26 WEIRDEST Packing Hacks & Tips You'll Regret Not Trying Sooner

Today's video is going to cover 26 truly weird packing hacks that surprisingly do work. Now, in case you're new here, which of course you are, because this is a brand new channel. Hi, I'm Christina from HappyToWander.com and this channel is going to be all about packing tips that are tried and true. And I am here to be your fairy packing mother. That sounds weird. I will workshop that. But my main mission here is to make packing feel less panicky and stressful and more cozy and carefree. So if that sounds like your vibe, be sure to like and subscribe and also introduce yourself in the comments. Because again, this is the first video on this brand new channel and I'm feeling a little bit lonely. Now, if you've met me before, you'll know I am pretty intense about planning and packing and things like that. I have a free library of resources, including tons of free packing lists, free guidebooks. So if you stick around until the end, I will give you the password for free. So that's a little incentive to stick around. Now let's start with weird hack number one, which is to use vodka on your smelly clothes. Now, if you're looking for a very quick and easy way to get rid of smelly odors on your clothes, let's say you're traveling Europe in the summer and you don't want to do laundry. A surprising hack that actually works really well is to just spray it down with some diluted vodka. This is an old trick that's used by wardrobe people all around the world to get the musty smell out of clothes that can't be washed that often. And yes, by simply spraying your clothes with a little bit of vodka solution that actually kills the bacteria that's causing that odor and evaporates, leaving you delightfully smelling not like vodka or like the best of all worlds. And listen, I know you don't want to be that person that's taking up precious luggage space with a giant bottle of vodka or a giant spray bottle. So here is an additional tip for you. And that is rather than packing a full spray bottle, simply pack the nozzle bit, because once you have the nozzle bit, so long as you have a bottle or a cup or any kind of thing that can hold liquid, then you have a spray bottle, a DIY version that you can use for spraying vodka, spraying plants, spraying the eyes of your enemies, whatever you want to do. Next weird tip, simply buy a jacket with ginormous pockets. Now, sometimes the best packing tips are truly the simplest ones, which is why I really need to tell you this is a tip that I say on my main channel all the time. If you are packing light and your goal is to have your belongings in a very secure spot, it sounds stupid, but buy yourself a giant jacket. If you catch me on a travel day, odds are you're going to see me wearing this exact jacket. And the reason for that is simply because it has the most ginormous pockets you can imagine that can actually even fit a compressible packing cube in each pocket if I wanted to. And the giant pockets allow me to not just sneak on extra things in case I don't have room in my suitcase, but it also allows me to keep my wallet, my phone, my passport, any important things really close to me, but still easily at hand so that I'm not constantly trying to fumble through a money belt or anything like that. Now, other people use a similar principle. They buy fishing vests with tons of pockets or even special garments that are designed for this purpose. But I promise you don't need a special jacket designed for sneaking snacks into a movie theater. It's much smarter to find a jacket you actually like the style of that has big pockets. Now, another unhinged hack that really is super smart is to travel with a bunch of clothes that you intend to throw away. I get it. You want to look nice on your vacation, but if space is limited and you want to bring back some souvenirs on the way back, then a really easy way to make sure that you have room for these souvenirs is simply by throwing away what you bring with you. I personally get way too emotionally attached to my clothes to be able to do this, but if you're not and you're ready for a wardrobe refresh, do consider just packing stuff that you're not that attached to stuff that you're planning on letting go. And that way you have tons of space on the way back for bringing wine, stuffed toys, books, luxurious jams, whatever it is you like to bring back from your vacation. I am not here to judge. Now onto our next crazy tip, which is to have a full on photo shoot with your suitcase. Again, I know this sounds absolutely unhinged, but having a photo shoot with your suitcase inside and out is going to help you in a lot of different situations. Firstly, if you have photos of the contents of your suitcase, you can remember exactly what you packed and also how you packed it so that when you're on the other side, you're at the end of your vacation and you're like, how did all this fit into my suitcase in the first