Totes Are The Answer

     When traveling with Grandma, totes are the answer to so many things.  I sort snacks from drinks and breads from can goods and, the most important, I keep the wet and sandy clothing separate from the dry items. 

     I am in the swimwear business so my grand daughters bring along a lot of suits and cover-ups.  And then we have beach towels and sheets to spread on the sand, and the list goes on and on.  Who wants to be putting on a clean dry suit and find it full of sand and little crabs?  Not my girls!

     Here is the solution that works for me.

       We load up all of our suits, towels and sheets in a nice deep tote.  Obviously you can only take what you have room for so adjust accordingly.
     Then, place another tote on top of that one.  Make the top tote the same size but shorter, for space purposes. 
     You're starting out the trip with the top tote almost empty but that works.  What you do want in the top tote is your garbage bags, empty grocery bags, and a few other items that we will talk about at a later time, so you have easy access to them, and you don't mind those being a bit damp at times.
     That's the start.

     Now, here's the plan. 

     You are done on the beach and back at the car.  You really want to get the sand out of all of those places it doesn't belong so the suits just have to come off.  This is especially important if you are hitting the road and going to be in the car for several hours.

     Look what you have here.  A basically empty tote, just waiting for all your wet and sandy items.  You really don't want to bag them up because they will have no chance to start the drying process and will become real stinky, real fast.  Last thing you want in your car or on your body later.

     From the tote, you can either shake then items out and hang them to dry when you have a chance or throw them in a washer.

Wet stuff - under control

How does this help your budget?  Well - in the long run it will save on swimsuits that could be ruined by mildew.  While on the trip - you will have much less laundry to do since many times the wet stuff will dry and be just fine to use again.  Also - you will not have to wash all those items that were never used but messed up from the sandy and wet stuff being thrown together with them.