Packing for a year away from home I hope is a lot like packing our camper for a summer vacation road trip. During the summer months we normally spend two weeks with our mini van, pop up camper, and fearless boxer dog visiting some south eastern state or national parks. We have found by these camping excursions that we need A LOT less stuff than we have.

After reading many Durham students’ accounts one thing that people say over and over, ” I wish we hadn’t brought so much stuff.” We are trying to be frugal and not bring more than we can take on the plane. We have set a family goal of 2 checked bags, one rolling carry on and a small backpack per person. (We will let you know how that works out. 😉

We will live in Durham for about 11 months while Rob completes his first year of studies. He has assured me that there are different thrift stores on every corner so if we forget, or can’t pack something we can pick up a replacement at one of those places.

So the task at hand is to begin packing for an 11 month camping trip and home schooling adventure. We began with whittling down our kitchen necessities. What do we HAVE to have in order to set up a kitchen in a small rental house? I was pleasantly surprised that all of my must have items fit in one small suitcase. We still have a bit of room for our dish cloths and spices. Now to whittle down the spice rack. (Spices are fairly light weight and we don’t want to have to repurchase things we already have) Hummm. What are your “can’t live without” spices? If you could only pack say… 10 which ones would you choose? I know which one I will pack first…. Tony Chachere’s. Don’t forget the TONY’S!!!!