Here's a crafty video that illustrates some of the old standards and some new ideas for keeping money and other small items, like jewelry, out of sight in your bags:
https://www.facebook.com/BrainyCrafts/videos/1695240277181558/
Note that the first minute or so is about rolling your clothes, which is another perennial topic here in the forum but not what I'm sharing this about this time.
That was fun to watch. I can't help but wonder how many of those secretly stashed $100 bills accidentally gets thrown away. (Or given away, "would you like a stick of gum?")
Who packs half that stuff anyway? And if your bag gets taken . . .
I leave jewelry at home except for what I wear all the time, put money in my money belt, and rest easy.
There were a couple of good ideas, like putting plastic wrap over a bottle before capping it - I do that with my salt shaker, and stuffing things in your shoes - the ones you pack. But why use a shower cap when I plastic bag covers them completely?
Thanks for sharing. It never hurts to review ideas as it may help some think outside the box for solutions. No need to disparage solutions that might work for others.
I wish I had tried the wrap over the top of my talcum powder shaker. I transferred it to a smaller container which was not quite as air tight as I assumed. At least the contents of my suitcase smelled baby powder fresh......
I thought most of the tricks unhelpful.
Packing by days: you’ll take way too much clothing as you don’t rewear any clothes. Packing a wardrobe instead of outfits creates versatility with fewer pieces.
Using plastic wrap to store necklaces: only good for a single use. I’ve found that storing a necklace in a pill baggie works well, especially if you close the necklace before storing. Also use one pill bag per pair of earrings. Then put your baggies into a small zippered bag. They won’t tangle but are still together so you can’t lose them.
Money everywhere: lots of work to hide it, and most likely you’ll forget what you did with it. I can easily see some of it falling out on the floor when you access the storage item. Certainly store some hidden away, but do it where it can’t fall out. A pocket in a toiletry kit, hiding some in the luggage lining works better. And put it in a zip lock to keep it protected.
You also can’t store liquids in your shoes if you are flying by air.
So many of these hacks are a lot of work with a very low payoff.
I noticed the liquid in the shoe thing too, but there is nothing to say this is carry on only solution - in which case, if a person wants, why can't they store liquids in their shoe? Perhaps ill advised, but checked bag compliant.
I'm doubtful about pump-top bottles in general. When I'm sharing a hotel room (not in Europe), I take a liquid-soap dispenser, and it's in two ZipLock bags inside my toiletry kit. Half the soap ends up outside the bottle. A bottle just put inside a shoe??
I thought the ideas for hiding money were clever, as long as the hider has a good memory. Not as easy as something like a money belt, though.
Not as easy as something like a money belt, though.
Exactly. Better to use something with low effort and high payoff.
Also on the shoe thing - wet shoes take a long time to dry out. There’s a decent chance of an accident and then you have wet shoes. Ugh.
There will always be an idea that someone can use; so thanks for posting this.
However: why take more than one necklace and pair of earrings?, and just use your money belt.
For your money!
I may need to use the shower cap idea now that I no longer get plastic bags when I grocery shop (we have to bring our own or pay $.10 for a thicker bag that I would not use for packing). I put my necklaces in Tissue paper (hack from a You-tube video) and this has worked well for me, I choose a bright color so it is easy to locate and easy to see if left out so I don't forget to pack. I usually take four necklaces, Silver, Gold, leather strap with a pearl and a longer statement necklace and 4 different earrings and a few wrap bracelets. I had never heard of a "pill bag" so I googled it and I like it! I usually use snack baggies for small items. Money goes in my wallet, I just don't carry enough to justify a money belt. I do put extra cash under the insert of my shoes that are remaining in my suitcase for the day. I would totally forget where I put money if I had it scattered all over the place or hidden somewhere like in the video. They did have some creative ideas!!
Some cute ideas, but overall a little too OCD for me. 😉
@Letizia
I use these from Walgreens. If you are in the store they are near the pharmacy, in a display with the pill boxes and pill cutters.
Michaels also carries small zip top bags. They come in various sizes and some are large enough to hold a statement necklace. They are more expensive than Walgreens.
Oh, thanks for the Walgreens tip, Cindy! I was told that craft stores carry the little ZipLock bags, but there are none near me, and if Walgreens is cheaper, that's even better. I find lots of uses for small ZIP Locks: ear buds, earplugs, a day's worth of mid-day pills, a few Lactaid pills (which turn to powder if they bounce around in a pill bottle), souvenir coins.
I don't think I've seen a discussion here on the RS forum of whether (and how) people use the clipped-in security pouch that is included with RS luggage items --
the one in the convertible carryon tends to almost disappear in the bottom of the bag pretty magically, I find.
I keep a photocopy of my passport page in it, along with a few other items...
@Cindy H -Thanks!!
I don't wear much jewelry to begin with and would never take more than what I wear on the plane, but saw this tip on Pinterest- use plastic straws for necklaces. You thread one strand through the straw then close it- no tangles. You can put the straw(s) in a Ziploc. For earrings- use the pill bags or a lightweight piece of cardboard- and poke them through it- like you see at stores.
The plastic straws take up too much space.
My larger necklaces don’t get tangled. The smaller necklaces go in the pill bags - one per necklace. They don’t get tangled because they can’t touch the other necklaces.
I just bought the pill bags at Walgreens, something like 50 for 2.99?
These have a white Matt area you can write on..... with an area to write day and am or pm. My Walgreens prescription labels fit perfectly top to bottom and required a tiny bit of trimming along one side. I'm making a bag for each pill ( including supplements ) and taking along my plastic seven day organizers because I want to. Please reassure that I can get twelve days of pills in and 2 days out of Mexico with out a cavity search.
