The Space-Saving Hack For Packing A Belt For Your Next Vacation

When packing for a trip, you might be tempted to roll up your belt and stick it in the corner of your suitcase. However, while rolling your clothes may be one of our top packing strategies, doing that with your belt leaves it sitting there like a donut, with dead space in the center hole. You can try to plug that hole with other small luggage items, but when every inch counts, there's another way to pack your belt that's just as effective — if not more so — for maximizing your suitcase space.

Try wrapping your belt around the inner edge of your suitcase. First, unroll the belt coil, then smooth it out against one side of the interior. As you stretch it along from there, you can curl your belt around the perimeter of the suitcase so that it's flat everywhere but the corners. TikToker @LeahMariOrganization has a brief visual demonstration of this, which you can see below.

Your suitcase may already have straps on the side of it for holding your clothes in place, so if you pull those out and snap them together over the top of everything, the uncoiled belt can then slide in where they were. With your belt now encircling your clothes, as shown in the video, that leaves a little more room in the middle for packing additional things.

Unfortunately, the rule for packing light of "one hat, two pairs of shoes, three bottoms, four tops, five pairs of socks, and six pairs of underwear" doesn't account for belts. If you have one or more belts you're bringing on your trip, you might want to wear one on the plane, but that can be a hassle when passing through the metal detector in the airport.

To belt or not to belt, that is the question. Most suitcases should be deep enough that you can roll a second belt around the inside so that it's stacked on top of the first one. Use the same packing method for both belts, and you can keep them layered on the side of your suitcase while freeing up space in the middle for extra clothes. If nothing else, this space-saving hack will give you some leeway when packing for your return flight, and you have a bundle of new souvenirs to add to your luggage.