I Used the 10% Rule, and Now I Never Overpack My Carry-On

Chances are, if you’ve ever packed for a trip — be it for work or vacation — you’ve brought a fair amount of “just in case” stuff. You might be the person who brings a giant checked bag for a weekend away, because you feel the need to have multiple options for every potential scenario. But that serves no one — especially the person who has to lug all that luggage around! As someone who vows to never overpack, I created a 10% (or more!) next-day packing edit rule — and it couldn’t be easier to execute.

The 10% packing rule is a two-day process where I’ll pack one day, including all those things I think I need for the trip — the extra T-shirts, or the pair of shorts I throw in even though I already packed one — and then I’ll come back the next day and simply remove 10% of the items. It helps me narrow down my packing to the items I actually need, and it trims the fat of any excess. 

The crucial step of waiting a day to edit my packing, rather than doing it in one fell swoop, is especially helpful. It allows me to see my packed items with fresh eyes. That edit will purge my carry-on of a lot of those non-essential items, and force me to focus on the items that make more sense (such as clothes that work in various combinations in a mix-and-match format, and minimal shoes and toiletries). I take what I actually need, and travel way lighter.

I have a pretty high-stress job and busy schedule, so I love anything that makes my life easier and my load lighter. This does that — literally! By following this 10% rule, I can limit all my luggage to a carry-on. This saves me cash on baggage fees and time on waiting for luggage after my flight (and avoids the stress of that bag being lost or misrouted in the process).

I also feel lighter in a mental sense. Sometimes traveling with too many options makes the trip more difficult and more stressful. I once took a friend as a guest on a media trip, and she spent 40 minutes before a dinner agonizing over which outfit to wear, changing six times. We were ultimately late to that dinner, and she ended up wearing the outfit she had initially taken out of the bag. With my 10% packing rule, she never would’ve had that problem — but because she had that excess clothing taking up mental space and precious trip time, she actually ended up with a more stressful experience once we were there.

Decision fatigue is a real issue when packing and traveling, and cutting it out of the equation leads to a more peaceful journey. (Bonus: Packing fewer items means less time spent laundering it all after your trip!)

When you keep things capsule-based and curated, you can get ready faster and focus more on experiences (and less on deciding which of the six purses you brought for a three-day weekend to use).

As a travel writer I get the opportunity to speak to a lot of other travel writers, and I have discovered that they too have incorporated this lifestyle into their packing routine, in some variation.

“I love this idea as a practice and have started doing something similar myself,” says travel expert and founder of For the Love of Travel, Tara Cappel. Cappel, who confesses she at one point was a notorious overpacker, learned to be concise at one point when a specific weekend trip demanded she do so.

“I could only bring a small carry-on for a weeklong trip and had to be super strategic. Two days before my trip, I laid out all of the clothes I wanted to bring, plus all the other essentials (running shoes, book, toiletries, etc.) and just let them sit there. The next day, I packed the essentials first, which made it very obvious that I would not be able to fit all of the ‘cute’ options I wanted to bring,” she says. “Long story short, I ended up cutting at least 20% of the original selection, getting rid of the bulkier items first (like this one dress that was super cute but would have taken up the space of three others!). It was also really helpful to lay everything out flat first so that I could see where multiple outfits could be made with the same pieces of clothing. I had plenty of options for my trip, and even room for a couple of souvenirs!”

Jeremy Greenburg, chief information officer at SlickTrip, shared that he thinks this edited-down packing method is the way to go. “This packing rule allows you to take a step back and really evaluate whether you need to bring those ‘just in case’ items on your trip,” he says. “The rule helps you travel lighter, as you can downsize from a larger checked suitcase to a carry-on bag. For flights that charge per checked bag, this can save you money on your trip! Also, you will stay much more organized and less overwhelmed, as you won’t be lugging around items that won’t ever leave your luggage during your trip.” 

Ready to do a next-day edit of your own packing and remove (at least!) 10% of what you had packed the day before?

The easiest thing you can do is to start by laying everything you plan on packing out on a clean, flat surface. The next day, take a really honest, strategic look at everything you had planned to pack — and now just remove 10% of it. 

Let’s say you packed five bottoms, five tops, four pairs of shoes, two sweaters, and two purses. That’s a total of 18 items. Technically, 10% of that packing would be about 2 items, so maybe you get rid of two pairs of shoes, which will give you tons of room in your suitcase. You don’t need more than one casual and one formal pair of shoes for your trip, and you can wear one of those when you’re traveling. 

Or if that doesn’t make sense, look at your purses — if you have more than one purse, you can edit it down! And then cull a sweater — bring only the sweater you plan on wearing while you travel, and you’ll free up precious room in your suitcase. 

Or you can make your packing focus to only keep items that can mix and match easily. This lets you create multiple outfits with fewer pieces. Wear your bulkier items as your travel, too, and save even more room. 

And think of the silver lining: By removing some items before you leave, you may just have a bit of extra room in your bag to bring some new items home with you!