place? You have a visual reference of what you packed with what, what went where, and you don't have to stress starting at square one, trying to figure it all out again. And another reason is especially with external shots of your suitcase. If anything happens in transit with that bag, let's say it gets damaged, you know, it arrives off the baggage carousel and it is a sad shell of its former self. Then you at least have proof of what the suitcase looked like before the trip. And that way, if you're trying to get any compensation from the airline, you have proof of what the bag looked like just before the journey. And you are not lying. Oh, by the way, before I forget the beauty of this being a brand new channel is I want you guys to be involved. Okay. So if there are any packing hacks, you really want me to test out. If there are any bags you want me to review, if there are any topics you want me to tackle. Honestly, this comment section, I will be referring back to this constantly to get more ideas for new videos. So you should let me know what questions, what burning questions you have about packing. We are going to get so nerdy about packing here. And I am so excited to have this new space to really get niche. Now the next half that sounds weird, but actually works is to actually hide your contact information inside your suitcase. Now with luggage tags in general, I know a lot of people just write everything on the outside and leave it be, but I personally have a few ground rules that I like to go by. The first one is I wouldn't write anything on a luggage tag that I wouldn't be comfortable with a random stranger at the airport knowing. So I would stick to things like my email address and maybe just my name. And I know that all luggage tags these days come with like a little default line that asks you for your address. Don't ever write your address on a luggage tag, just because you don't want random strangers at the airport to know your home address. If someone finds your bag, they are going to try to call you or email you're getting contact. So it doesn't make sense for you to put private information like your home address on there. The other rule I go by is making sure that information isn't super easily visible. So these days I actually really like going for luggage tags that have a cover or at the very least, I like to make sure that it's always flipped over on the other side so that nobody just behind me in the check-in line can just glance over and immediately see my full name, my email address, and all that stuff. Because your girl likes her privacy. But in addition to those ground rules, something that nobody really talks about very often is that you should make sure you have contact information not just outside your bag, but also inside. And the reason for that is simple. Baggage tags can come off. So you want to make sure that if that baggage tag gets lost, then at least if someone opens the suitcase, bam, there's information on how to reach you. And this goes for your personal item as well. A lot of people don't remember to put their contact details in their backpack or their purse, but at the end of the day, better safe than sorry. Make sure you have your contact details in everything. Now, another weird tip is to give your suitcase a very thorough pat down before you start packing. This sounds creepy. I acknowledge that, but there's a very good reason for it. Most suitcases these days have these weird empty gaps where the handles kind of go through and it varies bag by bag. So make sure to give your bag a very thorough pat down so that you're Think of it like playing Tetris, but like a fun travel version. Now here's another tip that nobody is going to like. This one is to pack several weeks in advance. Oh, trust me. I know packing weeks in advance does not sound fun, but if you're packing for a long-term trip or for a trip where you're just not really sure if you're packing the right stuff, the reason I advise you do this is because then you can take your suitcase on a little trial run. So if you pack a few weeks in advance, let's say your trip is going to be two weeks. You want to see if you're able to live out of that suitcase for two weeks, then just put all that stuff in there and live your life out of that suitcase. More likely than not, you're going to find you don't need as much stuff as you thought. But of course, use your common sense. Only do this where the climate kind of matches where you live because I don't want any of you to be getting frostbite because you were testing out your Birkenstocks in the middle of winter. Thank you. At the very least though, what you can always do is prepack your toiletries and give those a trial run before your trip to see how much you need. I promise you will be so surprised by how few toiletries you actually need for a short trip. So definitely give that a try and be sure to pack your liquids upside down during your test run because that way, if the liquids