PACK SMART - SHOP MUCH! (Part II)

 

 LOOK VERY FAMILIAR??   Bursting wardrobe....


Travellling is a good time to de-clutter.  I always keep my clothes using "CURRENT", "ARCHIVE" and "WRITE-OFF" piles.

"CURRENT" means I am wearing it now....

"ARCHIVE" means I still keeping it until I can let-go or when I need capacity...

"WRITE-OFF' means I am waiting to throw it when I remember...


During every trip, I will packed for the entire family and this is how I select the packing list :

• Every change of hotel or every 3 nights, 1 pyjama set : select from the "WRITE-OFF" pile. Definitely a throw after you worn.  So whenever you change hotel, you dump one set in the morning, this means you just need to pack your toiletries in that urgent morning due to checkout.
• 50% of the total packed clothes should be from the "ARCHIVE" list.  Coordinates the outfits with some updated "CURRENT" pile.   50% of the bundle will be thrown during the trip. Remember, if you do not make space, you cannot shop.  Your wardrobe is bursting, your luggage will burst too and your wallet will be painful when you need to pay additional luggage weight.
• Pack by luggage, and I do not mean by YOUR luggage or HIS luggage.  Use all luggage to pack by DAY. That way, you only need to open ONE luggage at anyone day and pack up ONE luggage before you get out of the room.  Mixing up the clothing also ensured you that should luggage is lost during flight, you still have other clothing in another luggage.
• COMFY vs STYLE : I will bring 2-3 pairs of footwear for a longer trip,  I will wear the biggest area pair (sneaker), pack in a slipper (fitflop) and bring in a "ALMOST ARCHIVE" heel. Since I wear leggings most of the time during travel, the almost archive heel will work for me for a few hours of "special" dinner.   At end of the trip, it joins the pile to the "dump" portion.

Remember to put all the worned "ARCHIVE" clothings into the dustbin with a plastic bag. This way, hotel will not sent the clothing back to you and charge you the shipping.   Usually the Housekeeping will bring it home and pass it on to others who do not mind its second hand for those "ARCHIVE" portion.   This way, your once-loved gets a second life too.

Bring your MEDICINE                   .....................                                 bottles when you going for the trip.   Recycle them by pouring your SHAMPOO, CONDITIONER, FACE WASH, BODY WASH.   The marking is useful to gauge how much you should bring.   Usually for each shampoo/shower, you will need around 10ml per pax.      I usually packed by hotel, so I can leave the empty bottle behind and lighted my day-trip bags.

Bring MULTI-TASKED skincare during your trip --- SHEET mask that is full of SERUM is a good choice for the night, that way, you only need
STEP 1 CLEANSING
STEP 2 EYECREAM
STEP 3 FACIAL MASK FOR THE FACE AND NECK and BODY (we will talk about multi-tasking that one sheet in another post)

During the day, I will bring samples size of the skincare that is suitable for the WEATHER over at destination.  Sunblock is a MUST!    




Now, have you start packing?

Remember, you will have the following extra space when you come back from the trip for all your shopping ....

1. A full 29" luggage that is totally empty when you depart Singapore http://www.silkmineral.blogspot.sg/2013/04/how-to-travel-smart-before-travelling.html
2. Half of your cabin size luggage through your donation of "ARCHIVE" clothing/footwear. These include lingerie too.  Note that its recommended to dump your inner wear every 18months.  Yes, its a recommended and I follow this guide!
3. A foldable shopping bag.

Sounds great right.....       I bet you will be looking at your "ARCHIVE" pile now and trying to think of the next trip...       

PACK SMART - SHOP MUCH! (Part I)

How to travel smart??

Choose a 29" luggage that is hardcase, this is your check in luggage. Its need to be durable and have big wheels.

Then put in a 21" fabric luggage. This will be the luggage that you bring your clothings for the trip and the worned clothings when you return from the trip.  By putting into the bigger luggage before travelling, you will be forced to pack lesser and wiser, and have a full 29" luggage capacity to bring back shopping items.  This need to have wheels too, You are going to check in the 29" during the return trip and this is the 7kg carry-on luggage.

 

 

 

Then, put in a foldable shopping bag. This shall be your shopping bag during the trip and you can use it during your check in when you buy tidbits and toys.

 

Remember you probably have some spare shoe-bags?  Bring it along and put all your toiletries in it. You can just take the whole shoe bag and hang it with a S-hook in the hotel bathroom.

