Who Packs The Heat in Your Home?
If you don’t hear from me in the next week, don’t panic. I’ll be revisiting the Beach House With No Internet. I’m hoping I’ll be able to at least post from my iPhone, but without 3G service that may just be too annoying to deal with.
I was up until Midnight packing for the trip. It took MrZ 15 minutes to pack. Because he packs his suitcase. And that’s it. Now, I wouldn’t have it any other way because I feel more confident everything makes it on vacation if I’m doing the packing, but it had me thinking: Are we the only ones that do this?
Do you have kids? When you go on vacation – who does the packing? Are there lines that divide the two? MrZ is in charge of his shoes and clothes, but I do pretty much everything else. And if he tried to help? I’d just follow him around crossing things off a list to make sure we didn’t forget anything important, so what’s the point? I just do it because I’m annoying.
What about you?
Best. Face. Ever.
I do all the packing for vacations, even my husbands stuff. That way, like you, I know exactly what is packed and more importantly where everything is. Plus, then I am the only one to blame if something gets left behind. One thing I have started lately though is letting each kid pack a small backpack with things they want…small toys, blankies, whatever they think they can’t live without. That way they have a job and they get to pack things I might not have thought were important.
The same in my house. My husband doesn’t get why I start to pack a week in advance since it takes him 20 min max to back his bag.
I am the packer, and your description had me cracking up, because well that is what I do too.
That face says Nobody likes me everybody hates me I am just gonna eat worms…
Have a blessed vacation.
If Manoj were trekking off for a trip with the kids all by himself, I would let him pack because then forgotten items would be HIS problem. Eh. Otherwise, I am packing ALL of that shit myself. Except for his bag because again, HIS problem. Keep in mind this is the same man who forgets to put shoes on the children when taking them to my mother’s house.
I am nothing if not a team player, no?
We are just the same as you. On a camping trip long ago, I kept asking “Did you pack the…?” until I earned the responsibility. And it does take me forever. And ever. And he can just get up, pack a bag and be ready to go.
I do the packing for any trips, but that’s because I got my Dad’s expert packing genes, not because I’m the Mom of the family. I can make anything fit anywhere and pack a car as tightly as a moving truck. It is one of the things that I just rock at!
I do the packing, too. According to my husband, since I’m female I can fit things in a suitcase better.
I do it all. I ask that DH pick out his clothing, but I pack it. It’s just easier, b/c I know exactly what we need. If left up to him everyone would have sandals, one shirt, one pair of shorts and that’s it.
i’ll carry this one step further – i pack the diaper bag for outtings…. and if he does, i unpack it and do it again to be sure we have everything i think we need. so then why do i get mad when we are out and he asks “do we have any ______ with us?”
I do all the packing. The hubby checks whatever I packed for him to make sure he has everything he needs, but other than that, it’s all me. I do have a list for myself so I don’t drive myself (and everyone else) batty, but there’s no guarantee that I won’t anyway.
LOVE that pic! Such the little drama queen! lol
My husband packs himself, and I do the rest — including reminding him of half the stuff he forgot to pack ; )
Funny you should ask–my family of 3 is leaving tomorrow for a week at the beach, and my husband and I got in an argument over the fact that he wanted to have a party (small, but still) at our house tonight and I said that we couldn’t because I needed to pack! He’s done his part of the packing and doesn’t understand what the big deal is. Just wait until we’re on the beach and don’t have something we need…then it will be all my fault!
Happy vacation!
I am going through this right now (we leave for the Jersey shore tomorrow). My husband put all his clothes on the bed and left for work. His only other responsibility is packing the car tonight. I’d rather be responsible for packing the bags than the car. Thanks to our 2 kids we no longer travel lightly.
I love that face. I have one of my stepdaughter..she’s in full fairy outfit in her carseat making the same face, with wings coming up behind her. She’s a grumpy fairy! haha.
And I am the same way..but I usually even pack my husbands stuff. He’d forget underwear, or his toothbrush, or something vital.
