Packing cubes. Useful or waste of time?

[Toddlerteaplease]

Thought I might try them as staying in several different places this year. Are they a help or a hindrance?

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If you’re short on time, here’s a summary of the best packing cubes Mumsnetters are recommending on this thread:

➡️ ELEZAY Hanging Packing Cubes (£30)

➡️ WOWTOY 6PCS Packing Cubes Value Set (£7)

➡️ Eagle Creek Reveal Cube Set (£42)

For more recommendations, check out our guide to the best packing cubes, featuring products that have been tried and tested by Mumsnet users and editors.

MNHQ

I used to vacuum pack our luggage but I’d end up with a heavy unwieldy lump of plastic to manoeuvre into the case. You also need to remember to allow room for the pump for the return journey!

The packing cubes are easier to squish into the cavity and fill up all the corners. You can get almost as much in them if you roll everything. Poundland’s offerings are perfectly good, I haven’t felt the need to spend more on fancier ones.

You can (mostly) unzip them round 3 sides, so it's easier to deal with, say, a layer or 5 t-shirts, or rolled items. You can see what you've got, take one and leave the others neat.

Best things ever for travel. Mine are from Amazon. have travelled thousands of miles and are still in tip top condition. You have to get see through ones.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B014VBIH5I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Same. I can fit oodles of stuff in a case and am a pretty expert packer... (I have to be good at something 😂). It must be the way my brain works or something but these cubes just fill me with dread.

This year I sent dd off on her ski trip. The way I packed didn’t fill the case to bursting so there should have been room left for the return especially as there were loads of snacks for the week not coming back with her. Dd had to ask her teacher to pack for her, who still couldn’t fit everything in and dd ended up taking some stuff in hand luggage. I don’t get it.

I’m thinking they may be useful for her in this case. She’s going away again with the school later in the year.

I've been using them for a few years, just standard amazon ones and can't imaging packing any other way. I do think it frees up extra room in a suitcase. Also use shoe bags and waterproof pouches for toiletries. The pouches are handy for carrying suncreams in my beach bag. Bought some extra compression cubes this year, but tbh I'm not sure they make much difference

I just use bags, helps keep the kids organised but I've packed this way most of my life so I'm not sure it's groundbreaking tbh

My large Samsonite suitcase perfectly fits my 4 packing cubes in the bottom half with shoes plugging any gaps, and 2 of these Ikea drawer organisers in the top half for all my bits and bobs. (I lay my jackets over the top to keep everything in place and that half of the suitcase zips closed). It's organised, symmetrical perfection that warms the cockles of my heart

SKUBB white, Box with compartments, 44x34x11 cm - IKEA

I always used plastic bags like this for years but I have OCD and it made perfect sense to me. People ripped the piss out of me for years about it too.

I have packing cubes which I love, and when I'm not travelling, I use them to store my crochet & knit projects in. Wouldn't be without them.

Nice to hear someone saying they use plastic bags!

Hmm I think maybe I can just use bags I've got lying around at home. I need smaller cubes so that I can fit 4 in each suitcase. If I have to put 2 peoples clothes in one cube it defeats the object. I want to unpack by throwing each person's cube at them and getting them to unpack it!

I like them. They're particularly useful if you're taking a large suitcase and you have several children's clothes in them - you can just put the cubes in their rooms/cupboards when you're on holiday. But yes they're useful - you can find things really easily and if you're backpacking/moving around, it makes it quicker and more convenient to move easily.

(I'm not a good packer though and they make me more disciplined and tidy in my bag).

I’m really tempted by these. I pack very carefully, yet I can never find anything on arrival and my case is a mess after two days.

Never used them and reading through the thread I still don’t understand what the purpose of them is - is it saving time? Where/how? Seems like it takes more time organising what’s going into what cube! But then our holidays are pretty much flying to one place and then flying back home again, we all have our own bags so no need to separate and sort. But even if we shared bags, it’s not hard to differentiate my sun dresses from dhs tshirts.
Plus I’d hang things in wardrobes when we get there so it’s not saving any time there.
Underwear/swimwear just get scooped up and decanted into a drawer, it’s not an arduous task. And I have bags at home already if I wanted to separate my tops from bottoms (I still can’t see a benefit of using packing cubes to separate these?!). I am a ninja packer, it takes me about 20 minutes to pack what I want to take on holiday; it’s a piece of piss and I don’t want to spend any extra time hyper organising a simple task.
I just can’t understand what the point of them is!! I use one gigantic packing cube - it’s called a suitcase! But I’m a lone voice here 😂😂

@TheChosenTwo yeah I know. I would have said the same as you, we only bought them when we had a very complicated touring holiday booked with small children, and recent experience of losing a suitcase. But I'm converted. I maintain they seem to defy physics somehow, though the ease of mixing different people's stuff across different cases is definitely part of it too.

I really don’t get packing cubes at all, recently did an 8 day holiday with carry on luggage only on ryanair (priority so cabin bag and small bag) My cabin bag weighed 7.5 kg and hubby’s 8kg, surely putting some packing cubes in just adds extra weight??

Analysis paralysis <---- this is genius. 😄

I suffer from this all the time -- to the extent I spent nearly seven years dithering over buying some wardrobes.

I have 2 sets of different colours. It depends on the trip as to how much use they are. For single destination they are OK but for multi destination trips they are fabulous. We do hotels, long distance trains and cruises as well as long drives on the same trip and they really help.

I didn’t get them either until I got some free with something and tried them. They’re brilliant for keeping everyone’s stuff separate and easily identifiable in a suitcase (and stop someone —dp— screwing all my stuff up while getting out a pair of their own pants despite everyone having their own section in the case), brilliant for in the caravan to stop everything falling out when you open the wardrobe and when I flew last year with just a backpack I was able to fit so much more in using a packing cube and it meant that all my clothes didn’t explode everywhere when I opened the bag to get my passport/put my liquids or electronics in the tray. I’m converted. Some of them are crazy expensive though!

Would not be without them!

Had never heard of these until I saw this thread 10 minutes ago... now I realise I can't live without them and have bought some, despite not wanting to spend money this month. Thanks MN 😠

they are a game changer - l bought 4 sets when we went away at christmas. different colour for each of us. really helped keep things organised.

i use them for work when i travel too - i have compression ones which take up little space in a backpack so i dont have to lug a suitcase with me.

i also use them for storing things that i'm not using - winter coats, jumpers etc in summer, shorts etc in winter.

Most are nylon and weigh next to nothing. Weight simply isn't an issue.

I can see how they work to separate family clothes but for space saving and weight I just roll all my clothes and put in my carry on bag as I travel light. How do they give more space to take extra clothes? I really am tempted though as I like a gadget.

They're £5 a pack in Primark.

I just use plastic bags and then I reuse them for dirty washing to come home, so lights in one bag and dark in another. Then I can just empty the bag straight into the washing machine when I get back

@Lacucuracha nooooo! I paid £19 a pack from
Amazon