Tips for packing a ready to go lightweight kit for sleep-ins at work

[ItWillBeBetterinAugust]

I have to do sleep-in shifts at work, where I'm on duty in case of medical emergency but am allowed to sleep (not actively working from 10pm until 6am).

There's a room with a comfortable 3/4 double bed and a dvd player and a private bathroom. There is however nowhere for staff to leave personal possessions. Some colleagues leave duvets but tbh this means they are likely to be used by someone else, and they are stored on top of a cupboard.

I've been taking everything backwards and forwards in a holdall without an enormous amount of thought given to sorting out a special lightweight "kit" because this exact role is meant to be temporary, and I was expecting to move to a role without sleep-ins soon. For various reasons though I've agreed now to stay permanently where I am.

Now that it's long term I want a better kit!

What I have now is annoyingly heavy - I have to carry it up a couple of flights of stairs as well as storing it upstairs at home.

Any expert packers? What would you have as your ready to go sleep in bag?

Which bag?
Which duvet/ duvet substitute?
Which sleepwear (has to be as respectable as day wear, so pyjamas)?
Which toiletries and light weight towels?

Aim overall is light weight and low bulk but nice so I can get comfortable and not feel as though I'm awkwardly making do (which is how I feel now, sleeping in a sleeping bag but with a bulky unwieldy hold all none the less).

I don’t know if it’s in your budget, but white company do a fairly affordable (for them!) washable and very light and warm duvet . It rolls up really small and is very light. Yo’d want washable given it’s on a shared bed, and it washes brilliantly. www.thewhitecompany.com/uk/Super-Soft-Ultra-Wash-Duvet---10-5-Tog/p/super-soft-ultra-wash-duvet-tog-10-5?swatch=No+Colour

And use a travel towel

I like Primark Pjs and a hoodie to throw on if you're called upon. Would you be allowed to leave a bag with a lock on top of the cupboard that has your duvet in?

DustOffYourHighestHopes that duvet is exactly the kind of tip I was looking for! Perfect!

I have a rubbish travel towels, it's not very absorbent so I take a huge heavy thick bath sheet atm. I need to find a better travel towel.

Any tips for a bag? I'm a bit old for a backpacking rucksack but something easy to carry up and down stairs?

Decathlon have some amazing towels that are lightweight but massive! The dry you well when wet and wash and dry fast.

Get a compression sack - so you can pack whatever sleeping solution you decide upon, stuff it in the sack and compress it.

Sometimes being able to fold well can make all the difference. Look up folding of duvets etc online. It's amazing how small you can find stuff.

Any space under the bed? Locked bag?

Di11y there isn't room on top of the cupboard, it's actually a medication storage unit, it's just a couple of colleagues leave duvets on top!

I could leave a locked bag somewhere - when I first started I left an "emergency kit" of a change of clothes and a few other things in an equipment storage room. I was allowed, but it disappeared...

The problem is I have a few colleagues with tidying up and reorganising obsessions and things disappear - not stolen, but tidied up by someone. It's a fairly big place and it was three months before I found my emergency kit...

So I'd rather have a light weight kit in a comfortable to carry bag and take it back and forth.

Thanks for the pyjamas tip. Atm I sleep in leggings and a loose t shirt at work.

I picked up a light weight Cath Kidson bag in the sale. It comes folded into a smaller bag which I use for toiletries and weirdly in the middle of the night when you're knackered it's a nice feeling to be all matchy matchy It's roomy enough for cosy blanket and sheet, slippers etc. I do a waking night though so most of the room is taken up with biscuits and coffee.
I keep it packed and ready so all I have to do is grab it and go.

SciFiScream excellent, thank you for the decathlon tip!

Things don't really get stolen at work, just reorganised and tidied away... The nature of the job is that I might not see some of my colleagues between monthly meetings so it can be a problem... People are well intentioned but personal possessions can be tidied away and not be findable when needed! So I don't want to leave anything in case I can't find it at 10pm!

eliope that's what I want - something to make a short and potentially broken night cozy and pleasant! I have to work til 10am after a night and although I have really good sleep hygiene at home, at work I sort of feel I'm perching there waiting for morning! I do sleep but not enough. I think snuggling down under a nice duvet will psychologically improve this compared to my current sleeping bag, but a nice and easy to carry bag will make it pleasanter too.

If I pass some upcoming professional exams I'll get a one off lump sum, and would like to splash some of it on making my working life pleasanter (rather than using it to pay for teen DD's language learning holiday as I was going to, but we're going to just put money aside for that!)

I'd go with a really lightweight sleeping bag. Those pack down to nothing at all.

