My Minimalist Travel Toiletry Checklist

Summer Life Edit Challenge Week Four

Welcome to The Summer Life Edit Challenge, an 8-week series from The Life Edit! Each week, I’ll share a simple prompt or quick win designed to help you live with more clarity, ease, and spaciousness this season.

I get more questions about minimalist packing than almost anything else, so today I'm breaking down how to pare down and curate your travel toiletries so you can simplify your packing game.

Challenge Four: Edit Your Travel Toiletries

This week, your job is to thoughtfully edit your travel toiletries. Let's say goodbye to the dried-up mini lotion you never liked, the cluster of samples collecting dust, the "emergency" bronzer palette you haven't touched since 2019. The goal is a streamlined, go-anywhere kit you can grab without overthinking.

Photography by Vivian Johnson

Step One: Gather the Goods

Gather all your travel toiletries into one place—include that forgotten collection of hotel amenities and travel-sized samples you've been saving for one day.

Step Two: Trim Your Toiletries

Here's what I've learned after decades of travel: hotels and home rentals have the basics covered. You don't need to pack like you're heading into the wilderness!

Challenge yourself to keep one toiletry case (your favorite one that fits your essentials). Stock it with only what you use daily, and experience how freeing it feels to travel without a pharmacy in tow.

Tip: Make sure to rinse and recycle old unwanted products, and do your best to donate unused items you just don’t need (I always give mine to the teenagers!).

Step Three: Build Your Essential Kit

Instead of lugging around a toiletry bag the size of a small child, I've found that these essentials are all I really need regardless of the duration of the trip:

• Deodorant (the only clean one I’ve found that works)

• Face wash

• Face moisturizer

• Hand cream

• Hydrating SPF (I use on face and body)

• Coconut oil (removes makeup, moisturizes everything, tames flyaways—the ultimate multi-tasker)

• Dental trio: toothbrush, toothpaste, floss

• Travel pill case: for daily vitamins and meds

• Minimal makeup: typically concealer, mascara, brow cream, lip and cheek tint. [favorites linked here.]

• My Ride-or-Die Stain Remover

• Mini First-Aid Kit: band-aid alternatives (plastic-free!), antihistamine, anti-diarrheal, cold medicine, zinc, and ibuprofen—basically, the "please don't let me get sick while traveling" essentials.

Travel Tip: Current airline standards require liquids and gels to be in containers of 3.4 ounces or smaller. Most of my regular products meet this requirement; for larger items, I transfer liquids into these leak-proof capsules.

Step Four: Clear Out (responsibly)

Properly dispose of expired products and recycle containers when possible. For unused items, consider donating to local homeless shelters, women's shelters, or senior centers—many welcome travel-sized toiletries.

Going forward, resist the urge to collect hotel amenities or accept free travel-sized products unless you actually need to fill a gap in your curated collection. It's tempting to grab those cute little bottles, but they'll just recreate the clutter you worked so hard to eliminate.

Extra Credit: Trim Your Travel Bags and Gear

While you're editing your toiletries, extend the same streamlining principles to your other travel gear. I travel much more than the average person and only own one small carry-on, a toiletry case, and a handful of small pouches and packing cubes. If I can do it, you can do it!

Simplify the cable situation Count your chargers, travel adapters, and mystery cords. Keep one of each type you actually use and donate the rest. Note: there are lots of multi-use options where a single adapter can satisfy all your charging needs. This one gets top consumer ratings and is super compact.

Be honest about your bags How many suitcases and weekenders does one person really need? Do you really use all those random pouches and dust bags you've saved? (I'd place bets on this one.) Edit down to your version of the essentials.

Create your travel capsule Build a simple, reliable kit: one stocked toiletry case, one good suitcase, one weekend tote, a set of packing cubes. This becomes your grab-and-go setup for any trip.

Smart storage Keep everything organized and accessible by storing your travel gear together. I store my suitcase on the top shelf of my daughter's closet and keep the toiletry bag, packing cubes, and pouches nested inside. This way, everything stays together and I can grab the whole system when it's time to pack.

My Top 5 Travel Toiletry Essentials

• Water-Resistant Toiletry Case

• Rx Case (perfect size for storing meds, vitamins, and first aid basics

• Aluminum Pill Case (I know the price is wild but this is a one-and-done purchase (for life!) and it’s from a small family run company)

• Travel Capsules (compact, modular, and leakproof - for liquids, gels, and creams)

• My Ride-or-Die Stain Remover

💬 READER PROMPT: What's your best minimalist travel tip? Or—if this sounds impossible—what do you always overpack and want help editing down?

Pack Like a Pro in a Carry-On (My Exact Formula)

P.S. My new book LifeStyled is packed with practical tools and inspiration to help you streamline your space, schedule, and mindset all year long.

Supporting: With so many people’s rights under attack, I feel really good about supporting the ACLU. I’ve set up a monthly donation which helps defend the rights of all people nationwide. Info here for those who are interested.

Celebrating: A summer ice cream club! An ice cream club!

Reading: Finally digging into Miranda July’s hit All Fours - have you read it?

Making: Grilled summer corn salad. Recipe here.

Fewer Better Faves: A sleek pouch to pack your shoes (so they don’t touch your clothes!), another just for your workout sneakers, a lucky charm set, and plant-based compostable band-aid alternatives!

1:1 Business Mentoring: No-fluff strategy and support to help you tackle your large and small goals. Get support here

My Signature Online Course: Learn how to edit, organize, and elevate your home like a pro. To the course

Curated Product Recs: My fewer better faves for your home, life, and wardrobe. To the recs

I Wrote Some Books: Actionable strategies to clear clutter, get organized, & elevate your home and life. To the books

Order LifeStyled now from your favorite bookshop! bookshop | target | amazon | barnes and noble | signed copies - now available in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand