well Fiona, if its a beach holiday ( which is us, we have a 7yr old ), then, this is what I normally pack,
1/ daytime tops, ie; vest type, 5 in different colours
2/ nighttime tops, 7 or eight ( usually cotton, don't take up much space if you roll 'em up !)
3/daytime bottoms, ie; shorts, skirts, 3 or 4 ( always pack cut off jeans, they can look great with wedgy sandals and pretty top for night )
4/ nightime bottoms, white linen trousers, jeans
5/5 bikini's
6/ p'j's
7/ underwear !
8/ 3 pairs flipflops and 1 pair wedgy sandals
Erm, I think thats about it ! I'm sure other HT members have more space saving idea's but I do usually end up with my suitcase well under my allowence, ( mind you, with it all changing to a lower allowence for a lot of airlines, I might have to leave a pair of flipflops behind ! ..... nah, thinking about it, hubby can leave behind 1 pair of jeans to compensate ! )
anyway, hope this helps !

Mix and match is the key. That and downsizing your toiletries. I can't believe how much stuff I used to take!

It depends where you holiday I suppose, but as I can buy anything I need and cheaper in Turkey then I just don't bring it with me. I know when you have children though you like to have things to hand, be prepared kind of thing. I just don't take any medical supplies bar a packet of headache tablets and a box of plasters! Try to decant things into smaller bottles as well, or buy small sizes.

I also don't take much in the way of footwear. Some people take x flip flops for day use, trainers for trips that require more sturdiness, then all their going out sandals/shoes for night time. I take trainers, flip flops or crocs and one other pair for evening use, but then I am all for comfort with footwear on holiday so the same pair of flatties or wedges can go with everything for evenings.

Try to restrict your hair care stuff as well. All the hotels I've been in in recent years have had hairdriers despite them not being flashy 4 stars or even 3 stars. Let's face it, in the heat you are never going to get your hair as pristine as at home once you step out of the room and back into the heat again! I know a lot of people won't travel without straightening irons and all manner of styling products but it does save on weight and bulk in your bags.

sandc,
bought a pr of cordless straightners, have a travel sized hairdrier, toiletries /suncare are always the stuff that adds the weight to case.

Will be wearing trainers going, so will take, flip flops, flaties (ballerina type) and a pr of sandals, planning on flip flops being in my hand luggage.

Trying to alter the amount of clothes I take which are always more than I need.

Fiona

Compared to what I used to take, I have cut down so much on stuff I take on holiday.

The worse culprit for overpacking in our family is my husband!
( He is the "Imelda Marcos" of shorts! )

we only holiday a week at a time, the first couple of trips the OH took all her 221/2 kg allowance after brining back so much unused i started to question what she put out for packing, now our last jaunt she had 14KG [leaving 6 kg allowance for goodies] and still had unused clothes, MY case usually hits 15kg outbound, but i have proper trousers jacket ties,waistcoat,and long sleeved shirts for the evening [the jacket is just under 2kg] all my day ware is of the thin tropical type [ no shorts/t shirts sport shirts as i don't wear them] we have on one holiday managed to get down to 12 kg each.. but the discussions on what to take got a little hotter than the holiday sun

To be honest, now that they can't go in hand luggage, it's toiletries that bump the weight up in my case.

My husband says that I travel pretty lightly compared to most women. (Compared to my sister I certainly do!)
I never bring anything back unworn, and I often wear things more than once on holiday
(No problem in washing things through - especially if you have access to a washing machine )
I don't take loads of shoes - and only 2 bags, a beach one and one for an evening.

But I could open a shop with the shorts my husband possesses!
In fact, I might set up a stall on the Strip this year and sell off some of the ones he takes with him - he'd never miss them!

Milly_molly
I have to agree with you as to regards toiletries, why oh why cant companies sell some of their goods in a travel sized bottle, no not 100 ml size , maybe 150 ml espcially for holidays/travellers.
They would no doubt make a mint from this!

I know you can get minature/trial sizes of a few things, but they are much too small to do for 2 weeks away
fiona

I find those that do a smaller size, they end up not being very good value. I'm going to search for some plastic bottles so that I can decant stuff into them.

SandC,I bought some small bottles(pack of 3) at the pound shop to decant shampoo,shower gel etc.

Diane

We go on Thursday for 2 weeks and packed over the weekend. OH works at Stansted and took the cases in today to weigh and both came out at 17KG each! Not bad considering we are allowed 23KG per case. Extra shoes will be going in tonight Now I just need to re-pack as the smallest case decided to detach itself from the zip this morning

I bought some small bottles (pack of 3) for something stupid like 49p from home bargains.

I went to buy all my toiletries on Saturday. I was looking at the heat protection spray that I usually buy for my hair. A little bottle cost £1.49 - the same price at the big bottle I usually buy - ridiculous!

I bought myself a new case, weighs 3kg empty which is much better than the ones we used last year -they weighed something like 5/6kg, meaning I can pack more clothes. Ooh and it's all pink and girly

I can't really give advice on cutting down on clothes because I'm rubbish at it, I'm just lucky that my boyf doesn't take much so I can put a lot of the toiletries in his case.

I do recommend stuff like travel hair dryers, straighteners etc though. My boyfs mum gave me a pair of travel straighteners and they're brilliant. Not cordless (don't think they're very good) just really small. I don't think they're that expensive to buy either, think these ones were from somewhere like Savers.

At one time you could buy empty bottles with caps from the "body shop" this allowed you to pour contents from the bigger sized ones,
I have been in to my local branch and they don't sell them!
Mind you, I did buy them from Inverness branch 6 yrs ago so maybe the policy has changed

fiona

Just had a look on http://www.ebay.co.uk at some bottles (empty ones) item no is: 380032854101

Fiona

I just take bottles of shampoo/shower gel etc that I've already opened and used some at home - if it's ½ or â!” or even just â!“ full then it's enough for the holiday and the little bit leftover can be left behind What I do is keep an eye on the stuff I'm using at home and when it gets down to about ½ full and I've got a holiday coming up, I'll put that one away in the "holiday stash" and open a new one to keep at home.

With there being the four of us in our party, I pack normal sized bottles.
But the other three MUST use the same stuff (i.e. one bottle of shampoo etc between them.)
Of course I couldn't possibly do that, I need my own *specialist* stuff!

I do usually buy smaller bottles of *my* stuff but I think this year I'll just dispense some of what I
already have into small bottles. (Something I always mean to do but never get round to)