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calimacSo much attention and energy needs to be spent preparing for a trip and ensuring that everything you need is properly packed away where it can be accessed (with extra attention devoted to avoiding glitches at airport security if a plane flight is involved) that it can be possible to neglect the process of unpacking when the trip is over.
I've sometimes let that ride in the past, leaving unemptied bags sitting around for days, but I try not to any more. During trips I keep the laundry clearly separated from the clean clothes, so the first piece of unpacking I do is to throw all the laundry into the washing machine. Next step is removing anything from the suitcase that stays downstairs, like shoes and coats, before hauling the suitcase up to the bedroom and putting away the clean clothes and any toiletries that were in there.
The carry-on bag is handled oppositely. That goes straight up to the bedroom; anything going there or in the bathroom is put away, and things going to my office or which belong downstairs are put in separate piles. Then the office items are taken there, and the downstairs material goes back in the bag and taken downstairs to be distributed.
Lastly, the emptied bags go back in the garage where they're kept normally.
This procedure may all seem obvious, but it's one of those things which took a lot of experience and practice to develop. The key is not to let post-trip exhaustion overwhelm the need to get this basic task done. It's so satisfying when this is all done, the bags are put away, and we're back to normal, and the cats like it that way too.
I've sometimes let that ride in the past, leaving unemptied bags sitting around for days, but I try not to any more. During trips I keep the laundry clearly separated from the clean clothes, so the first piece of unpacking I do is to throw all the laundry into the washing machine. Next step is removing anything from the suitcase that stays downstairs, like shoes and coats, before hauling the suitcase up to the bedroom and putting away the clean clothes and any toiletries that were in there.
The carry-on bag is handled oppositely. That goes straight up to the bedroom; anything going there or in the bathroom is put away, and things going to my office or which belong downstairs are put in separate piles. Then the office items are taken there, and the downstairs material goes back in the bag and taken downstairs to be distributed.
Lastly, the emptied bags go back in the garage where they're kept normally.
This procedure may all seem obvious, but it's one of those things which took a lot of experience and practice to develop. The key is not to let post-trip exhaustion overwhelm the need to get this basic task done. It's so satisfying when this is all done, the bags are put away, and we're back to normal, and the cats like it that way too.