are going to leak, then you're going to at least find out during this trial run rather than on the other side after you've arrived and everything in your suitcase is a gooey soapy mess. Now, another really fun, but maybe unhinged hack that would work really well for beach trips especially, is to actually pack your toiletries or other items inside a cooler bag. So what I'm talking about is using your cooler bag as you would a packing cube or something like that. And then when you get to the other side, you have a cooler bag for keeping drinks cold at the beach or maybe road trip snacks cool, whatever you need it for. So that's a really great way to kind of incorporate an item that can do double duty. Now for another unhinged hack, shower with your clothes, but probably not in the way that you're imagining. Now here's the truth, clothes get very wrinkly in your suitcase, but a very easy way to kind of get the wrinkles quickly out of your clothes is by hanging it in the bathroom when you're taking a nice hot steamy shower. That way, the steam is going to kind of relax those wrinkles. You can kind of pull on your garments to get those wrinkles out and it's a nice easy way to steam a bunch of clothes at once without having to get that dreaded hotel iron out because I don't know about you, I really can't be bothered with the hotel iron when I'm traveling. Now, if you're trying to steam a smaller item, another hack I've had really good success with is actually just taking the hotel kettle, boiling some water, and then using the steam that comes out of the kettle to smooth out the wrinkles of your garment. You will look a little bit crazy, but I promise it works. Speaking of looking crazy, another great hack is to stuff your pillow full of clothes. Now this isn't really a secret anymore. Lots of people have posted videos of themselves doing this on flights, but hey, if you're someone that tends to travel with a neck pillow, try to look for one that's got like a zipper enclosure because then you can remove that foam filling inside and replace it with a bunch of soft clothes instead. That way you can bring more clothes on board and you still have a nice comfortable pillow. But search up in advance whether or not that neck pillow is going to count towards your allowance because that would be a pretty embarrassing surprise at the gate. Now, another weird hack is to turn your shoes into drawers. I know I'm really sounding like I've lost my mind, but what I really mean by this is don't leave them as wasted space. The insides of shoes can make great extra storage space, whether you're putting in socks, little chargers, things like that, that can fit into that little, I don't know why I'm using my hands so much like this, but you know what I'm trying to say, like that those gaps that are in your shoes, you can fit a lot in there. And I know if you're like, I'm not shoving my hands into my shoes, that's gross. I hear you. A very easy way to get around this is just putting things in little plastic bags so that they're not directly touching the sweaty insides of your shoes. Another smart hack that is super weird but really works well is using your glasses cases as little emergency kits. So let's say you need like a little emergency kit for your flight. You've got some lip balm in there, maybe a few band-aids, a hair tie, whatever it is. There's a lot of little items that can fit into this, and it's just a very perfect little portable container. Or you can even turn it into a little mini first aid kit. Now, the next hack that will seem super random is to pack a dryer sheet in your suitcase. I know nobody likes to do laundry when they're traveling, and this isn't for that. This dryer sheet is simply to keep everything smelling fresh in your suitcase. So if you know that weird musty smell of clothes being in a suitcase for far too long, I know you know what I'm talking about, then having a dryer sheet is really going to help you combat that. And you know, going back to those smelly shoes from earlier, if you have those, slipping a dryer sheet in those might help get rid of that smell. Speaking of fresh feet, another weird thing to bring that nobody ever does is baby powder. Let me tell you, on my first backpacking trip to Europe, my feet were really gross. After weeks of walking in the hot summer sun in sandals, they were not in great shape. So what I found was really, really effective was using baby powder and kind of just powdering my feet absorbed the sweat smells and it just left my feet and my shoes smelling so much better. So definitely be sure to have a little baby powder or make sure to get some on the other side. Another tip that's not that crazy, but it sounds crazy to people who don't do it, is to pack your pajamas in your personal item. Now, I know your personal item is usually for things like your laptop or a piece of gum. So why are you bringing pajamas? But trust me, these days airlines are so stingy, you never know when your