Active traveler Svetlana Khavina tells her travel lifehacks for frequent movers. Take note!
The last several years of my life, I moved a lot. I lived between two cities (Moscow-Dubai), lived in two apartments in Moscow at the same time, had frequent business trips to Switzerland, all over Russia and CIS, moved to Istanbul for 2.5 years, then moved to Ann Arbor (Michigan).
At first, I always went crazy about not knowing where exactly this or that thing was located. You look at your Instagram sometimes and thinking “Oh! Cool dress! I completely forgot about it. I wonder where is it?”. I still have things that disappeared without a trace. I have no idea where I left them.
It was also annoying when you bought new shoes (dress/sneakers/jeans — underline the necessary), forgot about it, the season has passed and after a year already somehow I don’t want to wear it too much…
Or cosmetics, the expiration date of which ended, while you waited for the right season to use it. Another situation was often the following: I saw my favorite sun care product in Moscow on a sale, bought it, forgot to take it to Dubai, forgot it again and again. And in Dubai, I don’t buy it. Because, “Well, I already have it! And then there is no discount here. ” And you go to the beach with Garner (God, forgive me).
After several years of torment, I understood several important things and developed several basic rules for myself:
1) The most important thing which every person moving a lot between different apartments needs to understand — YOU CAN PURCHASE ALMOST EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE. Any item of clothing or cosmetics can be bought in any city in the world (or ordered online). It is clear that there are some exceptions: for example, I took to the US some medicines that I could not get without a prescription; a bag of Svaneti salt (in the states you can buy almost any spice, but for some reason I have never found this magic Georgian powder); cream, mixed by my beautician. That’s all!
2) Reduce the number of cosmetics. I do not insist, I just share my personal experience and express my opinion. Let’s be honest: if you are not Gohar Avetisyan, then on a daily basis you need some tone, something for eyebrows, something for eyelashes, blush/sculptor/highlighter, neutral shadows, and lipstick. This is exactly what in my cosmetic bag. I also threw in there a bright lipstick and a pencil for it, as well as a black eyeliner. All other kilos of my cosmetics are divided between a warehouse in Istanbul and my apartment in Moscow. If I want to make blue lines on my eyes, I will buy a blue pencil in the US. Ideally, of course, you need to come to the conclusion that it is better to care for your skin than to invest in cosmetics. So that besides coloring your eyebrows and eyelashes, you wouldn’t need anything else.
3) Basic wardrobe. But do not forget that for someone it is silk blouses and pencil skirts and for someone sports pants and leather jackets. Carry only basic things with you and try not to keep “what if I go to opera” ones. I usually distribute or sell them, and I rarely wear them a second time. There are exceptions, but as practice shows, they are a dead weight in new apartments. And naturally, you need to get rid of old things that you do not wear. Only if it is not an inheritance, a pleasant memory, or is there any other valid reason for which it is not possible to throw out the old thing.
My personal lifehack: I take the basic things + those things that were bought recently and I have not used it yet.
In general, I would call my suitcase packing “intuitive”: if you doubt for even a second whether you need a thing or no, then you don’t need it!
Svetlana Khavina
https://instagram.com/ladygrimaldy/
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