the leasing agent candidly told me about the residents being pretty rowdy partiers and trashing the pool every weekend. Pass.)

Who gets the highest score? That's probably – probably – your best option. However...

Step Eight: Sleep on it.

This was crucial for me and Pat. We came up with our winner, but the second place complex was only a few points behind, even though they'd gotten a 0 in one category. So, it was tough. It came down to the commute and the value; the unit we decided on was closer to the Dean Dome, although further from the airport, and it was far more bang for our buck, with a screened-in porch for little Theo to frolic around on.

•••

We are so excited to have made this huge decision! What about you? How did your first apartment search go? If you haven't taken this big adult moment on yet, what are you worried about?

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my four favorite pens (and markers) for any occasion

I love office supplies, but there's a special place in my heart for pens. I'm the girl who gets more excited about Papermate Flairs being on sale for Prime Day than anything in the clothing department. I consider myself a pen expert, because I write a lot by hand – in my planner, in my bullet journal, on sticky notes, on the backs of pieces of paper that are probably important. I just love handwriting and have always been very passionate about pens!

Below are my four favorite pens (well, one is a marker) that I love to use pretty much any time. I also have some honorable mentions that are pretty good! 

Note: I haven't tried a lot of the really popular bullet journaling pens, markers and highlighters – like Midliners or Stabilo fineliners. These are my favorites out of what I have tried. 

Oh, and hey, this post contains affiliate links! If you click or make a purchase, I'll make a little money off of it. Clickety click! 

Staedtler Fineliners | I bought a huge pack of these during senior year when I first thought about bullet journaling. I never actually committed to the meticulous note-taking, but I liked these for drawing lines, adding small elements to my planner or notebook and for writing in cramped spaces, like the grid in my Moleskine Cahier notebooks. I do not write a lot with these, unless I am trying to write very small, because I don't like how the nib writes with my handwriting. I do love the shape of the pen and the colors available!

TUL retractable gel pens | I wasn't sold on these pens but my mom swears by them, so I picked one up and fell in love. I really love the white and gold version, but they appear to be sold out, so I linked to the plain old black and grey pens. They write so smooth, last forever and don't ghost onto the pages of my Moleskine. These are my go-to pens for pretty much anything.

Papermate Flair | I have so many of these, it is actually crazy. They were on an amazing sale on Prime Day but I have so many, I didn't need to make my habit any worse. These pens are great. I love all the colors and they are great for handlettering, regular writing and note-taking and pretty much anything else you could need them for. I have been using Flairs for longer than any other pen. They are my Number One. My ride or die pen!

Crayola Supertips | This is a new-found love, but these markers are awesome for pretty much everything! I prefer to write in black ink but like little pops of color – these are great and so affordable! My Staedtler Fineliners are a little light and so thin that they don't really provide a great pop, but the Supertips are perfect. AND you can get 100 markers for $18. I got a 20-pack for only $5 and change. It's a great deal, and if they dry up or I lose one, I won't feel terribly guilty. (Like I do with some of my other pens!

My honorable mentions...
• Pilot G2 retractable gel pens. These pens got me through high school! I had the best notes in AP Chemistry and it was because of these pens.
• BIC Cristal pens. These are great for basic pen needs and they last forever. I loved them when I was a waitress and still use them now!

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how i use trello to manage my tasks

I told everyone that I would post about my Trello system soon enough! 

Somewhere along the way, I heard some really great advice about eating that frog. It came from a book or something, I'm sure, but a Lularoe consultant was giving a training session on time management and she brought it up then. Does anyone know what book I'm talking about? Please share, if you do.

Anyway, Eating That Frog. That's what I call my to do list – because the advice was, eat the biggest frogs first. Do the things you absolutely must do and the things that will take the most time and be the most awful first. Start your day eating the frog, and then everything else will be a chocolate bar. 

The other advice was to divide all of your tasks into categories A through E.

A = must do. You cannot walk away from your day if this does not get done.

B = should do. It's really important that this task gets completed today.

C = would be nice. You can live without this task getting done today, maybe ever, but it's something you'd like to accomplish.

D = delegate. This is not a task you need to do! Delegate it to someone else, whether that means paying someone to clean your house or asking your boyfriend to wash the dishes. If it's a task like sharing your latest blog post on Facebook, switch to a tool like IFTTT or CrowdFire to do those sorts of things for you.

E = remove this from your list. If you've got something on your list that has no real purpose, does not benefit you, your family, your life or your career in any way and does not further your goals, then it is not a task that you need on your list. Get rid of it!

And so, that's what I set out to do. At first, I was typing my list up every day and organizing it into Must Do, Should Do and Would Be Nice categories. I'd print it out and put it on a clipboard and cross things out as I went. (I determined the tasks that did not need to be done and that needed to be delegated as I was typing up the list.)

I felt no one needed to see my actual Trello board. It's a hot mess and I'm embarrassed how many tasks are past their deadline.

