I Packed for a Semester in a Single Suitcase — Here’s Everything I Learned About Packing Light

Typically when I’m packing for college, I take everything I own, stuff it in IKEA bags, and shove it into my car to make the one-hour drive to school. If I’m being completely honest, sometimes it takes two carloads to carry everything I pack for my dorm room. So, when the exciting prospect of studying abroad for a whole semester in Seville, Spain, approached, packing light was on my mind: I knew I would have to lock in and figure out how to winnow my usual haul down to a single checked suitcase, a small carry-on, and a backpack full of belongings. 

The tricks I learned throughout the process extend way beyond study abroad, though; they’re useful for anyone packing for college who can’t exactly bring carloads of stuff along with them. Needless to say, these tips for packing light make everything a lot easier to carry! 

Don’t just toss things into a bag willy-nilly — save time (and space) by planning out everything you need to pack. I started out by making a spreadsheet where I listed every item and article of clothing, along with how many of each I needed to bring. This tactic made it super easy to keep track of what I was bringing and cut out anything taking up unnecessary space before I’d gone through the trouble of squeezing it into a suitcase. 

Laying out everything on the floor can also be helpful to visualize what you’re packing. Although it can look like a tornado ripped through your bedroom, seeing the whole mess all at once can make you feel a lot more inclined to pack light. Once I saw how much space my clothing was going to take up, it became a lot more obvious which items to leave behind. 

When you’re packing light, you want to lean into wardrobe basics that you can rinse, repeat, and remix as much as possible. I have a couple of simple long-sleeved shirts that are elegant enough to dress up with a skirt for a nice dinner, but also great to wear to class with jeans. Having multi-use clothing means you’ll have less to bring in the first place — and you know you’ll still be ready for any event that comes your way. 

That’s not to say you can’t find space for a couple of fun statement pieces, but personally, I found I saved so much room in my suitcase by leaning on my most-worn staples and knowing I’d wear them on repeat. 

One of my absolute tried-and-true methods for packing light in any circumstance is to use packing cubes. Not only do they help organize and compress clothing, but they make it easier to fill every single nook and cranny of that suitcase. I even used them to pack up my travel backpack. 

If you’re feeling extra ambitious, you may consider using vacuum sealed bags instead of (or in addition to) packing cubes. Especially if you are packing for college on the other side of the country, it might be worth it to compress everything as much as possible in order to maximize your space — just be sure to weigh your bags before getting to the airport, and pack that vacuum so you can seal everything up on the way home! 

Now, I’m not saying to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe the second you get to campus, but don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to bring every single thing you use on a daily basis. 

I didn’t pack any full-sized toiletries (meaning shampoo, face wash, all that). Instead, I brought just enough travel-sized toiletries in my carry-on to ensure that I would be covered for a couple of days if, God forbid, the airline lost my luggage. Once I arrived in Spain, I went shopping for all the household items I needed, and I never would have been able to fit it all in my bags. 

This tip works for studying abroad, but also if you’re flying to college, or simply trying to pack extra light for a semester. You can always buy toiletries and other necessities once you get there, or even order them online and have them delivered to campus.

There is a caveat to this space-saving rule, though: If you use specialty products, such as specific curly hair formulas or a certain acne face wash, I’d recommend packing those in case you can’t find them near your school. 

Treat your carry-on like you’re going on vacation. Whenever I go on a weeklong trip, I always manage to find a way to stuff as much as I possibly can into one small carry-on. When I was packing for my semester abroad, I tried to treat my carry-on in the same way. I put a week’s worth of outfits into this smaller bag to get a sense of how much space that amount of clothing would take up, and used it as a model for what else I needed to pack. Once you have a solid base wardrobe packed, you can fill up your checked bag with everything else while knowing all the basics are checked off.