The Best Way To Organize Your Family’s Pool Bag
Going to the beach or pool with kids is no joke. It can be very fun once you arrive, but the process of getting to the destination is usually so much work! This is my second summer with two kids, and I think it’s taken me that long to figure out the best way to organize our family’s beach bag/pool bag. So, please, learn from my mistakes and implement a simple system like this from the get-go.
The last time I wrote about this topic was in 2021, in a post titled, “Everything You Need To Take Your Baby To The Beach or Pool“. I still stand by most of everything I wrote in this post. But in 2021 I only had one kid, and he was still kind of a baby. So things have changed.
For one thing, the name of the post itself reveals one the goals: to list everything you could possibly need. But in the past two years, I’ve come to trust myself more as a mom, meaning that I don’t feel like I need to bring a bunch of stuff with me everywhere. I’ve also become more and more of a fan of minimalism. It’s so much easier to navigate the pool or beach with your family when you don’t try to bring the world with you. One bag is usually enough. The simpler, the better.
Also, it’s becoming more difficult to get out of the house with multiple kids. With every additional family member comes an additional round-up of items to add to the beach or pool bag. That really adds up when the list is long. Along with minimizing the overall list, I have decided to shift my organization approach from person-focused to category-focused. This is what my new system looks like…
How We Organize Our Family Pool Bag
First, I start with a HUGE waterproof bag. Seriously, very large. Here are a few that I love:
Then, I organize each category in smaller bags. For example, one bag for everyone’s sunglasses, one bag for sunscreen, one bag for snacks, etc.
I prefer this approach because circumstances can vary. Some days you go to the pool in the evening, and then you don’t need sunscreen. Sometimes you’re doing some water play activities in a backyard, so you don’t need goggles or pool toys. And when it comes to preparing the bag, it’s just simpler to think about each category in batch. (Ex. “Do I have everyone’s sunglasses?”)
For each category I prefer clear bags so that I don’t have to worry about labeling and can just quickly see what’s inside. I love these for their quality and good price point, but there are plenty of other options out there, including bags with cute labels.
Swimwear and clothes are the only thing I organize by person instead of by category. I like to assign each person one wet/dry bag. These are what we use, and they’re great because they have 2 compartments each that are completely waterproof, so you can store a wet swimsuit and extra dry clothes in the same bag without any dripping. I’ll also throw in swim diapers and dry diapers for a baby into these bags.
Another change that has really simplified our approach is to simply use water wipes for everything. I used to think that we needed different types of wipes for each use case–baby wipes for diaper changes, sanitizing wipes for hand washes, facial wipes for cleaning up food, etc. Now I’ve just simplified the process by using water wipes for everything. We can always wash hands when necessary and possible, but for the most part, simple water wipes are sufficient for all use cases.
Here is a summarized list that you can reference while packing your family’s pool bag:
Pool Bag Packing List
Organized by person in wet/dry bags:
- Swimwear (+ swim diapers, if applicable)
- Dry clothes (+ diapers, if applicable)
- Hats
Organized by category in clear bags:
- Sunscreen
- Sunglasses
- Goggles/pool toys
- Snacks
Also in the bag:
Clipped on the outside of the bag:
How We Organize Our Family Beach Bag
What about a beach bag, you ask? Well, the beautiful thing is that this pool bag transitions very well since it’s organized by category.
I can just swap out the goggles/pool toys with beach toys, and we’re ready to go. Although, due to the sand, I do prefer to store beach toys in their own separate bag. Something with holes, like this, is ideal for shaking the sand out.
We typically don’t need a change of clothes, either, since we’re usually at a house by the beach, which eliminates all of the wet/dry bags. Instead, I create one category-focused bag for hats.
So then our family beach bag packing list is as follows:
Beach Bag Packing List
On each person, wearing:
- Swimwear (+ swim diapers, if applicable)
Organized by category in clear bags:
- Hats
- Sunscreen
- Sunglasses
- Snacks
Also in the bag:
Clipped on the outside of the bag:
In a separate mesh bag:
- Sand toys
Do you have any must-haves for you family’s beach or pool bag?!
