For years I packed for the trip I imagined instead of the trip I was taking. Two formal outfits I never wore. Shoes for a hike I never booked. A hair dryer the hotel already had.
The fix was embarrassingly simple: lay everything out, then remove a third of it. What is left is what you actually wear.
Pick one color family so every top works with every bottom. Three tops, two bottoms and one layer covers a week without anyone noticing. Roll, do not fold. Wear the heaviest shoes on the plane.
Do a small wash midweek. Fifteen minutes in a sink beats dragging four extra days of clothing across two airports.
The payoff is not the money you save on bag fees, though that is real. It is walking off the plane and straight into your vacation while everyone else is still watching the carousel.