If you are going away on holiday you don't need to spend money putting your suitcase in the hold when you can just take hand luggage with you and still have enough clothes to see you through the week, says EMMA HARROWING. Here's the Life Matters guide to how to travel light and still look stylish from beach to bar.

There are three rules you need to stick to when packing for your holiday.

One – choose three colours that work well together and build your holiday wardrobe around these colours so that you can mix and match items to create many outfits.

Two – pack more tops than bottoms as changing your top half will make it look like you have changed your entire outfit.

And three – pack accessories such as belts, silk scarves and necklaces as these will take an outfit into the evening.

Follow these three rules and you will save time and money sorting out your holiday wardrobe and you could even fit a week's worth of outfits into a suitcase that can be carried on board as hand luggage.

If you always take far too many clothes on holiday and end up not even wearing half of them while away, creating a capsule wardrobe could help you focus on exactly what you need while you are on holiday. To help you get started, the Life Matters team has put together a capsule wardrobe for a beach holiday abroad.

For the day you will probably wear your bikini or swimsuit for the majority of the time. You can cover up with the kaftan or put on the denim shorts and use your bikini or vest as a top. You could even wear the jumpsuit for a day out sightseeing, just roll up the legs to make them three-quarter length for a casual look.

For the evening you can put a belt around the kaftan to bring it in at the waist or wear it like a shift dress with a statement necklace. You can do the same with the shorts and vest and the jumpsuit, which can be worn with the legs turned down.

Bright or metallic flats will see you through the day and into the night, but if you really love your heels just take one pair in a neutral colour that will go with everything else in your suitcase.

Check out the Life Matters guide to your holiday wardrobe by clicking on the photo gallery link at the top right hand side of this page.