Organizing: Travel Toiletries

We travel a lot for work & essentially live out of a suitcase for a good part of the year...and, as a result of staying in so many hotels we have accumulated a nice collection of mini shampoos, conditioners, soaps, body washes, & other random travel items.  We originally stored all these goodies in a clear plastic bin, however, it started to overflow & became a hassle to dig through.

So...I organized all the travel items into several categories:

• shampoo & conditioner
• lotion
• soap & body/face wash
• deodorant
• Q-tips & Kleenex
• sunscreen
• eye care (extra contacts, solution, case)
• dental (toothpaste, tooth brushes, floss, mouthwash)
• razors & shaving cream
• hair products (hairspray & gel)

Then, I picked up a clear over-the-door shoe organizer from Garden Ridge & sorted all the toiletries accordingly.  

We keep all of our suitcases, bags, & backpacks in our guest bedroom closet -  so I hung the organizer on the inside of the closet door:

So now, we can easily grab & pack what we need from our nice little "travel center".

This has made packing & unpacking so much easier for us.  Originally, we would just pack all of our toiletries straight from our bathroom - however, we found it was easier to just have two sets of everything in the end.

This might seem excessive for folks who don't travel that much, but a collection of mini toiletries is also great for guests.  It's convenient to have a nice array of items for any family or friends who may forget something.

Another bonus is that we are utilizing an area of our guest bedroom that would otherwise go unused & we don't have to use up valuable space in our own bathroom.  It's a win-win!

Mel

:)