Then I discovered Trello when my boss created a Trello board for our team, so we could manage our tasks and keep up with each other. And I was suddenly in love. My best friend tried to get me to use Trello back in our student newspaper days, but I just didn't ever look at it or try to figure it out. It probably would've been great for me then, but I was so overwhelmed with other stuff I never really figured it out.

But now... oh, it's a life changer. Here's my strategy + routine for managing my to do list with Trello.

First thing in the morning, I do a "brain dump" into Trello. 

I add every task I can think of to the Would Be Nice section – from emails I know I need to answer to projects I need to start to errands I need to run around the house to meetings or phone calls on my calendar. I do not separate work from personal. I don't clear Trello out from day to day, so there may already be a lot of tasks in there that I need to accomplish. I try not to repeat myself but it's an easy fix.

Now I go through each task and assign it a label (or multiple) and a due date.

My labels are above. I use every label color that Trello has for a different part of my life. I use this to filter Trello to be what I need to work on in that moment and also so I can easily see what to prioritize – if I'm working, I know to prioritize work tasks, and if it's a weekend, I know that I need to finish Lularoe work and catch up on blog content and reading. I also use the bottom labels, mostly when I'm really busy, to fill small blocks of time.

I also assign a due date to every task because I want to put some pressure on myself to accomplish my tasks. If I don't have a due date in mind or a pressing deadline, I usually will just aim to accomplish a task within the next 7-10 days. That's a good sign for me that this is a task that Would Be Nice to get finished. 

Now I organize my tasks by priority.

I try to cap my Must Do and Should Do lists at 5 each on my busiest days. When I'm not trying to finish a lot of tasks and am traveling or training, I let all the lists get pretty long, but when I'm at home and trying to tear through my to do list, I start with 5 in both categories. It keeps me focused and it's SUCH a relief when the Must Do category is empty! Then I transition over all the Should Dos and move Would Be Nice tasks over as well. 

How do I decide?

I take into account when the task needs to be done, how long I've known about it and what part of my life it fits into, along with how easily or difficult it will be to get done. Most of the time, this is easy, and in the mornings, my Must Do is usually five emails to answer or send, before I dig into the meat of my to do list. If I know that I have two hours to get work done before I have a chunk of meetings, then I will prioritize five tasks that I can get done all within 2 hours. 

What next? 

If it wasn't clear how much I love Trello already, I love it more because it's so easy to make it work for me. I use Trello to plan Lularoe social media and my blog editorial calendar. Here are a few other great things about Trello, specifically the plugins.

• I love the Calendar plugin! If I give every task a deadline and switch to the Calendar, it will show me all of my tasks on a calendar view. It's crazy helpful for my editorial calendar and social media calendar for Lularoe!

• For my main Trello, I use the Google Drive plugin. This allows me to attach documents, sheets and slides to my Trello cards, so I can navigate everything from inside Trello. 

• I love filtering by label and/or deadline. If I want to only work on things that are due today, I can filter the deadline down to only things due today. If I want to only accomplish some personal errands because I'm on vacation or it's the weekend, I can filter down to only show personal labeled tasks. A lifesaver! 

Do you use Trello? If not, what is your organizational tool of choice? How do you keep up with your to do list?

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5 things to do every day to live an organized life

I don't consider myself the most organized person on the planet, but I know I feel a lot better and get a lot more done when I have everything in order, at least for the most part. When I was in college, I was obsessed with keeping everything I did in perfect straight lines. Since then, I've calmed down quite a lot – possibly just because I have a little bit more free time than I did back then and I can control what comes onto my plate a little bit more than I could control homework and, you know, news.



• Take time every morning and every evening to prepare.

I'm better at this when I am traveling than when I'm working at home – it's hard to pull out my planner or bullet journal around Theo, because, well, he eats books – but I think it's so crucial to make time in the morning and the evening to see what is actually happening in your life. I start my day, every day, by navigating my Trello board for my to do list and blocking out time for tasks in my bullet journal. (I'll talk more about my Trello system later.) And then in the evening, I clean up my to do list, getting rid of things I've completed, adding things that I know will be important tomorrow and archiving or postponing things that I decided weren't a priority.

• Make time to tidy up after yourself every day.

Patrick would say I don't do this, of course, but I try to take 15 minutes in the evening to clean up after myself. There are certain spots that I keep messy – for example, we have a sectional couch, and the couch cushion in the corner is where I hoard snacks and books and jewelry I've discarded, much to Theo's joy – but I try to throw Theo's toys in his toy box, throw out any trash that might've collected on the kitchen island and put my shoes away. It's the little things!

• Make a to do list every single day.

Seriously. Every day. I mean it. Make a to do list! You don't have to use a bullet journal system like I do – it's not for everyone – but whether you have a designated notebook, a magnetic notepad on your fridge, your iPhone reminders, a Trello board or a napkin, knowing what your tasks are and your goals are can make and break a day for anyone. In college, I would just add tasks straight to my Google Calendar, blocking out the time it would take to get them done, and I'd move them around to fit my schedule.

