Keep Track Of Your Essentials On Your Next Flight With This Hack

If you fly often, you know the struggle. You get to your seat on the plane, struggle to lift your carry-on bag over your head, and make it fit into a tiny spot — if you can find any space to begin with. Or, if it fits, you shove your bag under the seat in front of you as fast as possible to get out of the aisle. But almost immediately, you need to go back in there to get your phone, lip balm, snacks, water, headphones (which you have to make sure you have before they come around with those for purchase), medication, and every other little thing you can think of. Plus, with fees for every carry-on bag going up, you're probably shoving everything you can fit into a large backpack, stuffing it to the brim.

We've got a great hack for you that can help keep you from doing at least the last part of this airplane dance. It will stop you from annoying other passengers by taking down your carry-on bag from the overhead bin repeatedly. It involves getting a smaller case to have all your in-flight essentials in your seat back pocket. 

The hack from BuzzFeed suggests that you pack this smaller case with everything from earphones and chargers to your medications (which should always be with you on the plane and not in checked baggage). Any case, like an old toiletries bag or makeup bag you got as a free gift, will work. Have it at the top of your personal item bag and grab it as you sit. That way, you can avoid having to rummage, or, if you're lucky enough to find overhead space, leaving your personal items up there as well. Imagine having room for your legs instead of squeezing them around your bag for hours. 

If "seat pocket" made you cringe because of all the germy reports of how they aren't cleaned or still contain old tissues from previous passengers, we recommend bringing some antibacterial wipes for your seat pocket case to wipe it down after the flight. Also, many places — including Etsy — make all sorts of foldable seat pocket cases that don't make you put them in the actual pocket. Some of them hang off the tray table, but there are a ton of variations.