Poor Packing Practices

My bag sits on the floor, drooping over the surrounding piles of clothes and toiletries yet to be packed. This gray and yellow bag, a large internal frame hiking backpack that I bought off ebay for $40, will my transport my possessions for the next year. It will be my 35lb burden and constant companion. The bag has been resting on my floor for a week now. Cut free the plastic and tape in which it arrived, but I have procrastinated actually packing it. I dread sorting through the stock of half used bottles of lotions and expired sunscreens I’ve acquired, so I round them all up as I come across them, throw them by the backpack and promise to organize them later. (Later usually comes the night before I leave…a habit I will probably break only after this routine backfires and I forget some important personal item. Fortunately there have been no real catastrophes yet.) It would be easier to run to the store – or turn on my computer – and buy all new items. The travel pack of shampoo and conditioner and the super absorbent towels all sound appealing, but the price does not. Planning a trip on a shoestring budget does not afford itself to material possession overhaul. So, I will bite the bullet so to speak and use the perfectly good, perfectly old, things I already have, and eventually they will be packed up neatly in my bag. I just hope I get a few hours of sleep between packing and boarding the plane.