#overpacking

#overpacking

"If it were up to me, I'd take everything I own on the plane. Admittedly, I am an over-packer," she told T+L. "It's also just being a stylist for my whole adult life, you know? All I ever think of is having options and not having the thing you want or not having the thing you need. But when I'm packing for clients or friends, I'm very strategic, and when I'm packing for myself, I'm not strategic at all."

I am not proud of it, but on a recent three day trip, I used an entire packing cube on 13 pairs of underwear. To no one's surprise, I used merely a third of what I packed. I'm hardly the only person to do this-on TikTok, there are dozens of videos discussing the very common phenomenon of overpacking underwear. The reason we do this-pack underwear as if we may never come home again or encounter a department store-is to make ourselves feel prepared for our journey.

I'm what you would call a chronic overpacker. In fact, up until about two months ago, you might have thought I didn't know the meaning (or existence) of carry-on luggage. My Away suitcase was checked ahead of every flight, even if said trip was a quick 24-hour stint. Trust me, I found a way to fill it. My over-packing problem, though, is the very reason I found myself in Target's travel section on the hunt for a relatively inexpensive carry-on.