O.k. Here's an idea that might be a time-saver for you. A friend of mine has been doing this for years and I recently caught on to its infinite wisdom. I notice that I spend a lot of time packing and unpacking bags. I pack a bag for swimming lessons, dance classes, days at the beach, toys for my children to play with when we go out to dinner, work material to read while waiting at doctor and business appointments, etc. You name it. I have a variety of tote bags and I seem to be endlessly packing and unpacking for these activities.

What if we just identified particular tote bags and left them packed? We could have the activity bag to keep small children occupied in the car, the bag packed for soccer or Karate, the bag with dry cleaning to drop at the cleaners, the bag of items we need to exchange or return. When we get home from dance class or the beach, everything needs to be washed of course, but then we can just stick all of it back in the bag. Leave out that step of putting things away just to be taken out and packed again.

With a small investment in tote bags (and many of us receive these as gifts or at conventions we attend) we could stop packing and unpacking. I'm going to try it this summer - and see if it works. Remember, it's the tote that counts.