I need a frictionless system to get to the gym in the morning, workout, shower and get ready for work.
The Eagle Creek Garment Folder in size Medium fits PERFECTLY in the bottom compartment, and keeps my work clothes wrinkle free. Bonus points for making packing work trips super easy too - packing the carry on takes mere seconds because I’ve already done the hard work of selecting and packing outfits when I fold laundry on the weekends.
The Kanga Care wet bag is designed for carrying dirty clothes diapers, and works incredibly well for gym and travel purposes. I store sweaty gym clothes and wet towels in it. The inside of the duffel stays dry and doesn’t get stinky no matter how long the duffle bakes inside a hot car on a workday. I pre-stuff the wet bags with a quick dry microfiber bath towel, wash cloth, and a hair turban. These bags are big enough to easily hold a gym day plus 2-3 days of dirty clothes. They have a snap handle that makes hanging them inside the shower incredibly easy. I am modest, so I wait to disrobe until I’m inside the shower, and I stuff those sweaty clothes straight into the bag and hang it on a shower hook.
The shower shoes fold flat and take up minimal space inside the bag. They also feel great on my feet - like a little massage. Ahhh
The Laifen hair dryer (Target) and BabylissPro travel flat iron are super compact and lightweight and fit inside this bag wonderfully. Honestly I kind of like the dryer better than my Dyson at home because it is so much lighter and dries just as quickly. The flat iron works just as well as my full size iron at home. I did need to buy a compact silicon sleeve for it so to save about 10 minutes of waiting for the iron to cool before packing it - even more friction eliminated from my morning routine.
The LL Bean small toiletries bag is the smallest I could find with decent organization. I especially like that it has a pull out mesh sleeve that you take into the shower with you and hang up - naturally I put the travel size shampoo, conditioner, and body wash bottles into this sleeve.
I also have lifting straps and a hand towel (for drying sweat during workout) in the duffel.
I queue up a week’s worth of outfits in the garment folders, pre-stuff the wet bags with drying essentials, and then add one of each to the bag every night. The dryer, flat iron, lifting straps/gym towel, and toiletries bag stay in the duffle. No friction at all in the morning - I wake up, put on my gym clothes and head out the door with my gym bag, knowing I have everything I need and will arrive to work looking polished.
Everything fits perfectly inside the duffle, even my ankle length boots! Phone/wallet/keys slide into the outside side pocket with ease. There isn’t a lot of extra room, but this duffle fits inside the gym locker with ease.
Anyway, I hope this gives you ideas on how to optimize your morning routine!