• Keep a planner or a digital calendar fully updated.

Much like the importance of writing down what you have to do, you should be keeping track of where you need to be and things you need to remember, every single day. I have tried and failed to keep a planner going, but I meticulously update my Google Calendar every time something needs to be added to my schedule. Google Calendar is my recommendation, but I love paper planners, too, so no judgment here. I love Google Calendar because I can add Patrick to events like Theo's vet appointments or puppy school classes, and I can schedule meetings with coworkers this way, too – by seeing when they have openings on their calendar.

• If something comes across your desk and it will take less than 5 minutes to deal with it, deal with it then.

Especially if your work involves a lot of emails, don't let things sit. My advice on this is a little different than most, who recommend you don't let yourself become consumed by your email inbox, but some days, my team can get a lot of questions or requests in our inboxes. They pile up fast. At some point, I'll post about my Eat That Frog system that I use to keep me on top of my tasks, but here's my basic strategy: If I can answer an email or a message in less than 5 minutes, unless I'm working on a tight deadline, I will answer it. If it's going to take some time or require me to do some more work, I add it to that handy to do list of mine.

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how to travel like a pro (when you're type a)

I travel quite a bit for work and am also Type A, so airports, security lines and boarding my plane all bring on a special kind of anxiety that leaves me queasy and shaky, no matter what. For the first trip or two and for most of the other flights I've taken over the last couple of years, I've felt pretty much the same. But because I am Type A, I know if I plan ahead and prepare for everything, I'll make it through the trip with my sanity intact.

So, I wanted to share the tips that keep my head on straight and make flying a little easier when you want to be in control of your own circumstances all the time – and, obviously, cannot.



Get to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

This is the No. 1 recommendation I have for you if you have any sort of travel anxiety. Once I get out of the security line and to my terminal, I am totally fine. But I am always convinced that I don't have enough time. I combat this by making sure that I have at least two hours to get through security, get Starbucks, find my gate, etc.

If you have a layover, check a map of the airport you'll be landing in beforehand.

Please, tell me I'm not the only one who always has a panic attack on the plane every time I have a layover ahead of me? Especially if it's a short one. I always assume I'm going to miss my connecting flight, get lost, not going to be able to find a bathroom... all of the above. I check the map of the connecting airport before I fly so I know where I'm (probably) going to deplane and where my next flight departs. Most airports have restaurants and other things on the map, too, so I can plot my meal or bathroom break if time allows.

And, if you have the option, don't book a flight with a layover of less than an hour. 

For my flight today, for example, I could either have a 3 hour layover or a 50-minute layover in the Phoenix airport. I know most of you are thinking, "Wait, what? 50 minutes, please." But yes, I would rather wait in an airport for 3 hours as opposed to run to my connecting flight and possibly miss it and have to wait those 3 hours – or longer – for the next flight. And if you, too, would spend the entire 4 hour flight to Phoenix panicking over whether or not you would miss your connection, then I recommend doing the same.

Download your airline's app on your phone and add your boarding passes to Wallet. 

You don't know how much better I feel when I have my boarding passes on my phone, not printed out on paper. I never have the stomach in throat reaction that I've lost my boarding pass (as if I couldn't just get another one), because losing my phone is a lot less likely. I also love the American app – surprisingly enough. It allows me to keep an eye on flight changes and I can upgrade my seat, check in for my flight and anything else from the app. It came in a ton of handy on my last flight, which got delayed by about an hour; they didn't update the screens and only said the new departure time once over the speaker! But the app updated right away and tells you how long until boarding, so I could keep an eye on my flight until my computer was charged enough to leave the outlet I'd found.

If your airport is big enough, it will have multiple security checkpoints – find the one farthest from the entrance!

This is so so so important. It's not a secret, but no one seems to know about Checkpoint E in the Charlotte airport. I was worried it wouldn't be open this morning when I came through but it was! Not every airport has multiple security checkpoints, but if you're traveling to an airport that does, I guarantee you that the farthest one from the entrance will have the shortest line. Once I get through security, I feel a lot calmer, and knowing there aren't 90 people behind me waiting to also take off their shoes keeps security from being the absolute worst.

Organize your bag so if TSA has to search it, your heart doesn't explode and your stuff doesn't, either.

This happened today! But because I keep my bag so neatly organized, everything tucked into its own pouch, it was no big deal. Did you know you should be taking books and snacks out of your carryon bags? I didn't either, but it's a new thing that some airports are doing. Charlotte just flags bags and swipes your snacks down. I don't mind because, hey, I'm always plenty early for my flight. But it would stress me out if I had to reorganize my bag or if I misplaced or lost something because it had to get searched at the security checkpoint! I use cute little pouches I picked up from ThirtyOne and Charming Charlie for snacks, phone chargers, pens, bandaids and other first aid supplies, etc.

Happy travels! What are your travel-like-a-pro travel tips?

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