Yes you need pleasant and cosy otherwise it's horrible. Hush do some nice pjs, not sure of quality. Hope it all goes well with your plans

While you are in decathlon for your massive swimming towel...you could look at their own brand bags like these www.decathlon.co.uk/55l-bag-essential-navy-id_8558319.html

They have lots of sizes 20litres to 80litres I think. They zip right round so you’d be able to pack in a more organised way than you can with a backpack style bag.

Decathlon also have full zip fleeces that would be good to put on over whatever you sleep in if you have to get up.

SlowMoFuckingToes I currently use a light weight sleeping bag - it's the only light weight thing - but it makes me feel as though I'm camping out.

eliope it's nice to"talk" to someone who understands!

QuillBill thanks for the bag tips - the zip is a good point. Perhaps decathlon have a pillow too...

At the moment half my bag is taken up with a pillow - I tried a blow up one originally, but it deflated in the night! Any pillow tips?

www.marksandspencer.com/coverless-edith-10-5-tog-duvet-and-pillowcase/p/hbp60439114?image=PL_05_T35_5710D_E4_X_EC_90&color=BLUEMIX&prevPage=srp This could work?

After once having to rush DS to hospital in an ambulance in the night with full on lights and sirens so no time to get dressed when wearing particularly awful pyjamas, I no longer wear pjs. I wear high waisted leggings and a longline top to bed. M&S and gap have good ones.

FenellaMaxwell I just ordered the white company duvet but that M&S one is better because you bung the whole thing in the wash and don't need a cover, and it comes in its own bag... And it's cheaper!

Now I'll have to cancel the white company order!

I shouldn't be so impatient!

You could get a cot bed pillow as they are smaller.
www.amazon.co.uk/Junior-Feather-Pillow-Toddler-Littens/dp/B07FQYWTJ9?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

We had a really good one that was down and our kids take it on sleepovers now. But.......it’s from the White Company! 😮

there is a trick to rolling up a sleeping bag really tight, but it will not air when rolled up or in a bag. Consider having a spare one at home and swapping them for airing or washing, like your towels. Do you have a workstation where you could put a hard suitcase, locked, with your name/department painted boldly on the side? You will also need basic toiletries and possibly medication.

We have some nice Thermarest camping pillows. Not cheap and we bought the medium sized ones which are smaller than regular pillows but they do a large and x-large size too. They are washable and they encourage a cool tumble dry cycle as it plumps them up.

Pyjamas wise, I'd opt for leggings and tunic top. Or similar lounge wear.

My sleeping bag is a 3 season bag and soooo comfy. I'd personally wonder whether buying a duvet will really change the camping feeling, as that's effectively what you're doing....

Pillow wise, you could opt for a travel pillow, though I've never been enamoured. But a memory foam one could be good alternative as can be rolled small.

I don't think that you're going to get smaller in size when folded than a sleeping bag and rolled pillow if opt for a duvet. And would think those carried in your hand and a small rucksack with nightwear, toiletries and small towel would suffice.

QuillBill thanks - I ordered the white company soft ultrawash pillow and duvet. I was going to cancel the order when I saw Fenella 's duvet suggestion, but the M&S site seems not to want to cooperate with me so I might just leave the white company order and enjoy some luxury at work!

Thanks PigletJohn - I use a light weight small sleeping bag ATM but it's the only light weight small item and U think I'm space and weight saving in the wrong place as I don't sleep as well in a sleeping bag (plus I get a shock when someone bangs on my door or yells or phones internally in the night and I'm zipped in! ) so I'm indulging in buying a light and washable duvet and pillow.

There's space under the workstation for one person to leave a suitcase but we're a team of 8 and we couldn't all do that (only one of us there at night but six of us do nights). I am completely sure anything left in the office would be tidied away somewhere - and wherever it was tidied to someone else would tidy it to somewhere else- and I'd be searching for my case every night.

SoloMummy actually you're probably right that going for one bag is going about it the wrong way, and a small bag plus duvet and pillow separately might be better - it's not as though I'm walking far, it's just that the bag I have is a pain to carry up and down stairs both at home and at work.

Hammam towels fold down to next to nothing, you can get them on Amazon, I always pack them for beach trips or holidays

You can get suitcases on wheels that have backpack straps hidden in a pocket. They open like suitcase rather than from the top, like most backpacks. Like this:

www.ospreyeurope.com/shop/gb_en/sojourn-80-1

You can get them from cabin baggage size up to full suitcase size with a zip on removable daypack with proper protected laptop storage.

Those Hammam towels are beautiful!

goingoverground those bags look great - might have to go on a wish list for when (fingers crossed) I get my bonus for passing my final exams in August!