Checklist

Tomorrow is the big day!  Our first camping trip!  Everyone at our house is anxious with excitement.

This means that I'm packing today and will finish up tomorrow before we hit the road.

I have certainly forgotten things on trips over the years.  Husband has, too.  Then there was the trip where my youngest didn't pack any pants and thankfully big sister had extra and that they're close enough in size that it works.  And yes, Mama should have checked to make sure there were pants that got packed.  But didn't.

I attempt to minimize this forgetfulness by making a list.  The list used to be handwritten.  I'd take the list from the previous trip, make a new one and modify it specific to the upcoming trip.  Technology though, it makes this much easier.

I now have a spreadsheet.  Each trip gets it's own sheet, labeled with the location we're going and the dates.  Each person gets a column with all the items they need.  There's a column just for stuff that covers the dog and random stuff and previously forgotten stuff.  There's a column for food.  I also plan the meals for the trip on here.  Finally, I have a column where I can make sure I take out the trash from the house and run the dishwasher before we pull out of the driveway.  As things make it into the camper, I use that strike-through button to cross everything off.

I know there's an app for that.  I've looked at a couple.  The ones I've looked at don't allow for customization as much as I'd like.  So I came up with my own system.