How to Pack Your Whole Life in Your Car

A Non-Expert’s Guide

Photo by averie woodard on Unsplash

In June of 2021 my boyfriend and I quit our jobs as landscape designers at a large company in Florida. We made the decision during the pandemic, when we changed our potential plans several times. It started off as a pipe dream to live for a whole year in a faraway Greek island. Eventually it was “reduced” down to the plan we are currently living today — living in a different city for one-to-two-month periods.

This meant a lot of things had to happen. One of the most important being that we needed to get rid of our dreaded STUFF and downsize into our car. We were going to live in furnished AirBnbs and short-term housing rentals. However we still needed to pack only what we could fit in our compact car.

I started by going around the apartment. I typed in a note on my phone which items I would definitely want to bring with me. The italicized items are the ones I didn’t end up bringing with me:

• Clothes (in vacuum sealed bags)
• Vacuum Cleaner
• Rollerblades
• Drying Rack?
• Glasses storage
• Laundry baskets?
• Camera
• Towels?
• Cleaning Supplies/Laundry Supplies
• Xbox
• Quilts/Blankets (We brought one throw blanket)
• Pillows (We brought way too many pillows…)
• Laptop
• Shoes
• Mandolin
• Salad Bowl
• Cutting Board/Knife
• Silverware?
• Tupperware?

I rearranged my closet to sort out blocks of clothing that would (1) stay with me, (2) go to donations/be sold, (3) be sent back to my parents’ house, and (4) go to storage. Yes. The dreaded “S” word. STORAGE.

We lived in a tiny 700SF apartment. I thought I was a minimalist. But that was until it came time to deal with my stuff. My boyfriend is four years older than me and he has acquired some sentimental pieces of furniture throughout his life starting in his college years. Also, his parents’ house is not big enough to store his clothes/extra items. Thus, we had a 5'x5'. I hated the idea. However, in the end, it became a saving grace. It meant I had a backup plan for furniture I couldn’t sell, kitchen items I wanted to keep and not repurchase, and other basics like our beach chairs, lamps, etc. On our last day before moving, we closed the door to that storage unit and I gave my boyfriend a big hug and just cried tears of accomplishment and bittersweet relief.

Now, to the Actual Car-Packing

I am by no means the packing-your-life-in-a-car expert. After all, I’ve only done this once. However, I am sure by the end of this year I will be the car packing extraordinaire. I can only share with you my tips after this one learning experience.

Disclosure: This portion of my article contains an affiliate link. If you click on the link and purchase an item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. I only ever include an affiliate link if I want to share an honest recommendation for a product I paid for on my own.

The Car

I sold my Toyota Corolla (on the day of our 12 hour drive…ha that’s another story) for the journey and we consolidated to my boyfriend’s much nicer Volkswagen Jetta GLI. It’s a compact car…too compact. Just kidding. It worked out fine.

The Good…

I wish I had more things under this category. However we’re still learning and hoping to improve our minimalist lifestyle as we go on.

1. We packed ONE medium overnight duffel bag for the two of us. We did a stopover in New Orleans, so we each packed one side of my Lesportsac weekender and left enough room to fit my journal, and toiletries bag (a lifesaver).
2. By far the best thing we did — We packed our clothes in vacuum sealed bags!! I bought these and they worked out really well. This brand comes with a hand pump that worked super well so you don’t need to be a psycho like me and bring your beloved vacuum cleaner. My boyfriend also had the Ziploc and Target brand which worked just as well. I would definitely recommend the jumbo bags because of their versatility to pack linens, clothes, and even pillows and blankets. They turn your clothes into literal heavy ass bricks of clothing but they are a lifesaver for shrinking your clothes while also protecting them from dirt during your journey. They naturally lose a bit of suction over time, so I would recommend this for your 2–4 day journey but make sure you remove your clothes from the bags as soon as you get to your destination or they may get too wrinkly and weird.
3. We brought our bikes! As a last minute decision. We read that our destinations would be good for bike riding so rather than storing our bikes, we put on the car mount and brought them with us! It’s been just a few days here in Austin and we’ve gotten so much use out of them. The downside was that we couldn’t open the trunk while the bike mount was on, but it worked out fine because we just planned accordingly and kept all things that would need to be accessed in the backseat.

The Bad…

1. We didn’t do a good job at consolidating everything. Ideally I wanted to have the backseat almost empty. Ha! Well, that was a pipe dream. It would have just given me greater peace of mind when stopping places that we didn’t look like we were holding a ton of valuables in our vehicle. An empty backseat will definitely be on my bucket list for this year!
2. Our cooler backpack failed. We packed it with 6 frozen water bottles and 4 ice packs. And only added 2 bottles of kombucha to the bag. Kept it zipped up, but the kombucha wasn’t very cold by 6 hours into the drive and by the end of the 2-day journey the other kombucha leaked despite the seal being unbroken. It was hot and humid in that cooler by the end of the 2nd day. Yuck! There’s really no need for a cooler. Just stop at a fast food place very few hours and stretch your legs.
3. Too many books. *Cough..cough* at my boyfriend. Nowadays you can find any information you need on the internet. There really wasn’t a big use of having a box full of books with us.
4. Too many winter clothes. This was kind of by necessity, as it would have cost far more to ship boxes of clothes to my parents house, but next time we make our way towards home, I’ll definitely be dropping off my vacuum bag of winter clothes at home.

The Ugly…

Luckily nothing ugly! It kind of sucked to have a full car that felt to be overflowing at times, but in the end most things we brought will bring us a bit of comfort when staying in a home that is 100% not our own. By the end of this month, when it’s time for us to make another drive, I know we’ll prioritize and pack more thoughtfully. Hopefully will give an update when that time comes!