You squeezed it.
You sat on it.
You held it down with both hands and pulled the zipper.
Still no.
The toiletry bag has lost the war.
The fix is not a bigger toiletry bag. It is fewer things in it.
The toiletry bag is the most chronically overpacked bag in any trip. 80 percent of its contents are duplicates of what is already at the destination.
From 6 years of teaching this on YouTube, my toiletry kit fits a TSA quart bag with room to spare. The trick is recognizing what does not need to come.
What you do not need to bring.
Hotels supply shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap, lotion. Most also supply a hair dryer.
Air BnBs and hostels supply less, but you can buy the basics on day one for less than the bag-fee cost.
Bringing duplicates of all of these is automatic, not necessary.
What actually needs to come.
Toothbrush + paste.
Deodorant.
Prescription medication.
Specific skincare you cannot replace.
Razor.
Contact lens supplies.
That short list fits in a 1-quart bag.
The 100-ml rule.
If you do bring liquids, they must be 100 ml or less for carry-on.
Decant your favorites into small bottles.
Travel-store mini bottles are 3x the price for half the product.
The full toiletry sequence is in the 10-step Space-Saving Travel Packing Method I built over those 12+ years of traveling half the year.
Smaller bag, fewer items. Most of it was a duplicate anyway.
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Most of the toiletry bag was a duplicate. The hotel already has it.
12-year nomad, carry-on-only traveler across 5 continents, and creator of Organizing.TV.
I help you pack smaller, stress less, and actually enjoy the packing part of travel.