The Only Piece of Luggage You Need

Luggage is one of those things that I somehow acquire more of over time. In the years working at my current job, I’ve received no less than 4 pieces of luggage alone! With how much we travel, it’s been difficult to prune luggage down, as I constantly think “I’ll need this if I go on a trip to…”. Lately, I’ve finally pruned these down to a “single” piece of luggage.

The Challenge

With luggage taking up a growing area in my closet, I decided to challenge myself to prune this down such that everything fits inside a single suitcase. This includes any bags that I use when I travel or use around town. My personal preference when traveling is to use the smallest bag possible for my needs. Others might want to have a single, all-purpose bag that is good for all occasions. Whichever side you lean towards, this challenge should work for you.

Try to fit all of your luggage and bags into a single bag.

The idea here is to minimize your luggage footprint in your home by being able to store everything within a single item.

Classify Your Bags

My approach to fitting everything into this was to group pieces of luggage together and remove anything that was a duplicate. The areas that I came up with were:

• Long-term Backpack – Large backpack, great for trips with lots of movement.
• Carry-On Suitcase with wheels – Able to fit in all airline overhead bins, great for long stays.
• Incase Computer/Camera/Day Bag – Able to hold a 13″ laptop and my camera.
  • 15″ Laptop Bag – My personal laptop bag.
• Cotopaxi Hiking 18L Daypack -Waterproof, light and comfortable to move around in.

With these 5 bags, I’ve traveled to dozens of countries and weather freezing and tropical. The big two on this list are the carry-on and my Incase Camera day bag.  These are the two I take with me on just about any trip I go on. I’m hoping to eventually drop the 15″ camera bag when I switch to 13″ laptops at home & work.

What I love about this system is that when these bags aren’t in use, they’re taking up no more space than the largest bag would, allowing for a cleaner closet.