Seems like most people have a lot of trouble packing their shirts, especially if they are formal shirts or work shirts they don’t want wrinkle at the other end. Or the women trying to keep their blouses neat and tidy.

You heard about rolling the shirts or folding the sleeves vertically and then folding the shirt; I have seen pictures on Google with instructions and nice drawings. I have fold my shirts in every direction and I have rolled them as well. Conclusion: Be prepare to do some ironing.

But, there are couple options that may save you the ironing, of course you probably put the jacket on and figured nobody will notice your wrinkle shirt, and then, the AC in the middle of this important meeting goes out and while everyone starts taking their jackets off, all you can think is how wrinkle is your shirt, so you decide to keep it on, sweat like a pig and live thru it.

When all you carry is a carry-on suitcase, you are limited to space, and since you don’t want to check a bag because you hate to wait ten more minutes, you shove all you need in a tiny carry-on and expect all your clothes to be perfect just the way they came out of the cleaners. Is not going to happen; take a backpack and fill that up with as many clothes and items you were going to put in the suitcase and leave room in the suitcase for your shirts and blouses to dance freely inside the suitcase.

When you fold the shirts, think where you want the wrinkles to be, if you fold the shirt 5 inches below the collar that is where you will find a wrinkle and a crinkle, but if you keep your folds low they will be tuck in your pants. Fold low and roll the rest, but roll small and tight, big rolls will be just like folding. Finally, pack the shirts before you walk out of the door, I’m sure you are smart enough to put them on top of the suitcase so you don’t forget to pack them in the morning, the shirts should be on top, nothing should be on top of the shirts. When you get to the hotel, pull them out right away and hang them, if you don’t have time to unpack before your meeting, don’t worry, ignore what I said and iron in the evening.

Let’s talk about taking a suitcase, do you already own a nice hard case that folds open and you pack on both sides? Did you say no! Ignore this page and read my Blog instead, or go to Marshals and buy a hard case and read what follows.

Hard case suitcase have the advantage that you have 3 compartments, the one with the zipper, the one that is all open and the one you are going to create for your nice laundered and pressed shirts. If you have garment bag use it to put all your shirts with the hangers that come from the cleaners, the metal hangers, unless your cleaners gives you wood hanger, then you shouldn’t be reading this page, your hotel can have all your shirt nice and pressed by the time you get back from your meeting. Once you pack your suitcase and is ready to go you are going to lay flat across the two compartments the garment bag and then fold it to one side and close the suitcase. Your pressed shirts will in perfect condition when you arrive at the hotel, just open the suitcase, pick up the garment bag and hang it in the closet and your are done. No ironing.

I wrote this article thinking on the men packing their shirts but I’m sure it was a woman who was reading it, so next time your husband complaints about his shirts during a business trip, show him this page, don’t tell him how to do it because you know he doesn’t listen to you, but he will listen to me.