That that, airline industry.

I hate packing. By packing, I mean jamming-your-life-into-a-small-carry-on-suitcase-for-a-seven-day-trip-but-you're-a-girl-so-you-need-options kind of packing. It's hard, yo.

And so, the night before we left for Mexico, I stared down at my massive assortment of clothes that I wanted (needed) to bring, severely doubting my ability to smush it all into a carry-on suitcase.

Now I'm not a terrible packer - I generally take pride in my packing skills passed down to me from my mom and Grampy J (they've got it DOWN). However, I tend to overpack, and end up with a big pile of clothes that I never even touch while on vacation. Every. Time.

Hey.. a girl needs options, right?

But I just couldn't do that for the upcoming trip to Mexico for two reasons:

1. We had layovers in both directions, and I never trust the airlines to not lose my bag or get it there on time.

2. It costs like $75789 just to check one bag. I don't exaggerate.

So, I needed to figure out how to consolidate, be decisive, and pack for a 7 day trip in a bag that I would normally just put tons of shoes and flip flops in.

Sad but true.

Fortunately, I got some experience with this last year when I went to Mexico with brideslady Bunny Love. Back then, I turned to my trusty friend Google, literally searched "how to pack a carry-on to Mexico", and came across this little gem called 10 Days in a Carry-On, written by a flight attendant.

You guys, it's dumb how revolutionary this article was to me. The woman was able to pack shoes, clothes, accessories, etc for a five or six day trip into a little, tiny suitcase. Want to know the secret??

Basically, instead of folding everything, you roll it up! (Not like that's so evident from my picture.. I'm a terrible roller, apparently.)

The other key is to pack the shoes on the bottom, then the bulkier, heavy fabric clothes, then the lighter fabric clothes.

I kind of forgot about my flip flops, so they just went on top.

 You then top it off with the extras, like toiletries, a brush, a bag, etc. Since I decided to bring these in my second carryon, I substituted the "extras" for an obscene amount of bikinis. And then... ta-da! It somehow all seemed to fit, and it even closed without me having to sit on it for an hour! (Not like I've done that before.) (Ok I have.)

 The coolest part of the article was when the author repacked her things in a more "traditional" manner, which I decided to as well.. just to see what the difference would be.

Yeaaa.. not fitting. At all. (And I promise I really did try to make it fit!)

Needless to say, I can totally vouch that this roll-up method works like a charm. I was able to (over)pack:

1 pair of heels

1 pair of sneakers (never wore them)

3 pairs of flip flops (only wore one pair)

6 dresses (never wore 4 of them)

6 pairs of shorts (never wore 3 of them)

4 t-shirts (never wore 2 of them)

8 tank tops (actually wore almost all of them)

3 sweaters (never wore any of them)

1 robe (never wore it)

1 pair of jeans (wore on the way there)

1 pair of leggings (wore on the way back)

a straw fedora

several undergarments

8 bathing suits (only wore 4 of them)

..and still probably could have fit another dress or two!

Or, you know, a cat, like I was able to last year. ;)

Anyone have any other fun packing tricks?