Maybe I’m not very trusting of anyone else to do the job? hahaha. But I’m with you, I’d be too worried it wasn’t all getting done. Have a great trip!
Not only do I pack myself and my son, I have to hold my husband’s hand to get his bag packed. He cannot pick out his own clothes for some reason and needs me to tell him exactly what to pack. Now, before I met him, this man traveled internationally for his job. What did he do then??
It’s the same at our house. If it’s his, he packs it. (He travels for work a lot and needs no assistance, thankfully.) If it is mine, the kids’, or shared, I have to pack it. Laundry is the same too. He does his own. Only. I shouldn’t complain about that (but I still do).
We couldn’t decide where to go during the week one kid’s daycare is close in August so we aren’t going anywhere.
Are you kidding me? We’ll be going to the parents’ for dinner and he’ll be all toe-tapping, are-you-ready-yet-because-I-am. And I’ll ask archly, are there diapers in the diaper bag? Food for Biscuit? Snacks for Grommet? Sippy cup and bottle? Extra outfits? Pyjamas? If the forecast is gloomy, do you have their rain jackets? Toys for the car? Have you packed that book I’m returning to my mom? NO? Then YOU’RE not ready because we’re not ALL ready.
Trips? I wouldn’t even trust him. This is the man who was only responsible for his own clothes and forgot to pack his bathing suit. For a beach vacation.
I didn’t read the other comments but I’m going to guess all of the answers are the same: he packs for himself and I pack for the rest of the family.
I let him “help” me pack for the girls once. That was the trip that none of my daughter’s sleeping items (stuff animals, blanket, pillow) made it so she slept in a bare pack n play. It was also the trip that we had to buy more diapers for my youngest because for some reason he thought 2 diapers a day for a 3 month old sounded reasonable. So it is just easier if I do it – that way I know everything makes it in the bag. Please his heart he would do it if I asked him but he would only throw in about 1/2 of what was needed.
My husband lays out his stuff (clothes, shoes, shaving kit) and then the packing fairy (aka me) comes along and gets his stuff, and everything else, into suitcases. One of the packing fairy’s jobs is to ask “did you remember your …..?” It’s been that way forever in our house.
My mom always did our packing for us, until we were old enough to do it ourselves, and then if we forgot something and we forgot? Oh well.
Great picture!!
Have lots and lots of fun!!
I pack myself and the girls, and I used to pack my husband, until I forgot to pack his underwear.
Last year, DH was working full time and I was working part time, we went camping and I packed and it was perfect. This year, I’m working and my DH is a stay at home dad so he packed. Disaster. We didn’t even have flashlights. At first I couldn’t figure why and then my DH was the one that pointed out he packed. We both had a good laugh. I told him it was probably better that I packed for trips from now on.
We leave for vacation tomorrow and yes, I pack everything. Husband only packs his bag. I don’t think he would know what to pack. Heh.
We don’t have children, but I do all the packing. Since there is just two of us, there’s not a whole lot. He does all the loading of the car.
I’m the packer at my house too! If I didn’t, DH wouldn’t remember that it even needed to be done until midnight and then would keep me awake while he did it (if he remembered at all). I remember telling my mom once that I packed us both for a trip and she warned me “don’t set that precedent.” But the damage had already been done and now that’s the expectation! Doh!
I’d be following him around with a checklist too, though, so it’s probably for the best.
Greetings from my overused iPhone. I’ve been at the lake house with no Internet for almost a week. I’m over it.
Oh and I pack my stuff and the kid’s stuff and the husband packs his own. He won’t do it right otherwise and/or he’ll whine too much.
I pack everything. My husband lays his stuff out on the bed (from a list that I made for him) and then I spend a whole day packing for myself and the two boys and all the “equipment” you need for a trip. I have a huge list and I nearly loose my mind by the end of the day but we have everything we need!
I don’t have children, so I have nothing to contribute but “Have a wonderful vacation.”
