Never Accidentally Leave Your Toothbrush at Home Again With Extra Items Hidden Away
When it comes to packing, I’ve narrowed my routine down to such perfect science that I can pack up on a two-week international trip in 15 minutes or less and not forget what I need. This is apart from my toothbrush. Which I accidentally leave behind almost every time I travel – until I took three with me this week, thanks to a little planning I did.
I don’t quite understand why I can’t take my toothbrush with me. I think it has something to do with the fact that my daily brush is too big to fit in my makeup bag, which means I need to grab a freezer bag to hide it before throwing it in my suitcase. Somewhere between packing everything else I need in the bathroom and going to the kitchen, I completely forget about the brush and manage to leave it behind every time. Single. journey. This is a problem that cannot be fixed in either the packing slip or the plan.
When I constantly stayed in hotels, this was not the best deal. The night I arrived, I would have realized that I did not have a brush, would have called the front desk, and in 20 minutes I would have become the proud owner of a super-cheap brush and several bags of toothpaste.
Right now, roughly half of my trips are booked on Airbnbs, which, unlike their hotel counterparts, don’t have a secret supply of toothbrushes waiting for me. After traveling to Walgreens number 10 of the year, I got smarter last month (in Seattle, where I was traveling and left my toothbrush again) and bought myself three packs of travel brushes and three tiny travel toothpastes.
Instead of just using one and leaving the others in the package, I hid them all in my luggage. I put one set in the front pocket of my book bag, which I always travel with, one in the inside pocket of my suitcase, and another in my makeup bag.
I traveled to New Orleans last week and on the first night realized that I had forgotten my brush again … and then I remembered my stash and pulled out one.
I bought the tiny toothbrushes that you used to buy from your dentist, they are about half the size and have cases that you can use as hand extensions. They seem to be the best for this because they are so compact and the case keeps them safe. If you always travel with the same suitcase, you can probably get the same effect by simply putting a regular brush in your bag.
For me, the book bag came in handy several times, for example, after a smelly lunch or before going to an event where I accidentally ended up with my book bag. However, the absence of an emergency trip to the pharmacy on the first day of the trip brought this pack at $ 4 million.