bag is going to get gate checked. And if it does, there is still always a small possibility that that bag is not going to make it with you to your destination. I always say, prepare for the worst case scenario. So if you're stuck on your plane, let's say that there's a delay or your bag gets lost, you want to be able to sleep in comfy pajamas. So make sure to pack your pajamas in your personal item. That way you'll be able to get a comfortable night's sleep, even if there's Or in the best case scenario, everything arrives. If you arrive at your destination late and you just want to go to bed, you don't want to unpack, then your pajamas are just waiting for you in your backpack. If you have space, I actually also recommend packing a backup outfit for similar reasons. In case your bag goes missing, then you have a change of clothes or at least a change of underwear. Another hack that sounds really crazy is to pack just two pairs of socks, but the right ones. I know this sounds gross and I know this is an extreme example, but if you're to travel light, honestly, combining the right materials with a good laundry schedule means that you can actually get away with packing two socks, two pairs of socks. I should say the point is if you're not used to minimalist travel, like honestly, you can get away with so much less than you would typically pack. So this is a great example of that. There are certain materials out there that don't need to be washed as often that are antibacterial and just really great for reuse. And one of those materials is merino wool. I really love merino wool products. I talk about them all the time, but socks in particular, I love bringing merino wool socks because you can get so many wears out of them compared to just regular socks that smell pretty gross after just one long walk. So definitely consider looking into other materials and packing fewer pairs of socks because honestly, you don't need 50 of them. Another weird hack that works surprisingly well is simply packing extra clothes in your travel companion suitcase, whether you're traveling with friends or family. Now, this is a smart thing that pretty much no one ever does, but just in case bags go missing, if you're checking bags, it's always smart to hedge your bets by kind of separating the clothes in your suitcase and in your travel companion suitcase. That way, even if one bag goes missing, at least you'll have some backup clothes. Okay, this next one sounds a little bit kidnappy, but I promise it's not as weird as it sounds. And that tip is to bring duct tape. Again, there's a good reason for it, and that's not to just shut up your enemies. Now, the reason that duct tape is great to have on a trip is simply because when something goes wrong, a lot of the time duct tape can fix it. Whether that's the sole of your shoe has split open on a hiking trail, ask me how I know this, or a giant hole has been ripped in your bag, or so many other situations. And it's always great to just have a little bit of duct tape on hand. Trust me, it can fix up so many things, and you don't have to bring a whole thing of it because that would be crazy. What you can actually do super easily is just wrap a little bit around a stick of deodorant, whatever you have at your disposal. Dry shampoo would be another good one to wrap it around. Okay, another great tip is to make sure you have a carabiner on each bag. And if you don't know what a carabiner is, it's this little dangly thing that I'm sure you've seen everywhere. Now again, this can come in handy in so many different situations. A lot of the time when you're traveling, there's going to be moments when you want to be hands-free, like when you're maybe double fisting two gelatos in Italy. So it is priceless to have the ability to just clip anything onto your bag as needed, whether that's a packing cube, a water bottle, handcuffs, no, I'm joking. Whatever it is that you need to be carabining onto your bag. You can also use it to clip hand sanitizer on your bag when you are needing it at a market, for instance. Another thing to pack is a clothespin or a money clip. And not for the obvious reason, I know you're like, who clips money in 2026? But these things make for really great DIY toothbrush holders in case you are at a hotel and you want to keep your toothbrush off the counter. You don't want to just leave it on there. It feels a little bit icky. Then you can just use it to clip up a toothbrush. Alternatively, it's also really good for keeping curtains closed if you're someone that can't really sleep well with a little bit of light peeking through, then you can use that to clip the curtain shut. You can also, in a pinch, use pants hangers that you find in a hotel. So like those little clippy ones. I'm doing this like it's going to help you understand what I'm saying. Okay. Now for a truly unhinged hack that I have recently heard about, but I haven't had a chance to try yet. And that is to decant liquid products of