Mom on the Go - The Secret to Being Prepared
As I’m writing this, my family and I are heading high into the Appalachian mountains to a rental cabin where we've been going for 3 years in a row. My toddler and preschooler are begging for snacks, our dog, Gracie, has finally laid down in the back, my husband gravely stares at the 18-wheelers all around us slamming on their brakes, and our cartop carrier flaps in the wind. Did I bring shampoo, baby shampoo, hair detangler, deodorant, a comb or brush?
I know I absentmindedly grabbed a toiletry bag, but, “Have I restocked what we need,” I wonder while I am handing out Goldfish, turned around in my seat with my bottom up in the air for every trucker or SUV motorist passing by to examine. Eat your heart out CB radio road warriors! Did I really need to bring our huge bag for toiletries, my kids' toiletry bag and a medicine bag so I can’t even put my feet on the floorboard because we're packed in like sardines?
"Pack light," my husband always says beforehand. But I am the bag lady and, with two kids, this is simply not possible! Remembering what we need is hard enough, but packing a kids' toiletry bag fully-stocked, is not plausible with last minute teeth brushing and baby powdering, and diaper changing. Not to mention how most shampoo bottles get "accidentally" used as bubbles, that there aren’t enough (do we even have any?) travel sizes lying around, and if there are they only seem to have enough shampoo left to wash one person’s hair!
I google toiletry travel size items and there are a billion to choose from, and something called a convenience kit. "Pack light, pack smart, travel on," reads the website - what a dream! I wish I would have known about them ahead of time. It is worth any amount of money for peace of mind, especially on a hectic road trip to see your in-laws. It kind of reminds me of when I flew with both of our children under the age of 4 halfway across the country ALONE! I would've paid a lot more than what these kits cost to know I had what we needed for baths, and TSA compliant at that! The 10 pc Johnson & Johnson water-resistant Baby Travel Bag would have made sure my son, whose nickname is "Pigpen", was all clean and entertained in the bathtub with a rubber ducky and a set of plastic keys to boot!
I roll through my mental list of our suitcase’s contents: Toothbrush (let's hope I do not leave this one at the cabin) - check. Soap - check. Shampoo - check! Deodorant - questionable. Razor - highly doubtful. Now, if I could just retrieve my missing shoe that our puppy had hidden earlier in our backyard and now somehow has smuggled into our car! I order convenience kits for my husband, our kids, and myself, which we'll be able to use for all of our summer trips, and after that, the water-resistant bags will go in our pool bag - perfect for the lake, the beach, really anywhere!
At least I know Convenience Kits will make sure I have one thing ready and completely all set, even if the rest of our trips are a piecemealed mess! Next trip I will confidently pack our bags with a Woman on the Go Travel Kit, which I can customize, but who has time for that? They offer Pantene products, Fructis products, Herbal Essences or TRESemme, so I have plenty of options and will have lotion and a razor for ME (shaved legs - woohoo! Unheard of these days)! My husband will have his own Man on the Go kit with options of Axe products, Dove products (he wouldn’t notice anyway, but I will make sure he is smelling delightful), shaving cream, even a Mach3 razor all his own - we would not have to share on the road! There will be no feverish searches for leftover squeezable globs of whatever products have taken up residence in our rental house, no dulled razors or dulling arguments over the razor.
Nope, we will have what we need, whether it's at the pool after swim meets or on the road. Thanks to Convenience Kits, I will feel like a Girl Scout-Mom, always prepared! Check them out for your next trip, and get one or three for your pool bag, too, for the summer.
