I managed to get the permanently packed stuff into two totes.
TOTE THE FIRST
Sleeping Gear
- sleeping bag
- pillow
- air mattress (new this year, the double-height one - awesome!)
- pump for air mattress
Tent Comfort & Maintenance
- small wooden tray I use in my tent
- bug jar (jar with lid I use for divesting my tent of bugs; I don't kill bugs if I can avoid it, I instead gather them up in the jar and put them outside - far outside - my tent
- Raid (for spraying heavily along the outside of the door; helps keeps the bugs from coming in in the first place)
- small tent dust pan and whisk broom
- garbage bags
- miscellaneous little useful things: rope; Sportsman's Goop (great for patching holes in almost anything); duct tape - stuff like that).
Feast Gear & Related
- feast gear (plate; bowls; mug; utensils; linen napkins)
- paper towels
- can opener
Decor
- lantern
- device banner
Other Important Stuff
- tent stakes and mallet
- ground tarp for tent (both of these on top in the tote!)
- there's still room left. :o)
TOTE THE SECOND
Garb & Accessories
- all garb (including underwear and socks - yes, to have the permanent packing plan work, I have special underwear and socks that are just for events, and stay packed with the event stuff)
- two cloaks
- belts, pouchs, mug straps
- boots (sandals I wear to the event)
- scarves and 'wraps' that I wear around my waist or tie to my belt
- small carry-basket
- a laundry container (one of those mesh collapsible things; goes in the tote flat; expands into a rectangle-shaped thing to hold dirty laundry; you do not want to put sweaty Pennsic clothes into a closed up tote and leave them for a week; trust me on this.)
- a parasol (portable shade)
Personal Stuff
- personal stuff that can stay packed year-round (in some cases requires duplicates of home stuff): hair brush, butane curling iron, washcloths, powder, mirror, jewelry box I only use at Pennsic)
- there's still room left. :o)
What's left that falls into the 'permanent event stuff' category but won't fit in the totes, and therefore must just be stuffed in the truck willy-nilly?
- tiki torches
- camp chair
- cooler
- tent
- shepherd's hook for lantern
- stackable plastic shelves (more on those later)
In other words, not that damned much!!
What's left that has to be packed per event? Again, precious little:
- makeup (sometimes I wear it at night; during the day it'd just melt off before I got out of the tent)
- jewelry
- personal toiletry items that I'd rather not store for a year (toothpaste, etc.)
- sleepwear (I could store a permanent set, but it's usually whatever my favorite pj pants are in the moment)
- shower stuff (all in it's own little shower tote bag)
- current reading books
- the current hobby projects
- musical instruments
- tiki fuel
- batteries for air mattress pump
- first aid kit
- tea lights (can't be left in storage, would melt)
And of course food, water, and other beverages. So the 'per event packing' is pretty minimal. Most of it will fit in one additional tote - the only stuff that won't are the things that are just too big for the tote (musical instruments are the only thing jumping out at me there). And the best news is, it won't take long at all to pack it all up, right before the event.
So that's the basics of the Permanent Pennsic Packing Scheme. What goes in the truck?
- Two large totes. All of the shelter necessities (except the tent itself), sleeping necessities, tent comfort and maintenance, garb and accoutrements stay in those totes year round. At the end of Pennsic the totes will come home; the garb and sleeping stuff will be washed, dried and repacked; then the totes will be ready to go into storage until the next event. (the mesh laundry bag should fit back in it's tote, even full of laundry, just for transport home)
- One medium-sized tote for stuff that must be packed up per event, either because (a) it won't store well; or (b) it's stuff that changes from year to year (like whatever the current hobby project or reading book is). At the end of Pennsic that tote will just get unpacked, and the empty tote stored with the filled ones for the next event
- A snacks/food tote
- A cooler
- Large stuff that won't fit in a tote (tent, tiki torches, camp chair, lantern pole, shelves).
It doesn't get much simpler than that. Unless you're even more of a minimalist than I am.
About the plastic storage shelves - I'm talking about those sets of plastic shelving that sort of snap together that you can buy at any major store. I took a 4-shelf set and a 2-shelf set for my tent last year, and it was one of the best tent organization things I ever did. The 4-shelf set was placed in one end, and held all my garb, folded (so I didn't have to leave it in the tote - hard to root around through a tote for garb; and so I didn't have to hassle with a clothing rack to hang things up - I'd actually prefer that, but don't have room for it in my tent). It also held various other items I wanted easily to hand but otherwise kind of out of the way.
The second, 2-shelf unit went against a side wall of the tent, basically in the middle. On the bottom shelf I stored my embroidery basket and other hobby things; on the top shelf I had a nice scarf, then my jewelry box, mirror, a couple decorative items, an ashtray, and my books. This doubled as a bedside table.
These are not easy to pack. They might fit in one of the large totes, but they would take up too much of the room. I decided the easiest way to deal with those is to stack the shelf parts together (the legs conveniently stash in between, so they all fit together flat) and tie them tightly with some "tug-tightening" straps I intend to get - the kind where you run the end through a fastener of some sort, then just pull it as snug as you can, and it stays. Two straps on each set of shelves will hold them into a nice, tight, stackable bundle. The bonus to using shelves is I don't have to leave the totes in my tent - they can stay in the parked truck till I need them for packing. As I said, I hate digging through totes for things. Some people prefer to leave their stuff in totes so nothing gets wet. I prefer to make sure my tent doesn't leak, and keeping things on shelves adds a layer of protection even if I do get water in the tent.
As I mentioned before, although I won't know for sure until after Pennsic, I truly believe this scheme is going to work. I've been to 4 or 5 Pennsics now - not exactly an age-old veteran, but enough to have learned a thing or two about what works for me, what doesn't, and what kinds of things are just annoying hassles I'd really rather not deal with. Having put a lot of thought into it, I am confident this plan is going to work well for what I need for Pennsic, or any other event.
As I also mentioned before, the only drawback to this plan (and it's minor compared to its convenience) is that to make this plan really work the way I envision (i.e., almost no packing effort for any event), I have to take both those large, pre-packed totes to all events - even the small weekend events. But the up sides of this are several: I'll never have to worry about forgetting anything by trying to pack only what I think I need for the weekend; the only thing extra I'll really have with me is extra garb, and that's really no big deal; and the biggest upside - packing for weekend events will also be simplified by default. This was the biggest thing that prompted me to get busy putting this scheme together this year - not Pennsic packing, but the hassle of packing for a small weekend event. I worked my butt off for several days sorting and packing stuff for War Practice (a weekend event in May) - it was way, way more work than any weekend event should be. I remember thinking that between packing and unpacking, and setting up, I spent more time on those things than I actually had to just chill out and enjoy the event. And that's when I decided, no more. I'm making this simpler if it kills me.
Hopefully it worked. I'll find out in only 30 days!!
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