You have a lot of spare zipper pouch collection?  Use the vary designs and identify them for different purpose :  Medicine, cosmetic, skincare. sock, hair accessories, jewelleries, battery charger, etc

Ok, now you are really ready for shopping.  You have a 29" empty luggage, a 1/3 empty 21" luggage and  a shopping bag.

 

Next

Lets talk about how to pack for skincare.

 

How to prevent Cellulite formation?

Source of information : TV programme Learn this recently but a bit too late for my already formed "train railways" across my tummy and my thigh/butt. Nonetheless, shall do the routine to prevent expansion of the railway network. Breaking up Cellulite formation Clamp up your fist. We are going to use the knuckles of your fist to perform the routine.

• Using the fist knuckles, RUB upwards your thigh towards the butt, if you feel any bumps during the rubbing, it means fats already forming on the skin layer which will form cellulite soon. Rub through to break it.


• Repeat the same routine for 20mins on both thigh.

The same routine can be done on tummy or arms.

Toning up the Thigh through simple exercise

Source of information : TV programme

When we age, many parts of our body/face will lose our firmness. What I learn today is some simple exercise that we can do at home and they actually work!

In a lay down position, raise our knee over our heart level

• Helps to improve blood circulation


• Tones up the thigh muscle

With a partner, on a sitting position facing each other, You sits with both leg close and she/he sits with both leg open with knee cap touching each other. You will then try to OPEN your leg wide and she/he will try best to keep your leg close.

• You gets to tone up your external thigh muscle in this exercise


• She/he gets to tone up their internal thigh muscle in this exercise


• Exchange position after each game, until both of your legs start arching.


• You can still do the exercise, by holding a basketball with your knee cap and keep it from dropping. No basketball? Water bottle works too.

How to relieve motion sickness?

Source of information : TV programme I had always suffer from motion sickness. Used to rely on medicine but sometimes I would forget to bring the medicine along. Saw on the TV programme that some natural food actually work very well when its been experiment on students that suffer from the same problem.

Ginger pill or ginger tea

Lemon slices

According to the expert in the show, motion sickness is caused by our eye and ear is sending difference signal towards our brain. The eye see no motion but the balancing drums in our ear is telling the brain that we are having hugh motion difference. The brain being the most intelligence system analyse that difference and conclude we are suffering from poisoning and thus combat the system by evoking vomitting command.

Taking lemon slices or ginger stops the signal sent to the brain and stop the confusion.

I shall try this on my next trip.

3 Bow after meal help relieve some problems?

Source of information : newspaper According to some studies by chinese physician, 3 bows after meal can help relieve discomfort in stomach area and to speedup digestion system. You have to bow very very slowly towards 90 degree and must maintain the posture for 1-2min. After 15days, the discomfort around stomach will be improved). Avoid doing if you suffer from digestive acid backflow and have high blood pressure. Anyone tried this before?

Porridge and it's 4 benefits

Source of information : Newspaper

Being a hokkien dialect group, we have porridge as lunch almost every meal. Slightly difference from Cantonese version, Hokkien porridge contains more liquid and not cooked as thick and as soft. We prefer our porridge to be grainy and some mothers like to add sweet potatoes during cooking too.

Some benefit of porridge :

1. Easy to digest


2. Great for those who suffer from stomach upset, the liquid in the porridge helps to replenish some of the water lose.


3. A bowl of hot porridge in cold weather as breakfast is said to be helping the body to combat coldness. (hmmm, quite true as we always find hot soya bean served in mountainess area during our travelling as breakfast)

Hokkien believe that the porridge water helps to "cool" down heaty body too.

Porridge calories : Calories: 150 Protein: 8.4 g Carbs: 23.3 g Fat: 2.6 g Fiber: 1.8 g Serving: 8.0000 fl oz

Very fast porridge cooking method :

• Porridge need to be cooked in low fire or else it will simmer over the pot and spill out.


• A simple method of cooking porridge constantly at high fire without spills out is to add a method spoon in the pot during cooking. The metal spoon will break the energy flow created during cooking and stop the over-simmer problem. You can cut down cooking time by 50% at least using this method.

Some variety of porridge cooking :

1. With seafood


2. With meat


3. With oats


4. With 5 grains (good for its high fibre)


5. With eggs


6. With milk


7. etc etc etc