The Minimalist Vacation Wardrobe Formula

Want to spend less time worrying about packing and more time discovering what beaches and epic hikes to visit? Follow this guide to create a minimalist vacation wardrobe that is perfectly tailored to your next trip.

Can we all agree that the worst part of vacation is the travel? Lugging suitcases through airports, frantically digging through a meticulously packed carry-on in search of the sleeping pills for the ten hour flight, and packing and repacking the car in Tetris-inspired maneuvers, all conjure feelings of stress, overwhelm, and anxiety.

On our most recent trip to Hawaii, JZ and I implemented a minimalist vacation wardrobe for a few reasons:

• We refused to continue lugging around unnecessary (just in case) items that never got used
• We hated spending hours of vacation/family time packing and unpacking suitcases in search of what we really needed
• Paying extra for checked bags on domestic flights, once we were in the US
• Lastly, we prefer to take the train to the airport, rather than tempt fate with a car-sick CZ requiring extensive clean up after a vomit-inducing taxi trip to the SYD airport (been there, done that)

To prepare to take less, I launched into crazy planning mode, furiously scribbling down a 12-step packing program to counteract our over-packing addiction. In the past, I packed more variety, including several “just-in-case” outfits. You know, those outfits for just in case there is a freakish cold-snap, I have an excuse to wear my cowboy boots, or in case I want to hit the streets for my first run in 8 months. Now, I am fairly realistic about what clothes work well with this stage of my life (i.e. no skirts or dresses, because I am bending over to pick up, wipe the nose of, and take things out of the mouth of CZ).

I started with a minimalist vacation wardrobe for myself, and then simplified it a bit for John. Overall, I am very happy with how we packed and what we brought – although I remain convinced we could have still trimmed down on the electronics front. As I mentioned, I simplified it for John. He did use it, but not for his beloved gadgets.

For this trip, I was very intentional about our clothes packing. First, I mapped out our itinerary, deciding how often we would wash clothes, choosing a specific color palette, and focusing on multi-purpose clothes wherever possible. For example, shoes that were equally appropriate for dinner, shopping, or a beach day. Also, I don’t include CZ’s clothes, because I honestly packed all the seasonally appropriate clothes she owns. Her outfits are so small compared to adult sizes that they don’t add much bulk. Furthermore, her car-sickness easily burns through 3 outfits on a driving day, and we had several scheduled.

How to Pack a Minimalist Vacation Wardrobe

Let’s walk through the process:

1 a. Write down your itinerary

Airport
Overnight Flight
Day hikes
Night hikes
Church
Walking in the City
Coffee Farm Tour
Going to a Restaurant
Beach days
Shopping
Pool days
Around the house/pajamas

1 b. Consolidate and combine similar environments.

Airport-Plane-Lounge
Warm day hikes
Cool night hikes
Church-Restaurant
City walks-Shopping-Coffee Farm Tour
Beach-Pool

2. Choose your wash interval.

We decided to wash our clothes roughly every 5 days, which meant 4 cycles during this trip. From this moment onward, stop thinking about the total days of your trip and only focus on the number of days between washes.

3. Decide on a color palette.

Once you make a limitation on your colors, it will be much easier to weed out and choose items. I decided on blues and coral for my accent colors, with a base of neutrals that would work with either of those. My outerwear options set the limitation in this arena for me. If you ever want some color inspiration, check out design-seeds.

4. Next, create your outfit “formulas”

Think about what general pieces you will wear for each environment and how you combine them to create an outfit. I always solve for shoes, so that every outfit works with one, if not two, of my shoe options.

5. Choose versatile pieces.

Now that you have narrowed down your existing wardrobe by color, and know what purpose each item needs to perform, think of items that can perform double duty.

With this in mind, I consolidated my existing list:

Airport-Plane-Lounge: flip-flops, hiking socks, leggings, t-shirt, warm sweater
Day hikes: hiking boots, hiking socks, shorts, t-shirt, rain jacket
Night hikes: hiking boots, hiking socks, pants jeans, shirt, warm sweater, rain jacket
Church-Restaurant: nice shoes leather sandals, jeans, nice shirt, nice sweater
City walks-Shopping-Coffee Farm Tour: comfortable shoes leather sandals, shorts, shirt, nice sweater
Beach-Pool: flip-flops, swim suit, cover-up

6. Map out the number of times an activity occurs during the washing interval.

The number of days in your washing cycle may not correspond with the number of outfits. For example, we generally go to the beach/pool for half a day, so we need another outfit on those days. For us this looked like:

1 day of flying
2 days hiking
1 day city walks
2 days beach
plus, an evening activity of hiking or dinner out

Write out your list!

Combine any outerwear and other items that will be re-worn during a washing interval.

7. *Bonus Step* Review

While this method of packing requires thought on the front end, I found the actual process of packing significantly easier. I didn’t second guess my decisions because I clearly saw where each item fit within my trip itinerary. At the last-minute, I threw in an extra pair of shorts – which was awesome for the week that we hiked to a beach 3 days in a row. But remember that you can always do a quick sink wash and hang dry for unexpected trips.

The biggest surprise to me, is how few shoes I actually need. On future trips (like maybe the trip to Cairns tonight…) I will try to only bring one pair *gasp*

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