Tips to Reduce Wrinkles

• Keep your load as light as possible. How many times have you come back from a trip with half a suitcase full of clothes you didn't wear? Pack only items you'll need, and leave the rest at home. Skip bringing items such as hair dryers or irons. Most hotels provide these items in your room.
  
  Put your clothes in plastic bags. Friction causes wrinkling, and plastic reduces wrinkling. Dry-cleaner bags work great. If you're picking up your clothes from the dry cleaners, keep them in the bags. Ziplock bags also work great for shampoo, dirty shoes and other items you want to keep away from your nice clothes.
  
  Roll your jeans and t-shirts. Take a pair of jeans and fold them lengthwise with one leg on top of the other. Starting from the cuff, roll your way up. For t-shirts, place face down, fold arms back so you have a rectangle. Fold lengthwise, and then roll up.
  
  For sweaters and other fabrics use a square fold. Button all buttons and lay the garment face down on a bed or flat surface. After smoothing out all wrinkles, fold material in at the shoulders and fold arms flat along the body to create a roughly two-inch overlap of material on both sides. Lastly, fold up a third of the material from the bottom and overlap a third from the top.
  
  

Packing Your Suitcase

• Now that everything is nicely rolled and folded, it's time to pack your suitcase. Your goal is to create a clothing jigsaw puzzle where no empty spaces remain for clothes to shift. With the bag flat, put folded clothes in a pile down the center. Put all heavy items in what will be the bottom of your suitcase when it's standing. Rolled clothes should fill in the spaces around the folded clothes. Single shoes should be tucked into remaining openings. Socks and underwear should fill any small spaces that are left.
  
  

Upon Arrival

• Upon arrival, you should unpack as soon as possible. If you do have items that wrinkled, try hanging them in the bathroom. The steam from your shower should help remove light wrinkles.