Packing Your Car For Summer Holidays

The humble glove compartment. More than just a glove lover’s dream.  Every last inch of your car is a potential recruit when packing for the summer holidays when attempting to stuff a two-pound loaf into a one-pound tin.

Just think of how chuffed you’ll be exfoliating with your baobab, oat and willow herb scrub in that elbow-banger of a shower cubicle in your staycation caravan because you managed to squeeze that little tube of luxury into an otherwise packed car by thinking outside the box. Or should that be inside the glovebox? 

Here’s the Dumfries MOT guide to packing your car wisely for your summer holidays. 

Know Thy Boot Size

Start by knowing thy boot size and if you can be bothered, remove all the empty bags for life, oil and screenwash bottles with barely a dribble in the bottom of them so that you have a clearer view of what you’re working with.

Calculating its capacity by eye is easy or you can do it by offering up some cases or bags that you plan on taking as a gauge.  

Weigh Stuff

Overloading your car makes road-handling trickier and guzzles fuel. Plus you might end up getting your collar felt if your motor is waddling along like a big duck on wheels. 

Check your car owner’s manual for the maximum carrying weight and weigh each passenger on the bathroom scales. Don’t forget to weigh luggage and pets too. 

You might need to inflate the tyres a wee bit more if you’ve got a particularly heavy load. Again, the manual will be your guide so that you don’t overinflate them- if you’re still unsure, we can help with this!

Roof Racks And Boxes

Roof rack/roof carrier racks and boxes are the best place to store unwanted talkative relatives you can’t bear the thought of listening to on long car journeys.  But we all know that you wouldn’t get far with Uncle Ted strapped to the roof of the car but they can be used quite legally for excess luggage. 

Vacuum Pack Bags 

If someone in the travel party refuses to travel light and has packed their entire wardrobe then it’s time to call in the big guns. Vacuum pack bags. Simply pop your clothes into one, attach your vacuum and suck the air right out of it. This can reduce the space that clothes take-up by more than half would you believe!

Thou Shalt Not Overpack 

All these little tips and tricks notwithstanding, our core advice is to be ruthless and wear your de-cluttering hat if you’re the one with the final say on who brings what. You might not need as much as you think.  Neither might they. A bucket list doesn’t have to include the bucket. That’s not an old saying. We just made it up. 

Get Creative

Your car is like the Crystal Maze. Find hidden crevices and unexplored crannies and plant your flag in them. The gaps under the seats and the footwell are as much your friends as the glove compartment. You might even find five pence. 

Softly, Softly 

Suitcases are tough as nails. Squidgy holdalls are soft and have a heart. And there’s room for both. Suitcases can take some amount of welly but they can’t be shoehorned or crowbarred in any old place. A soft holdall is malleable and fits snuggly in more places. Stuffed safely into the footwell it could also double up as a footstool for one lucky passenger. 

The Packing Order

The packing order is important. Hard, bulky items like camping furniture, sleeping blankets etc. that you don’t need to lay your hands on en route can be banished to the bottom of the boot. Essentials must be packed within easy reach. Otherwise, you could be unpacking it all at the motorway services in the wind and rain with stuff flying everywhere as you curse under your breath that you can’t wait for this flipping holiday to be over. 

Safety Last 

Lastly, you might want to even practice safe driving with a full car if you have the time for such things. And we’re sure that we don’t need to tell you to keep stuff away from the back window and the windscreen and don’t leave heavy items loose on the back seat either. 

Happy holidays!

Housebeautiful.com 

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