Almost a year ago I wrote, Financial Regrets: Accumulating Junk, where I discuss the piles of stuff I have and since I wrote that post, we have been working hard to donate or trash salvageable items and purge the rest however for every step forward we seem to take a step back and I’ve been doing a deep analysis as to why we keep ending up right back where we started.
Luggage
I started the fish bone analysis on one area where we’re having an issue: luggage.
The problem: we can’t seem to get rid of excess luggage in our home. Every time we get rid of luggage we seem to end up with more.
The cause(s): Here is where it gets interesting. There isn’t one simple cause but the main cause is the ecosystem (society).
My wife and I sorted all of our suitcases which consists of large 29″+, carry on 21″, backpacks, duffel bags, and other assortments of luggage. You would think we could just pick one suitcase for each of us and be done with the rest but it’s not that easy.
A large suit case is suitable for extended day travel of 7 days or more because you’ll need clothes for longer periods of times but a large suit case is not practical for a weekend trip because it’ll need to be checked and can’t be carried onboard.
A 21″ carry on works great for short trips but not practical for longer stay trips unless you know you will have access to washer/dryer and don’t mind spending your vacation time doing laundry.
Neither the large or carry on suitcases are suitable for day trips or short weekend trips which is why we the backpacks.
If this was all there were to the problem it wouldn’t be too bad. We’d keep one of each and live with that although that means keeping 6 pieces of luggage for 2 of us.
But the problem doesn’t end there. Recently, the EU instituted new rules for carry on luggage and you can read about that here, it went into effect September of 2024. Essentially the three new rules are:
- Weight limit: 10kg maximum
- Allowance: One cabin bag plus one small personal item
- Size restrictions: Cabin bag dimensions (including handles and wheels) must not exceed 55 x 40 x 20cm, while personal items should be no larger than 40 x 30 x 15cm
These are the European Union rules and Asian countries have their own set of rules that vary as well. Because we travel all over the world, we now have to have various types of bags to be in compliance or choose the smallest allowable bag on the airlines we will fly the most but that leaves us vulnerable to a key problem. When we’re not in compliance with our suitcase size, we end up having to buy another one in the country we’re visiting.
This is how we’ve ended up with a close full stacked floor to ceiling of suitcases. We’ve bought suitcase from Europe, Asia and the Americas.
As rules on luggage change, we’re also left having to re-purchase all of our luggage. Honestly, I don’t know what the answer is here. The obvious answers is to not travel at all or not take anything with us but that’s impractical unless we own homes in the three major areas we plan on visiting: Asia, Latin America and Europe.
While our joy of traveling is part of the cause, the poor customer service we get with our luggage, the changing regulatory environment, and airline policy all come together to form the perfect storm of misery and no simple luggage solutions.
Other Items
I focused on luggage because that topic encompassed all the right issues in my mind but the same problem exists with the littering of cell phones, laptops, tablets, streaming devices, USB cables, clothes and other items in our house.
Share The Wealth
Any suggestions? Let me know in the comments below.
I travel extensively as well and have found that any travel less than seven days can be easily handled with backpack and/or a small roll on. Anything over seven days is a large bag with no more than ten days of clothing. I can do this because almost any country other than the US I can drop my laundry off and have it back generally in less than 24 hours. Also, are you really using all the items are packing? I found I wasn’t doing that and packing extras that were never touched. In emergencies, I’ve also found cheap clothes are everywhere. Buy what you need and donate it when you leave. Chances are really good it will be used.
I have been contemplating just buying clothing on arrival. The other thought I had was to find a low cost storage unit where I could store my clothes for areas that i visit frequently. I do use most of the clothing I am packing but it’s also electronics: laptop, kindle, phone, etc.
We’ve had to buy luggage a couple of times and it does stack up a bit. When we do buy it, it’s usually the very cheapest available. If we had to throw it out, I wouldn’t feel too bad except for the environmental concerns. We could probably give it away on a Buy Nothing Facebook group.
Is there a way to pack a more flexible bag (like a cheap, lightweight duffle bag) that can be used for “insurance” instead of buying additional luggage in another country? Maybe you don’t use it half the time, but maybe it saves you from having to buy a bigger piece of space-taking luggage.
I did a search on Amazon and there are some products like the duffel bag that I was imagining – https://www.amazon.com/Hanke-Expandable-Collapsible-Lightweight-Telescoping/dp/B0BB6M3Z74/
Thanks. We’re actually trying suitcase backpacks now and pairing that with a carry on suite case.