Your index should now be laid out; every single thing you even may need has an assigned location. There remains but one task; that of actually moving all this stuff from the rehearsal studio to the venue. This is where the strategy of automation will not only get the job done in the shortest time possible, it will even squeeze it into the smallest possible area for transport!
Your Index
Instruments/Cases
Peripherals/Cases
Support Gear
Hardware
Power/Continuity
Clothing
Grooming
Medicine Chest
Obviously, the final three lists can be assembled and transported in the smallest piece of luggage that will accommodate it all comfortably. With only rare exceptions, almost all of your hardware “collapses” into reasonably flat poles. So if you’re tired of juggling drum stands, consider a golf bag!
Some final advice; Always keep your individual gear separate from your support gear, and always keep the items you plan to use separate from your “spares” stock. So long as you maintain that separation, it’s perfectly acceptable to put all three in the same “container,” which should be wheeled if possible. Even a collapsible luggage cart can cut your trips to the truck in half!
So; write the lists, use the lists, and they will ensure that you don’t leave that critical mic cord at the club after you’ve left. Or even worse, on the studio floor before you’ve even arrived… And water-proofing as many cases as possible is always a good idea, because all of us have a limit to the things we can control, which could be called a universal truth.