Tip #20: Unpack your bag.
like most of these tips, i’m of the opinion that this is something you should do even if the place you call home is a 90,000 square-foot atrocity villa. trips out of town are wonderful things.* they give us a chance to stretch our legs, shift our perspective, and remind ourselves that there’s a whole wide world out there, but the return home can be brutal. if you ask me, failure to unpack our bags makes the misery all the more acute.
in our tiny apartment, an unpacked bag causes stubbed toes and violent bouts of cursing. more importantly, it makes it near to impossible to find my last clean pair of underwear and it means that the collection of driftwood i insisted on collecting is just moldering away in there. even if we get home in the wee hours of the morning, the first thing i do is to unpack my bag. there’s nothing more delicious than waking up in my own trusty bed knowing that everything’s just where it should be.
*our favorite game when visiting friends is to determine what tiny corner of their home is approximately the same size as our apartment. bathrooms sometimes win.
17 Comments
i loveeee your survival tips. i live in a 670sq. ft. apt but these still help soo much!! <3
So true! My apartment wasn't as small, but I still tripped over my weekend bag a few times! lol…
I love that duffle! Where is it from?
http://www.beckelcanvas.com/products_type.php?products_type_id=2
So true!!! I always take way too long to unpack, but yesterday after I got home I unpacked my bag and felt to much better now that it was out of the way.
I agree. and have to admit that it's not just bags from vacations I need to unpack..I fill my little entry area with work/gym/book bags and trip over them sometimes…. your post reminds me to simply unpack the bag(s)!
I love the game you play when you're visiting friends. If you visited my apartment, it would be my bedroom that is the size of your apartment… and I don't even use my bedroom except at night. I live in the living/dining/kitchen open area. *I really must downsize soon*
my obsessive compulsive tendencies agree with you.
100% agreed. Even if I get home really late, I have to unpack my bags before going to bed. I can't sleep without doing it!
haha! we do that as well.. sometimes we fit in the foyer (; t.
Hi! I'm your new follower! So happy to have discovered your blog. I'm living in Paris and have a teeny tiny place as well! And even if i do totally agree with you on the bag situation, my suitcase is still full, in the middle of the living room since 3 weeks now. Shame on me, i know, i know 😉
http://cansouplover.blogspot.com
It is the first thing I do when staying in a hotel room. Back at home I just park it near the washing machine and transfer all the dirty clothes.
Ohhh how I love Lauren Greenfield and all the weird stuff she can find in America.
how do y'all handle your bathroom? I just moved to a new apartment with little to no bathroom storage, and I'm finding all of your tips so handy that I'd love to know what you have to say!
It's a good tip even for small rooms. An unpacked bag makes getting back home so much easier to get into.
ha! i just read this, loved it, and completely agreed.
My bathroom is also pretty small. When I sit on the toilet, my knees touch the vanity in front of me. I don't wear makeup so my need for storage is limited for essentials like shampoo, soap, and arnica for the bruised knees I get from bumping into the vanity.
Reading your posts, I can totally relay to you in some of them…and your sense of humor 🙂
I lived in 3 different countries in different apartment sizes, one or two of which was smaller than my living room now. I am living in the biggest flat so far (rented) but somehow I am a fan of "small living". Because you need to use your brain more to fit/organize things, the way you live. And it invites some ingenious solutions of which I can't get enough.
What is surprising is that living in relatively big flat has not improved storage space problem (lack of it). It's the layout. Everywhere there is a window, a door, a radiator…there is no wall space where I could put wardrobes (I have only one) and my clothes are in the basement in carton boxes (!).
I was having much more guests staying over when I used to live small (yes, life changes) and if not for the fact that I could not rent smaller place at the time, I wouldn't have chosen this place (to much to clean, to much of double stuff in every room but still not enough space to accommodate our needs & lifestyle in it…
Joanna
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