Why I Love My Travel Drawer (and What I Put In It)

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I first heard of a “travel drawer” right here on Lifehacker, where Kristin Wong wrote about the idea in 2016. I mentally rolled my eyes. Setting aside a whole drawer just for things you only use on a trip? But now I have one, I love it, and I’ll tell you all about what I keep in it and how it’s changed my life.

What is a travel drawer, and why would you want one? 

A travel drawer is a permanent drawer (or similar location) in your home where you keep all the items you only use when traveling. As Kristin Wong wrote in that fateful article: “Packing typically means rounding up all the junk you’re going to take with you on your trip: your passport, travel adapters, chargers, toiletries, and so on. You can save a lot of time keeping all of that junk in one area.”

My travel “drawer” is a rolling plastic tote that lives under my bed. My passport lives elsewhere, but otherwise I use it exactly as she described. My beloved hanging toiletry bag? It’s in there. Adapters I only use in hotel rooms? Of course. A selection of packing cubes? You know it. And not only does it make packing easier, it makes unpacking easier as well. I come home, dump my dirty clothes in the laundry, and put my travel items right back in their drawer. Five minutes and I’m 80% unpacked.

In theory, you could use your suitcase as the travel drawer, but I find a suitcase is one of the least convenient places to keep travel things. Because when you travel, you don’t usually want all of your travel items. (Some are for flying, some are for road trips, some are seasonal…you get the idea.) You’ll bring this item, but not that one, and then what happens to the rest? You just have a big pile. If you go this route, at least have your travel things in a bag or box inside the suitcase.

What I keep in my travel drawer

Besides the waste of a drawer, the other reason I was skeptical at first was that I didn’t imagine I had that many travel-specific items. But not only did I turn out to have more than I thought (once I collected them together), I found that having a designated space for travel items allowed me to assemble a thoughtful collection of travel items. No more “where will this toiletry case live in the bathroom?” or “is it worth buying this mug if it’s going to get lost amongst all my other mugs?” 

So here, below, are the most game-changing travel items I keep in my travel drawer. I’ll also shout out my colleague Allie Reinmann’s list of travel essentials, which you should peruse as well. 

Packing cubes

I am not kidding when I say packing cubes changed my life. I have a large collection of them in this drawer, because I need enough for my whole family. (I travel probably half a dozen times a year. The rest of the family, usually just once. That’s why the travel drawer is mine, but I share.) I have different sizes and different types, including regular, compression, and my new fave, the clean/dirty packing cube. There’s a divider that lets you put dirty clothes in one side and clean in the other, so you don’t need a separate laundry bag for the trip home.

A pop-up laundry hamper

For the laundry situation while you’re in the hotel, though, it’s super handy to have a pop-up hamper. Toss your dirty clothes in there at the end of the night, instead of stuffing them into a drawer or leaving them in a pile on the floor. Any basic pop-up hamper will do; pick one up from the dorm supplies section during any back-to-school sale.

An organizer for all my chargers

You can organize your cables and adapters any way you like. I’m partial to this roll-up organizer. For my phone, I have a magnetic charging puck that can plug into any USB-C cable, which saves me from having to pack a dedicated magnetic charger or a lightning cable. 

Sleep shorts

You know what I’m always forgetting to pack? Pajamas. Even when they’re on my packing list, I’ll hem and haw about which ones to bring, because I like a nice cozy pair of sweatpants at home, but sweatpants take up a lot of space in the suitcase. On one trip where I had forgotten any sleeping clothes (again), I bought a pair of thin, soft sleep shorts. Not only do they pack up small, I’ve designated them my Travel Pajamas (they can be paired with any of the T-shirts I always pack) and they live in the travel drawer. I never forget my pajamas anymore.

A good toiletry bag with all your mini toiletries

I like a hanging toiletry bag, since it doesn’t really need to be packed or unpacked. My favorite is this little one from Travelon. Pro tip: Bring a single shower curtain hook so that you can hang it anywhere, even if the hotel doesn’t have a spot that fits the little built-in hook.

Inside the toiletry bag, most of the contents are predictable, and I won’t bore you with them. For example, I have a collapsible toothbrush and a mini toothpaste tube. (I don’t usually bring shampoo or soap; a hotel or a local drugstore will provide.) But there are two specific items I’d like to call out, since they save so much space, time and trouble. The first is a little razor that comes in its own compact case. Mine is the Venus Mini, which seems to be discontinued, but here’s an off-brand with the same form factor.

The other, which also fits in my little toiletry bag, is what some product listings call a “pocket pharmacy.” It’s a pill case, but instead of being organized according to what meds you take each day of the week, it’s just a little selection of things you may or may not need. I have ibuprofen in there in case I have sore muscles after a weightlifting meet (a lot of my travel is for weightlifting meets). I have Claritin in case I encounter something I’m allergic to. I have melatonin tablets in case I need help sleeping. The best pocket pharmacies come with little stickers to label all the compartments.

This strangely versatile 50-cent tumbler

When I picked up a 50-cent plastic cup at a Walmart while traveling, I never imagined it would become such a staple for me. Not only is it handy as a water glass, it’s also microwaveable, so it works as a mug if you want to warm up a hot drink. And it’s big enough you can eat a decent sized portion of cereal or oatmeal out of it with a spoon (or a mini travel spork). I got four more of them for our family vacation, and the kids got into the habit of saving a little bottle of milk from breakfast and then making themselves hot cocoa in the evening. Get a different color for each family member, and do yourself a favor and rinse out the milk immediately after using it, OK?