I am, by nature, a chronic over-packer. I once brought four pairs of shoes for a three-day trip because I couldn't decide what I might need. My wife has learned to just quietly remove two pairs from my bag before we leave.
What's actually cut that down is telling an AI chatbot the real details of a trip — where I'm going, how many days, what the weather's expected to be, and what we're actually doing (a wedding, a beach week, a work conference) — and asking for a packing list built around that specific trip instead of a generic one-size-fits-all list off some website.
For a recent trip to a wedding out of state, I told it: three days, one formal event, otherwise casual, checked bag only, expected highs in the 80s. It built a list that accounted for the one dressy outfit without padding the rest of the bag with options I didn't need, and it reminded me about things I always forget, like a phone charger and something for the flight itself, which somehow never occurs to me until I'm sitting at the gate.
The other use for this that's saved me real hassle: asking it to check what I can't bring in a carry-on for whatever specific items I'm bringing, since those rules change and I never remember them correctly. It's not a substitute for checking the actual airline or TSA site for anything you're unsure about, but as a first pass it catches things before you're standing in the security line finding out the hard way.
A packing list isn't complicated, but a packing list built around your actual trip instead of a generic template is the difference between one bag and four pairs of shoes you didn't need.
If you want the slow, no-jargon version of all this — the stuff I wish someone had handed me before I fumbled through it myself — that's exactly what I built On Ramp AI for. Check it out here.