yours into sponges. So basically if you're traveling carry on only, and you're trying to minimize the amount of liquids that you're bringing on because they still cap those these days. What I've seen some people recommend you do is take a few sponges and then squeeze your liquid products into these sponges. Let them dry out. Right. And then when you arrive on the other side, you can just rehydrate it with water. So for things like dish soap or anything like that, now you have like a re-liquified version that was solid at the airport and security wouldn't flag it. Pretty smart. Pretty smart. I have to admit, although I will say the easier solution that requires less cutting up of sponges is to simply pack solid versions of products. And I've become very obsessed with doing this for laundry, for instance. So having solid laundry sheets has been such a game changer for trips where I feel like I'm going to need to do laundry. It's way better to have that rather than a little vile laundry detergent or one of those tide pods that look weirdly delicious. Now, another fun hack that I've been recommending for like 10 years, just because I think it's so cute is Tic-Tac cases. They make for really great cases for Bobby pins and other miscellaneous small items like SD cards, so yeah, be sure to save those Tic-Tac cases and you can definitely use them in a travel setting. In a pinch, old pill bottles will also work pretty well. You can use them to put like Q-tips and things like that. And if you travel with jewelry, another great hack is to string your necklaces through a straw so that it doesn't get tangled. Trust me, if you've ever spent like 50 million hours trying to detangle a very delicate gold necklace, you can tell I'm speaking from experience, then this is going to be a huge game changer. Another weird one, pack an oven mitt. Yep, I know it sounds crazy, but if you're traveling with any heat tools, having an oven mitt is really great. Then you have a heatproof mat, you can put your hair straightener or your curler on and in a pinch, if you're traveling and you're like, oh, it hasn't had a chance to cool down yet, just wrap it in the mitt so that you know it's safe and then head out on your merry way. If you feel like traveling with an oven mitt seems like overkill, a lot of places do make these heatproof mats now as well for your hair straighteners and things like that, but I feel like an oven mitt is just a bit more fun. Also fun, hoard shower caps. When you find shower caps, hoard them because then you can use them to store your shoes when you're packing. And yeah, this is a really great way to keep the dirt and all the weird grime that your shoes tend to collect. You can keep that away from all your other goods simply by just nesting your shoes into shower caps. Another unhinged hack, simply pack your bags full of a bunch of other bags. And what I mean by that is if you are traveling light, you're trying to not bring too many suitcases, but you're planning on maybe bringing some souvenirs back. One really great hack is to nest a bag within a bag. So whether that's a duffel or just a smaller suitcase, then that way you just check one bag on the way there. You don't have as much to carry. And then on the way back, whip out that bag, put all your shopping in there, and then only check it on the way back. Another reason I say bring a lot of bags is I think there's a lot of bags that people forget are very handy in a travel setting beyond the obvious ones like your carry-on bag, your day bag, things like that. Some other ones I really recommend bringing are Ziploc bags. Trust me, there's like a million uses for good Ziploc bags when you travel. Sometimes, you know, if you're a cheapo like me and you go to the supermarket and you want to make sandwiches for a hike or whatever, then having a Ziploc bag is great. Another must pack, a tote bag. So if you end up going shopping or you need a bag to just throw stuff in. So for me, for instance, like I always pack really light for flights because they're obviously going to be checking. But for the in-between trips, if I'm taking a train to another city, I'll just have a giant tote, like genuinely, it's just a giant tote that I throw everything in and then I don't need to be stressed. And don't forget a laundry bag. People always forget a laundry bag and then partway through the trip, they're like, all my clothes are dirty. I don't know where to put them. So a laundry bag as well. All right. Since you're here until the end, thank you very much. Be sure to again, introduce yourself in the comments because this is a brand new channel. But as a thank you, I'm going to give you the password to my VIP library for free, where you can find tons of free packing lists, printables, things like that. And the password is rainingcookies. So remember to save that because otherwise you're going to have to join my mailing list for it. All right. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye.