Friends, I am a recovering over-packer. Over the years, I’ve realized how much stuff I pack that is simply not needed. I can’t even blame kids — I was an over-packer before I became a mom. Honestly, I’ve gotten so much better at packing. It really comes from paring it all down to the necessities. So, here is how I’ll be packing for a beach weekend!



Swimwear
Typically, if we go to the coast for a weekend, I’ll just take one swimsuit. If we’ll be on the beach two days, I’ll just wash it after I wear it once, let it dry overnight, and wear it again the next morning. For this trip, I’m actually taking both of my June Loop swimsuits. Well, they’re both a two piece, so it’s not a swimsuit. You understanding what I mean. I LOVE June Loop swimwear. It’s a mother/daughter owned business, and the quality is so amazing. I first got the pink/leopard combo and then a couple years later I got the blue dots/blue combo. They are incredibly comfortable, and they don’t ride up/fall down. Love them! For cover ups, I will be taking one of my cotton gauze shirts from Target and a white cover up I found on Amazon.

I almost forgot one important item — my new beach hat! Please excuse my weird smile, I took this quickly to show a friend that I finally found a beach hat that fits my head. Honestly, I would probably order a few more beach hats if it wasn’t so hard to find one that fits! Hopefully I’m not the only one with that problem.
Outfits
To be honest, when we go to OKI, it’s all about being chill. I will wear leggings and a graphic tee every single day, with my Cobian flip flops. It makes getting dressed so easy. To save time and room, I roll an entire outfit together. For this trip, we will be dressing slightly nicer on one night. Emphasis on the slightly. 😉 Also, I know many people will roll their eyes at wearing leggings at the coast but, I don’t love shorts and the leggings keep me from being bit by mosquitos. It’s a win-win. So, for my slightly nicer outfit, I’m taking my favorite white dress, blue/white striped tee, and sandals. It won’t take up any more room than a leggings outfit.
For shoes, I take one pair for the beach and one pair not for the beach. So, one pair of Cobians and one pair of Jacks. Done and done!
Beauty Products
I decant my skincare into travel jars or I make sure and have Sephora samples of products I like on hand. For this trip, I’m taking all my normal skincare except for my moisturizer. I have a Kiehl’s sample that I will use morning and night. For makeup, it’s super simple. I take spf, undereye concealer, cc cream, mascara, and brow products. The bare minimum. I do not have time for nor do I care to wear my normal makeup at the beach.
Books
For this trip, I’m going to take my Kindle Paperwhite simply because I’ve started a few digital books I want to finish. I might take two library books to read when we’re not at the beach. Honestly, I feel both ways about taking a library beach to the sand/water. On one hand, I want to read my book. On the other hand, I don’t want anything to happen to the library book.
Aside from the usual cords and electronics, that’s it! I am kind of proud of myself for coming this far. Honestly, it’s incredibly helpful when I create a capsule in my Cladwell app for a specific trip. That way, I can everything together and decide really quickly what to take.
Are you a minimal packer or an over-packer?