A few months ago, before our vacation to Canada, I sent my husband to the store to snag luggage tags. He came home from Target with some cute, and cheap luggage tags. They’ve got bright colors and drawings on them. For example, one says, “I just flew in, and boy are my arms tired!”

I’ve flown several times since, and I can always pick out my suitcase now. I typically travel with a small, dark green rolling suitcase, and there are usually 15 other suitcases that look exactly like it at baggage claim. I have no problem finding mine now though! The tags were $7 for a 2 pack (two different designs) at Target. Well worth the money, since it saves me a few minutes at baggage claim each time!

I’m leaving tomorrow, and once again - I’m waiting til the last minute to pack! Tomorrow, in addition to working til 5pm, I have to pack up all my things AND make a trip to the dry cleaner to pick up some pants that needed to be hemmed. I won’t get in to Boston til 10:30, and doubt that I’ll be checked into my hotel until midnight, and I’ve got to be up early on Wednesday for meetings.

I’m seeing a nap in my future tomorrow…hopefully Jet Blue has comfy seats. I’ve never flown them before - aren’t they the ones with the TV screens on the back of each seat? Sounds like my kind of airline!

Are you a last minute packer? I am. And for our trip tomorrow, the kids don’t have a clue that we’re going, so I have to pack for all of them sometime tomorrow. Usually, I tell them what to put in the suitcase, and supervise. That’s much easier than packing for 3 kids by myself. I sure hope I don’t forget something - one of the last times we went to Disney, my oldest forget her bathing suit and we spent $45 on a replacement!

I’m not very pleased with the suitcases we bought from Target for the kids.

Oh I know, I shouldn’t expect much for $20, but I guess I was expecting them to come through their first trip unscathed. Matthew’s bag looks fine - we got him black, which helped. Catherine’s lavender suitcase came off baggage claim in Detroit with a rip in the material, and Gracie’s pink bag is now black with some sort of grease.

Serves me right for buying “cute” luggage for the kids!

If you haven’t checked out the sample sizes aisle at your local store - do it! We hit the one at Target on Sunday and found a lot of useful items for our vacation next week:

• Mini jugs of Tide - 4 loads for 99 cents! The last time I did laundry in a hotel, I put $1.00 into a vending machine for a one use box of powdered detergent. That’s all well and good if you’re traveling alone, or only with one other person, or if you only need to do laundry once during your trip. But we’re going to be gone for over a week and there are 6 of us. I bought two little mini jugs and they’re small enough to pack, and I’m saving money!
• Toothbrush covers - both the tube kind which encase your whole toothbrush, or the snap on head type that only protect the head. (Those snap on head covers are great for the kids bigger electric toothbrushes.)
• A small bottle of hand sanitizer with a loop attached to it so that it can be hooked onto a purse or keychain - 99 cents!

The sample aisle is also a great place to get stocking stuffers for Christmas, or things to fill gift baskets!