Penny Pincher Fashion

Fashion, Beauty and Style

Fashion

A Tropical Getaway

If you’re following along on my Instagram & Snapchat, you’ve already seen that we arrived safely in Mexico & are busy exploring the area together as a family.  My in-laws own a timeshare in Cabo, so they graciously provided us with a place to stay & all we had to do was take care of our airfare. This was our first time escaping the cold & heading to a tropical destination in the middle of winter & there’s a lot that I learned through the process of planning for our trip.  I thought it might be helpful to share some of those insights for any of you who are traveling to a warm destination during the cold-weather months.  

My first step was to pull my spring & summer clothes out of storage to determine what pieces I already owned that would work for our trip.  I didn’t want to use this as an excuse to spend frivolously & buy an entire “vacation wardrobe”, especially after having just come off a shopping freeze where my eyes were opened to the fact that I already have more than enough. But, I knew that I wanted to purchase a few new pieces for the trip – so I set a dollar amount for myself that fit within my budget and I stuck to it.  I was able to find some great deals & stay focused on buying items that I knew I would wear well beyond our Mexico trip.  Here’s what I bought:
It was definitely a challenge to find beachy items during the off-season.  As always, I recommend using ShopStyle if you’re looking for something really specific (because you can filter by color, size & price point).  You can also locate warm-weather pieces by searching using key words like linen, crochet & embroidered.  Here are the best sites I discovered that have summer styles year-round + some of my top picks:

ASOS – wishing I’d bought this dress & this cover-up
Shoptiques – obsessed with this lace dress
Nordstrom Rack – picked up this ruffled dress for my daughter
6pm.com – almost bought this tank & this jumpsuit
Macy’s, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, Saks Off 5th (most department stores will have a “resortwear” section)


Whenever we are headed on a trip, I plan out all my looks in advance (right down to my shoes & jewelry) and take a picture of each outfit with my phone.  I do my best to adhere strictly to what I’ve planned out so I’m packing as lightly as possible.  I typically keep my accessories fairly minimal when traveling, especially if we’re going somewhere warm.  Jewelry & hats are two of the most difficult items to pack and I’ve had my fair share of these get ruined over the years because I didn’t have a solid system in place.  Here are the methods I now use to get my accessories secured in my suitcase & arriving in good shape:
PACKING JEWELRY




For most trips, I use a travel organizer, which keeps everything neatly in place.  But if I don’t have room for my jewelry roll, I recommend using these handy tricks:

Step 1: Thread any dainty necklaces through a plastic straw to keep them from getting tangled
Step 2: Pull out one large sheet of GLAD Press & Seal (match the size to the width of your suitcase)
Step 3: Lay your jewelry pieces flat & separated from one another on top of the sheet of plastic
Step 4: Pull out another large sheet of GLAD Press & Seal and lay it on top, carefully pressing down in between each item & eliminating any air bubbles (see example here)



PACKING A STRAW HAT




Step 1: Flip the hat upside down & fill the crown with smaller clothing items – this is the perfect place to pack your swimsuits since they don’t need to be laid flat or folded neatly.  Continue until it’s completely stuffed full so the hat keeps its shape
Step 2: Place the hat right-side up on top of your bigger clothing items & shoes (this take a bit of maneuvering so the items don’t fall out)
Step 3: Finish packing, layering items on top of the brim of the hat & working around the crown 


I hope this post has been helpful for you – if you’re traveling to a warm destination in the next few months, feel free to email me & I’d be happy to share more.  I’ll also be posting a recap of our trip + some of the looks I wore on the blog next week, so stay tuned!  Until then, you can get a peek of our Mexico adventures on my Instagram & Snapchat (ppfgirl).

Related Posts