Jess Cartner-Morley offers 10 tried-and-tested tips to take the pain out of packing

In pictures: Last-minute holiday shopping

It is just possible that I think about clothes too much. I mean, when I heard about swine flu parties, my first thought was: what does one wear? But there is, I believe, one day in the year when it pays to be slightly obsessive about clothes, and that is the day before you go on holiday. A good holiday starts with a well-packed suitcase.

Yet it is almost impossible to get any useful information on the subject of packing, because most people who care about clothes are either much too grand or much too cool to be of any help. When glossy magazine contributors are asked to give their packing tips, they either say something pointlessly snotty (“send eveningwear to your destination in advance, so that the villa staff have time to steam the creases out of your Valentino”) or something unhelpfully cool (“all you need for two weeks is a kaftan, a perfect pair of sawn-off Levis and a slim volume of poetry”). The gritty issues faced in that empty-suitcase-on-the-bed moment are swept under the carpet, and so we struggle on, year after year, panic-buying cheap sarongs at the airport and spending two weeks in the same comfy but slightly sagging cotton jersey dress we wore last year, and the year before that.

But I, my friends, am an anorak – and proud of it. And now, you can be too. Some people’s life’s work is a novel; mine is a packing checklist. Here it is:

1) Work in outfits

Let me tell you a story. When I first started travelling to fashion shows, I used to hear about other fashion editors who packed each outfit on a hanger, with clothes and accessories hung around the neck and shoes in a fabric bag, with each outfit folded into a garment bag. At first, I thought these were urban myths. They are not. And you know what? It is the best way to pack. Not the whole garment-bag, matching-necklace-picked-out nine yards, but thinking in outfits. Instead of flicking through your wardrobe and pulling out “things that are useful when it’s hot” or “things that I can only wear when I’m brown”, think about what you’ll be doing. If it’s a beach holiday, pull out your swimsuits and then work out three or four outfits that you can wear over them during the day. Stick to a few colours – say, navy, white and denim – so that you can mix the pieces up.

2) Take your nicest things

Those “special” things you save for high days and holidays? Take them. OK, maybe leave the diamonds at home if you are going backpacking, but don’t get stuck in a rut of only packing tatty old vests and shorts. Just because you can be casual doesn’t mean you have to look like a scruff.

3) Start a travel drawer

It took me years of running around the house gathering together my passport, spare coin purse, travel adaptors, phrasebooks and maps from different cupboards all over the house before it dawned on me to keep all these things in one place. This saves about half an hour and makes you less likely to forget anything. But possibly I am the only person to whom this wasn’t always obvious.

4) Two pairs of shoes, two cover-ups

Wear Converse or trainers for the plane and pack one nice pair of flat sandals and one pair of wedges. If you’re going somewhere warm, take two light layers that can be worn together: a cashmere cardigan and a blazer, for instance. Then, if you leave or arrive on a chilly day, or if things get really unseasonable abroad, you can layer up.

5) Underpack

If you take something you don’t wear, you will waste time packing it, hanging it at your destination, then repacking it, and probably having to iron it again when you get home. Leave it where it is.

6) Wear favourite jeans on the plane

Jeans are not comfy enough for overnight but great on short flights: the pockets are handy, and they are the right temperature for planes. If you are going somewhere hot you always think you will wear your jeans while you are there, but you never do. One pair will work fine for the journey there and the journey back. Do not pack a second pair; you won’t wear them.

7) Pile first, then pack

Don’t put things straight in the suitcase: this plays havoc with correct packing procedure, and makes editing tricky. When you’ve got your pile on the bed or floor, flick through and remove anything you are not completely set on taking. Then pack in this order: shoes first, and washbags – both packed inside carrier bags, which you can use as laundry bags once you’re away. Books, chargers, an evening bag – I put my jewellery in here so it doesn’t snag on my clothes – and a belt go next. Then swimwear and underwear in fabric bags. Next, anything else that doesn’t need hanging up – fold it or roll it.

8) Keep everything else on hangers

Wrap a rubber band or ponytail band around the top of the hangers to keep them together, then slip a garment bag (the thin kind you get from the drycleaners is fine) over the clothes. Fold over and lay on top of everything else.

The slipperiness of the garment bag will keep everything from creasing – and when you arrive, you can simply hang the clothes straight into the wardrobe, and ignore those irritating non-stealable hangers. Same when you go home.

9) Wear a waterproof watch

Leave your other watch at home. You will only leave it on the beach otherwise and that’s really annoying.

10) A party dress

Never, ever go anywhere without a really nice dress and the right bra to wear with it. You never know who you might meet.