Overpacking
Three quarters of us (75%) will be going on summer holiday this year and 52% of us will spend on average 7 hours packing everything we need. Across the UK this amounts to 138 million hours of our time spent packing! Despite spending all this time packing, £684 million overall is spent on holiday on things we have forgotten.
Travelodge took 2,000 adults to assess their packing habits. 82% of people find packing for holiday very stressful, 20% rely upon their spouse or partner to pack for them and 95 of people aged between 24-34 years assign the job to their mum.
21% simply throw a selection of what they may need in a suitcase whereas 61% of adults pack carefully and precisely, setting aside time for the task and checking it off as they go.
51% of us still leave a holiday essentials at home, despite preparing military style. £684 million equates to an average spend per person at £26.50 on items such as swimming costumes, jumpers, shoes, sunglasses and outfits.
Ironically, Britons are guilty of bringing home on average six unworn outfits from their holiday (67%).
Further in-depth research findings also revealed that Britons’ packing styles varies a lot across the country. Listed below are the top five most popular styles of packing.
|
Style of packing |
Format of packing |
Most popular style of packing in the following regions |
|
Rollers |
Fold and roll clothes into arrange in an orderly manner within their suitcase |
Scotland, East Midlands, Northern Ireland |
|
Wrappers |
Neatly wrap each piece of clothing in tissue paper to prevent creasing |
West Midlands, North East, South West |
|
Stackers |
Build a stack of clothes starting with the biggest items at the bottom and working up to the smaller items |
East Anglia, North West |
|
Shrinkers |
Make complete outfits and vacuum pack to utilise space and aid un-packing |
London, Wales, |
|
Flingers |
Throw everything into a bag with no order or folding involved |
South East, Yorkshire |
Shakila Ahmed, Travelodge Spokeswoman said: “Everyday around
30,500 customers check into over 500 Travelodge hotels across the country and our reception teams are inundated with requests everyday so it’s not surprising that Britons are spending £684million on forgotten items.”
To help Britons pack better for their holiday, Travelodge has developed a seven step guide to ensure no essential holiday items are left behind for this year’s summer break.
|
Step One: Think What & Where |
Consider everything you might be doing during your holiday (Posh dinners, sporting activities, sightseeing) then put your favourite items for these scenarios on your bed in piles of tops, bottoms, dresses, shoes, jackets/cover-ups, swimwear. Anything that doesn't have a specific use doesn't need to come with you. |
|
Step Two: Colour Code Clothes: |
Look at everything and choose items based on the fact they will work with lots of other items. Thinking of a colour palette makes this even simpler. What you are doing here is ensuring everything works really hard and you don’t end up lugging loads of things that just don’t go with anything else and you will end up never wearing. |
|
Step Three: Divide & Rule |
Once you have decided on your clotting, lay it out on the bed before you place them in the suitcase and cut in half. It may sound drastic but it forces you to focus and just remember all the items you have taken on holiday before and never worn. |
|
Step Four: Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’ |
Roll every item that can be rolled, as this will negate creasing. If you take anything remotely tailored, turn it inside out and tuck in the sleeves and it will arrive in the best shape possible. |
|
Step Five: Bury the shoes |
Pack shoes at the bottom of your suitcase and surround them with your underwear. Remember to pack into the corners of your bag - lots of space can be wasted by not filling a bag correctly. |
|
Step Six: Go See Through |
See through wash bags with compartments are brilliant for organising your toiletries. They tend to be lightweight and you can check quickly to see if you've forgotten anything |
|
Step Seven: Weather planning |
Look at an updated weather forecast just before packing to ensure you are taking the right clothes for the weather conditions at your destination. |
More research revealed that us Brits cannot copy without our essentials that we may take for granted when we are at home like teabags, brown sauce, pork pies, digestive biscuits and marmalade and so pack them into their suitcases too.