OMG. Packing cubes

[falleninlove]

I'm 60. Spent 35 years in a high pressure career which took me around the world. Spent most of my professional life living out of a suitcase.

Getting ready for a really special trip to celebrate combined 60th and retirement and decided, after reading up on mumsnet, to try packing cubes.

OMG. Where have these been all my life. Beyond fabulous. I'm completely blown away. Sorry. Just had to share.

Can I add that as well as packing cubes, pop up laundry baskets are brilliant for travelling too.

I have the compression ones and they are awesome. Brilliant for fitting stuff in to cases and also the privacy thing of not wanting to open your luggage and have airport staff look at your underwear.

We did have to re-pack between cases though - the compression thing means more can fit into the case but this adds weight.

We camp and we are tight for space in the car - instead of trying to fit holdalls in with everyone's clothes, there's packing cubes under seats, between seats, tucked in that little gap in the boot between the tent and the sleeping bag. So useful!

They work especially well if you do Marie Kondo style folding/packing. No need to unpack when you get to your destination as you can just put them in the drawers.

Any odd spaces in the suitcase get filled with things like dressing gown/Toiletries etc.

Here’s another reason to use packing cubes. I am 69 and arthritic and a widow. My house has stairs. I pack upstairs in bedroom in packing cubes. Much easier and safer for me to bring cubes downstairs and then put in the suitcase in the downstairs hallway. I would not be strong/stable enough to navigate stairs with a suitcase but hit on this solution.

I'm overweight (size 29). Are packing cubes still useful when clothes are larger? As I can see the benefit with my kids small clothes but imagine not being able to fit many of my clothes in?

I remember now, it was your thread that finally nudged me to try them after many years of not being convinced they'd work for me! Thanks 👍

Ah sorry then it’s MN. Basically if somebody posts an Amazon link they are converting it to an affiliate link so they get commission if someone clicks it and buys something.

At least sites like Martin Money Saving are upfront and mark affiliate links. Fine if MN post one themselves but not acceptable to convert other posters links into affiliate ones.

I thought packing cubes were great until I tried compression bags for travel. They are a game changer for me and managed to go away on holidays with only hand luggage now.

What the devil is a packing cube? I'm very intrigued

Another convert here. I love them because I can be more organised with my packing and can weight each cube much more easily than trying to weight the whole suitcase to make sure I am not over the limit. Also great because I can leave suitcase downstairs and just take the cubes when packed so don't have to carry heavy suitcase downstairs.

I lvoe it because if I need to get a cable or something from the suitcase I don't have to rummage round to find it.

I love to unpack at my destination and its so easy to lift and shift to draws.

Cube for everything, my set has various sizes plus one for laundry, one for shoes (more oblong shape), one for electrics/ hairdryer.

So now all my electric and tech stuff like chargers, etc are in one cube, easy to find if I need to get something.

If there are ny gaps I put things like my straigheners or toiletry bag.

Also fantastic for backpacks. If you did have to empty it to get to something at the bottom its so much quicker to pull out a couple of cubes than to pull all our stuff out that you don't want people to see or to get dirty.

I'm going to get some of these, and I'm not even going anywhere!

I keep some of my holiday clothes (bikinis, cover all) stored in a cube so I can just grab it to pack. I am currently packing for a trip in a few weeks and am popping bits in the cubes as I go along, rather than an open suitcase hanging around (which is a magnet for the cat to lie in). I also use one that fits into my under seat luggage on city breaks to fit more in and more importantly, it means it doesn’t get squished or, as another poster said, you don’t accidentally drop your underwear when rummaging for your charger.

I graduated to compression packing cubes last year.
Amazing!

@Rainyblue and everyone else asking about dirty clothes. I use 2 or 3 packing cubes for my clothes at the start of the holiday. As I take clothes out and wear them, I start moving all the clean stuff into one cube and put the dirty stuff in the other. I think you can get cubes now that have separate sections for dirty clothes as well.

I just have the Amazon basics ones but I love them. I thought they would be a waste of money before I tried them. They help me pack as I know everything will fit back into my suitcase if it all fits in the cubes, and it keeps similar stuff together.

This - I just use smallish plastic bags of any sort.

We discovered them this year. Of course they are just small bags but they pack neatly due to the boxy shape, you can fill them tightly and zip up and transfer straight to drawers at destination. Never has £10.99 been so well spent!

We use these when we travel as a family, and it means we don’t ever check baggage now even for multi-week trips because everything can fit into carry-ons. In addition to being organizational tools, they really help to squish down clothes so that they are smaller.

Can I ask?

How do they work with hangers? We always pack our clothes on hangers so all we have to do at other end is take out and much easier for unpacking? I can see benefit for underwear, socks and a few bits. I have drawsting bags for shoes.

I like the idea of military packing and would love to know how @MrsMarzetti

Do things get creased? Thinking of my next cruise and no iron or steamer allowed. I usually pack my travel steamer wherever we go. Forgot on our last holiday and it was a tad annoying with creased clothes. Thanks

I have those or similar but they are heavier then our eagle rock versions

We use them in our touring caravan, keeps everything together and easy to find in the small cupboards.

As with a previous poster, my underseat bag is always full of makeup bags and ziplock bags keeping everything separate and accessible. The same for eg a quick overnight work trip with just a big tote.

A bonus of putting underwear in packing cubes is that so many hotels now have shelves instead of draws and some are even open to the room so all the underwear is kept neatly together and discreetly in a cube which feels more private with housekeeping coming and going, possible visitors to the room and so on.

@everygreensock we also do the pop up laundry baskets. We use the ones that fold flat as opposed to the ones you need a degree in engineering to wrestle back into a circle!