With my home-base being Atlanta, Georgia, and my client being in Phoenix, Arizona, I am typically on the road four-to-five days per week.  It must come as no surprise that I have picked up a couple of tricks on efficient packing.

One of the oldest tricks in the road warrior’s book is to ensure that your entire week’s wardrobe coordinates with one pair of shoes (result: smaller bag, lighter bag, ability to carry-on luggage instead of necessitating a check-in, avoiding $25 check-in fee, not having to wait at baggage claim, not giving the airline the opportunity to lose your bag, priceless).

For me, its easy to make my achromatic wardrobe work with a pair of black loafers, which happen to be scuff resistant and adequately stiff/pedal-friendly.  With the loafers, I am able to get by on one pair of shoes during the entire week.   However, when my weekend laziness sets in, and I opt not to do my laundry, while packing my bag for the following week, I sometimes to resort to whatever is still clean: {gasp} creams and browns!

Unfortunately, the only pair of shoes that work with my “brown and cream” wardrobe is a pair of cream slingback heels.  Now, I am not strictly opposed to heels on wheels–heck, I sometimes even go on the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition‘s women-only ride under the same name.  On a daily basis, when it comes to commuting, I just prefer to ride in flats.

For any seasoned female bike commuter, this may be a no-brainer, but here is my new trick that I call “The Shoe Switcharoo“:

Step 1: Put on a pair of comfortable cycling shoes.  They do not have to be cycling-specific.  To demonstrate, I chose a pair of Bensimon Tennis Elastique.  The soles are actually quite flimsy/not stiff, so I do not recommend going out and buying them just for cycling.  They were just what I had on hand.

Step 2: Bike to work in your flats.

Step 3: Once you have arrived at work, change into work-appropriate shoes that match the rest of your outfit, which, in my case, is a pair of cream colored heels.

Voila!  From lack of scuffs and the extra wear that comes from cycling, your “work shoes” are in pristine condition, and your feet both look and feel great.

For those of you who really want to be efficient, leave all of your work-appropriate shoes at work.  I’ve started doing this, just so as to not limit myself to a monochromatic wardrobe each week!