Do Your Styles Take a Vacation When You Do?

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When you go on vacation, where do you put your stuff? Do you unpack or live out of a suitcase? Do all of your organizational plans go out the window, or are you better organized when you're away than you are at home? Do you drop and run? Cram and jam? Put things in a "safe" place?

I've written often about the importance of finding the right location for things. In fact, I'm such a firm believer in this that I try to put this into practice even when I'm on vacation. This is made much easier when we visit the same place each year (the same condo complex at the beach, the same hotel when we visit my daughter), but it works wherever you go.

I'm not suggesting that you have to move in when you're only away for the weekend -- simply finding the drop spot that works for important items (cell phone and keys, for example) and using it every time avoids those last-minute panicked moments when you're in a hurry to get to your next destination.

Packing patterns can help, too, even when it's as basic as using the compartments in a suitcase to store the same items every time. When we're going away for more than a day trip, I use the same bag for the same things each time so I know where to look.

Ironically, as I write this, I have yet to find two things I packed when we left the beach. One was a new purchase, so it had no assigned home. The other (my Fitbit charger) got tossed into an available spot that made sense when we left (an I know I put it somewhere habit I don't usually fall prey to); I have yet to determine what that space was. I'm sure it will turn up, but, had I put it in its assigned spot, I'd have found it (and used it to rescue my poor, uncharged Fitbit) by now.

Location, location, location.