Once you decide to go on a trip, what is the first thing you tend to do? For many people, it is heading to the local mall to buy new clothes. In most cases, you this is mistake and a waste of money. If you are going on a trip, you can usually find all the clothing you need already in your closet and drawers.

You see, the same clothes that might make you look stunning at home make terrible travel clothing. Travel apparel demands certain sacrifices for those of us who are more formal. For example, if you insist on dressing up every day, it can make things rather difficult. Unless you use wrinkle free travel clothes, you have to pack an iron. Your clothing, no matter how carefully packet, will get wrinkled. You might also have to take it travel garment bag with you to keep things from getting too messed up.

More to the point, insisting on dressing well all the time means that you have to bring more clothing for travel than you would otherwise. A casual dresser only has to bring enough outfits to have a new one for each day of the trip, or at least every other day. If you are a snappy dresser, however, you'll need to get two sets of travel clothing: your formal one, and a relaxed one for outdoor activities.

This is the cardinal mistake of many travelers. Buying new shoes for your trip is akin to putting your feet through the Spanish Inquisition. We are talking torture here. New shoes are not broken in and do not conform to your feet. This means you can expect to get blisters the first few days of your trip.
 If you are going on a trip, stick to the shoes you current use for walking around. If you must buy something new, just buy it in a month before and break in the shoes. It is easier to deal with blisters when you are home!

Being an upstanding human being, you probably wear some refined pieces of clothing. Refined clothing does not do well on trips. Personally, I believe just thinking about putting it in the luggage will ruin it, but who am I too say. Regardless, you should avoid any clothing that requires dry cleaning
We all have our different  tastes in every thing  when it comes to clothing. One of the factors we consider is the color of your clothes. Some people look good in blue and others do not. Whatever your color is, you should try to pack a selection of clothes in it. If most of your clothes are in blue color, for example, you will generally be color coordinated regardless of the combinations you wear. This is particular good advice on longer trips where certain pieces of clothing just will not survive the wear and tear. If you look like you are wearing a loud golf outfit at the end of the trip, you got it wrong.

If you are going to be traveling for any extended amount of time, you should incorporate the above into the basic following rules. Take only clothing that is light in weight. Take only clothing that can be rolled up. Take only clothing that can be easily washed. Never take anything along with you that will wear only once or to a special occasion unless you are absolutely sure the occasion will occur.