P.S. I would like to know what you pack first. The first thing I pack is my camera bag.
Yup – i’m the packer here too; you are not alone. Have a great trip!!
I do EVERYTHING!
I do EVERYTHING! Like you said, I would never trust that he got everything that was needed and then would hound him about it. I unfortunately do his stuff too.
Anal retentive me keeps a spreadsheet labed Vacation stuff and then different tabs are for different trips we’ve been on and what we need for the trip. Like we went to FL last year and did the same trip this year. The list I needed was already there. I didn’t have to do another. I know…i am nuts.
Yup, I pack EVERYTHING for me & the kids. Leo packs only his stuff. But if he forgets pajamas or something, it’s somehow my fault. Go figure.
We went camping this year and I was packing all the food, kid stuff, my stuff, etc. and left him to pack the 4 RoughTotes that we have all the camping stuff in – and by pack, I mean lift the full RoughTotes and place in vehicle. So we get to the campground many hundreds of km away and I discover that he didn’t bring the tote with the sleeping bags in it. Sigh. So even when I’ve packed the things, I can’t trust that they make it into the car. Misery.
What happens when you get home? My husband drags all the bags upstairs and flings them on the floor and walks away. I have to put everything away. Makes me want to kill him.
It almost makes vacations more work than they’re worth.
I pack myself and kids – hubby packs himself. Our deal is that hubby also responsible for to and from the car. I don’t have to lug the heavy suitcases in and out.
I think it’s a pretty good deal!
I pack. Without question. When we had an emergency trip to Toledo last weekend my husband said he’d pack and I actually laughed at him.
Because I am an asshole, apparently.
I’m like you – I’d just be following him around with my list and fretting over whether he remembered Maddie’s thermomether and sippy and binky and diapers and sleepers and ducky for the bath and…
Yup, crazy. That’s me.
My husband doesn’t pack ANYTHING. Not even his own stuff. His job, according to him, is to lug everything to the car and load it and unload it. I’m such a sucker.
I do just about all of it. Even most of the husband’s stuff. Because he is a baby. Frankly it is a bone of contention in our house.
This is the exact reason I am a raging bitch by the time we leave the house for our vacations and get into fights with husband because he tells me vacationing with me is such a joy. I pack for EVERYONE. And it sucks because I am always so stressed out.
I should hire a packing nanny, hand her my list and be done with it. But then, like you, I would probably follow her around making sure she did it right.
I pack our bags, too, but not before I start making my list about 2 weeks in advance. That way as i remember things I can add them to the list, and by the time packing day comes, I’ll have everything. My husband packs his own stuff but I have to fold his shirts (he likes the way I fold them. Whatever.) Last time I let him pack he didn’t follow the list and forgot a whole bunch of stuff. Never again!
Just chiming in with, “Me too!” I pack all the bags, except his (though I keep reminding him what to put in his) and then he packs the car. I have to dictate what goes in the trunk and what goes in the “cabin” but he makes it work.
My inlaws have a house on Lake Martin. My husband has a whole stash of clothes and underwear there so he never has to pack when we go there. He did the same thing at my parents house in Ohio.
My husband packs everything, including my stuff. He harasses me about at least picking out clothes for myself for a couple of days, then he gives up and just packs for me. Occasionally I whine about not having the shirt I really wanted to wear or something, but I’m usually smart enough not to make too big a deal out of it.
He packs all the kids’ things, all our toiletries, snacks, whatever we’re taking. He’s awesome and I would be completely and totally lost without him. When he’s out of town, I can barely make it out of the door for work in the mornings!
Gah. I pack for my two boys. I pack for me. I pack the stuff that everyone needs (e.g., shampoo, beach towels, Q-tips). And while he packs for himself, I secretly hope he forgets underwear.
And another thing! We just got back from a car-trip to a distant state, and the ONE THING I asked of the man was that he use the car-top-carrier thing for some of the stuff so I’d be able to see out the back window (of our mini-SUV) when I drove. Did he do the ONE THING I had asked (ever so sweetly?)? Nope. Grrrrrr.
