Everyone likes the idea of packing light, but a carry-on bag can fill up fast. To get all of your clothes in there without wrinkling, try folding it into one giant bundle.
This tip is sort of like the Skivvy Method, but rather than folding one outfit together, you’re folding all of your clothes together. In a few steps, the folks at Primer magazine got over a week’s worth of stuff into one carry-on. Here’s how you do it.
Use your carry-on as a guide. Line up the waist of one pair of pants against the edge of the carry-on. Take another pair of pants, and line the waist on the other edge. Continue doing this with all of your pants, then start your shirts.
Line the collar on the edge 90 degrees from the pants. Take another shirt, and line it up on the opposite edge. Flip up the collars, too, to avoid wrinkling. Once you’ve got everything piled up strategically, start folding.
Fold the shirts up, from one edge of the suitcase to the top. Keep folding, adding the shirt sleeves in every now and then, until you have one huge bundle of folded clothes.
Then, put your shoes and toiletries at the bottom of the carry-on, put the pile on top of them, and zip up. It might sound like a lot of work, but it’s probably about the same as folding everything traditionally.
Obviously, your mileage is going to vary, depending on how much you bring and how big your carry-on is. My favorite way to travel light is to bring as few clothes as possible and book a place that has a washer and dryer. But this isn’t always possible. Primer’s method is a solid one for traveling reasonably light. You’ll want to check out their full post, which is full of more detail and tips for preventing wrinkling.
Pack Like a Pro: Learn How We Got All This into ONE Carry-on | Primer Magazine