One of the biggest hassles when preparing to pass through airport security is sorting all of your liquid, gel, and aerosol-based toiletries. Not only is it crucial to stick to the TSA’s 3.4-ounce liquid limit, but carrying multiple tubes and containers also requires valuable space in your carry-on. However, savvy flyers have found a remedy for this common concern, and it’s surprisingly cheap and effective.

An Eye-Opening Solution

The TSA typically imposes a 3.4-ounce liquid limit only on carry-ons, allowing liquids of any size to be stashed in your checked luggage. But some people prefer to travel with just a carry-on, as checking a bag often comes with additional fees and lengthy wait times at the carousel. Plus, if you’re traveling for a weekend or a quick business trip, there’s usually no need to check a bag. 

If all you have is a carry-on, though, you need to worry about not just the liquid limits, but also how to store your toiletries in the limited space of a smaller bag. For this reason, contact lens cases are a clever solution. Each case holds around 2.5 milliliters of liquid, which is far below the 3.4-ounce (or 100-milliliter) limit imposed by the TSA. 

And since the cases are designed to seal in liquid contact lens solution, you don’t have to worry about any of the contents leaking out onto the rest of your luggage. They’re a helpful tool for storing toothpaste, moisturizer, shaving cream, makeup, or any other similar hygienic product.

Saving Carry-On Space

Aside from TSA liquid limits, airlines also have strict size limits for carry-ons. The issue is how to maximize the limited space in your bag. If you think about it, you’re likely not going to use an entire tube of toothpaste or a whole bottle of shampoo during a short weekend getaway (or even a weeklong vacation). So, why not just portion out the amount you’ll actually need instead? As a bonus, you won’t waste money on travel-sized toiletries at the drugstore. Contact cases are also smaller than refillable travel-sized toiletry containers, so you can fit a lot of them in a quart-sized bag for the security checkpoint.  

Before you leave for the airport, squirt a bit of toothpaste, moisturizer, hair gel, or another product into each individual contact lens container. As long as they can all fit in a clear plastic toiletry case, it will be smooth sailing in the TSA line.

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