So yeah, on the way home, the guy pays $70 to ship our dirty laundry home (WTH? Who does that?!), and he STILL managed to pack the stuff so I couldn’t see out the back window.
Okay. I need to not think about this anymore.
Heh, heh. I made my husband read this and he made a face when he got to the list and then started laughing. This is us! And he’s a pilot, so it’s not like I think he can’t pack (but, well… his idea of an outfit is a shirt and shorts, regardless of color, so…).
Yep, I do all the packing for trips except for my husband’s suitcase. I pack everything for myself, the kids, and even the dogs (who usually stay at grandma’s when we’re away). Otherwise something important would be forgotten – like diapers!
Our first weekend away in another country with a 6 month old baby and hubby kindly did the packing. Our son slept in the jumper he had been wearing all day and a pair of my socks. Who only packs one change of clothes for a weekend away with a baby? http://www.flickr.com/photos/82706753@N00/182223360/in/set-72157594187910730/
Needless to say, I do the packing now, both the bags and the car. If you want a job done properly you have to do it yourself!
Awww. Why so sad?
Hope you’re having fun! Miss you!
I do the packing. All. Of. It. And he knows it, so he’s just resigned himself to it. Except that he’s resigned himself too much and doesn’t even venture put his clothes out for me to refold and pack anymore. He just thinks I know what he wants to bring. I make him take stuff out but I know he would need 5 bags if he packed and I could fit everything in one! He’s not allowed near the bags.
She did the packing for the kids. My excuse was that I couldn’t tell A’s clothing from B’s and I would end up packing all of A’s and none of B’s. That was my story, and I stuck to it…
We did end up with a scheme whereby she would make a few piles, and I would take care of getting them into the suitcases, and thence into the car.
I could (and did) load up a diaper bag, that was no big deal. I did as much diaper changing as she did, so it’s not like I was going to forget anything crucial.
I’m like you… I do the packing for me and the kids. He packs for himself. Sometimes I even double check his stuff though! He seems to think jeans are the only necessary clothes for any and all occasions. I have been known to add, or make him add, a pair of nice pants and at least one decent shirt- depending on the trip.
OH- and he gets to be my errand boy while I pack for the kids. He fetches the things from their rooms that I haven’t grabbed yet… if it’s easy to find and I won’t have to do it again later.
I’m responsible for me, my son, and any “general” stuff for the whole family–my husband packs for himself and, if we’re taking our dog, the dog’s stuff.
This works out for us. I make an embarrassingly detailed list (in Word, and yes, I keep different versions of packing lists at the ready for various situations so it’s easier. . . do you see the flashing *DORK* sign?), I start packing a week in advance and am barely finishing up by the time we load the car. And I CANNOT LEAVE until every item on that list is actually marked through and I’ve mentally double-checked where I packed it, just to be sure.
My husband, on the other hand, starts packing the night before–or even the day of–and it takes him no time. However, I must say that he has, on occasion, asked to see the list of what I’m packing for myself so it will help him remember everything, so maybe he’s only that fast because I’ve already done all the thinking and made the checklist.
Lately, I have requested to pack up the car as well, which my husband totally doesn’t mind. I’m the one who gets antsy if it looks like there’s any chance that something won’t fit, or won’t be where I think it should go, so it’s just easier that way. Like Del said, if you want a job done properly (i.e. MY way). . .
If it weren’t copyright infringement, I could copy and paste this onto my blog. There’s nothing worse than having something, leaving it at home, needing it when you get where you’re going, and having to go out and buy another one, because really, who needs two of them! My husband packs his stuff, and usually forgets something he needs. Meanwhile, I’m checking stuff off the list as the kids bring me their stuff to pack. I start making my lists weeks in advance. Which reminds me… *off to start my list!*.
I LOVE the face. The octupus is perfect! I do all the packing, hands down. It’s just easier that way.