I was recently had to travel out-of-town for work. Our family’s preference for traveling light meant my ninja packing skills fit 3 days of business-casual clothing and traveling-office gadgets into a 40L travel backpack. Some of my colleagues were amazed–as they wheeled their full-sized suitcases down the hall. As a pick-up-truck family, packing light for travel has always been our thing. We just don’t have space for stuff.  Our Spring Break Road Trip really had us paring down to the essentials to travel 5,000 miles with practically no storage space other than our legroom.

The great thing about packing light is that you end up with easy access to what you do bring along because you have to be so organized to make it all fit! Here are the simple tools we use to organize family electronics–all the gadgets and accessories, plugs and cords and batteries–while traveling.

What Family Electronics Travel with You?

It depends on the type of trip, of course, but in general, we would travel with…

• 2-3 cell phones (Mr. Fix-It, myself, the Ladybug)

• 2 laptops (1 family laptop, 1 work laptop)

• 3-4 tablets (3 children’s tablets, 1 work tablet)

When you add charging cords, earbuds, backup batteries, etc., that ends up being a big jumble of cords and pieces everywhere. And it only gets worse when you unpack at a hotel and everyone is scrambling for an outlet! So how do you corral all of that into an organized and accessible package? We use a couple of simple products that I’ve come to rely on no matter where or how long we’re leaving home for.

Kids Tablet Carrying Case

Each of our kiddos has an Amazon Fire Kids tablet.

{As an aside: I can’t recommend these devices highly enough! They’re a regular Fire tablet but they are preset with parental controls and monitoring options in place under your existing Amazon account. So your kiddos can have access to ALL your awesome Prime benefits (Audiobooks, Prime video, Amazon Music, etc.) and you can monitor and filter content as much (or as little!) as you deem necessary. For each device. So I can have completely different limits and filters on the 13 yo and the 9 yo. I love it!}

Before traveling, the crew each download a couple of movies, a music playlist (or two, in the case of the teenager!), and at least one audiobook of their own choice/interest. Each of them packs their tablet and accessories into a simple neoprene sleeve tablet carrying case–voila! Instant organization!

We have used these basic neoprene sleeves for years and never worn them out or broke a zipper. The tablets will fit with the bulky kid-proof cases. We required those for years too. When they’re allowed to down-size to “grown-up” covers, they fit even better.

The kiddos each keep the following items in their carry case at all times, whether traveling or not…

• Earbuds (We like these Uber earbuds.  They are soft and comfortable, have an in-ear or over-ear option, and different colors so we can tell who’s is who’s.)

• Charging plug and cord  (We like to use rapid chargers with extra-long cords.)

• Backup/external battery pack (We have several styles, the best choice for packing seems to be the flat profile ones.)

The backup batteries are something new we’ve added to our essential packing lists over the last year. We didn’t need them on our road trip because we had plenty of time in the car to charge devices (with a small power inverter). But as part of our hurricane/emergency preparedness family plan, we keep them charged and available for our devices at all times.

Adult Tablet and Laptop Carrying Case

By the way…we use the same thing for our work tablets and laptops. A simple padded neoprene sleeve (here’s a 10″ tablet one, and a 13″ laptop one). I love the neoprene exterior. I wouldn’t call it “waterproof.” If you dump water on it, it does NOT bead up and roll off. But it DOES absorb the water. It will soak it all up into the fabric instead of it dripping through onto your electronics. So your sleeve is wet, but your electronics are not.

And it’s washable. Everything in our life has to be washable. {smile}

Cords and Cables Organizer Case

This handy little cords and cables organizer case by Hynes Eagle Travel Gear is my secret weapon. I LOVE this thing! Whether we’re taking a 3-hour drive to Mimi’s house, or going out of town for a week, this plug and cord organizer keeps everything neat and tidy.

What do I keep in there?

• Laptop plug

• Cell phone rapid wall charger, with plug and cord

• A car charger adapter (been a while since I needed one of these, but it came in handy while driving an office pool car!)

• Earbuds

• Wireless laptop mouse with batteries(I love this little thing! It makes working on-the-go so much easier.)

• A couple of USB flash drives

• Backup/External battery charger
• A travel surge protector (the one pictured can slide into our organizer case at the last minute as I zip it up and I got an awesome price during Prime Day, but this newer, flat design would fit even better!)

I have also tried the highly recommended Grid-It design. While it definitely provided the organization needed, I did not like all of my items being exposed within my bag. Too much chance of snagging and catching as I pulled it in and out. I found myself putting it into another bag, then into my main bag, which seemed to over-complicate the whole thing. The Hynes Eagle organizer closes neatly around everything and I can just toss it in my bag and go.

Color Coding Accessories

Last, but not least, I try to color code everything to each person. It’s not that hard since you can usually find everything in at least the standard primary colors these days. Tablet covers, cases, and earbuds are all the same color for each child. Things like cords and plugs that only come in black and white are marked with matching color washi tape. I’ve also used colored sharpies to add initials, but I like to use the colored tape as a backup. The marker has been known to rub off, and my kiddos’ initials are pretty similar. Colored tape is a much quicker, easier indicator when the squabbling starts.

The best thing about corraling all the electronics and accessories this way is that we can keep things neat at home too. Everything stays in its case while being stored in our cabinet at the home office. That makes it easy to grab-and-go for waiting in the car, at appointments, or while running errands.

Do you have any tips for organizing the family jumble of electronics for travel–near or far?