I went on a 13-day road trip. Unpacking as soon as I got home was a game-changer.

15.11.2023 - 17:51 / insider.com / Monica Humphries

I propped open my apartment door and lugged in about eight bags.

I had a sack with 30 pounds of laundry, a suitcase with unworn clothes, and bags full of leftover groceries, laptops, books, and toiletries.

Beyond the overwhelming amount of items I needed to unpack was a smell — and that smell was me.

I had just wrapped up a 13-day road trip in a van, and the Ram Promaster I rented from the RV rental company Native Campervans didn't have a shower or bathroom. While I didn't mind popping into Planet Fitnesses and RV resorts here and there, I had procrastinated on showering toward the end of the trip.

When I arrived in Denver, I was on day five without a shower.

But before I turned on any hot water, I decided to spend a few hours doing chores.

By the time I was done, my belongings were put away, my bedding was clean, and I was stress-free.

This was far from the reality of how my trips typically end (usually, a suitcase full of dirty clothes sits in the corner of my home for a few weeks).

But the process of unpacking immediately helped me put an end chapter on my trip, which left me welcoming — instead of dreading — normalcy again.

After four hours of driving that day, all I wanted to do was shower, crawl into a clean bed, eat dinner, and relax. But looking at the mess scattered across my apartment, there were a couple of chores that couldn't wait to be done.

I had food that needed to get into the fridge, and I needed to wash my comforter.

Setting out on the trip, I knew I would be sleeping in freezing temperatures and wanted the van to feel a little like home, so I packed my only comforter. While I didn't regret the choice, what I hadn't considered was that it'd need to be washed before it went back on my bed at home.

Unfortunately for me, my washer and dryer are in a separate building. This meant that I'd be popping in and out of my apartment building, something I didn't want to do in pajamas, but I also didn't want to shower and put on real clothes.

I opted to do something I typically don't do after trips: start and finish my laundry before I showered. The time between switching loads was also the ideal amount of time to put away everything else I had packed.

By the time my duvet comforter was dry, my apartment was tidy and I was finally ready to get clean and relax.

I'm a procrastinator. I've left luggage sitting in my bedroom for weeks waiting to be unpacked.

I realized that having groceries and packing my comforter was a blessing in disguise. It forced me to unpack, and it gave me the gift of a tidy apartment.

Perhaps most importantly, getting my chores done immediately after a trip allowed me to fully relax. By the time I did finally shower, there weren't any tasks looming over me.

Instead, I could