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.

No tricks, just use the space you have. Trousers or shorts on the bottom flat, knickers laid flat to cover the whole area, then the same with socks. Tops folded in half width ways and laid flat. Bras put into the corners. Pyjamas on top. Shower gel, shampoo placed in ziplock bags and put inside shoes which are then placed in larger freezer bags and placed along the straight edge of the case. Everything secure and nothing needs ironing.

Brilliant idea

Thanks. Well, MN do deserve a commission so it is good if they get something.

I've found them them useful on a couple of recent long haul holidays that involved staying in different locations. I could put hiking kind of clothes together and more general wear together. Keep clean and dirty underwear in different bags. Keep camera and wires etc in one place. It just saved lots of sorting day to day. I had a nightwear, wash stuff and make up cube so everything I needed for a particular part of day or particular part of trip was pre sorted. I just packed larger items such as a coat and jumper at the bottom under the cubes. Shoes just tucked in along side them.

Thats actually really helpful.

Well I’ve ordered a whole load of stuff including for toiletries

off next week so hope I can just do it all with hand luggage 🤞

I love them. I have two matching sets in two colours, so one for DH and one for me. One for underwear, one for tops, one for bottoms. It makes it so easy to pack and unpack.

I’ve just ordered some after reading your posts! 😂

I must be using them wrong because I bought some and found them more of a faff than putting things straight into the case.

We have been away for 17 days in 6 locations and packing cubes save my sanity

• pants
• socks
• swimmers
• trousers
• tops
• evening outfits
• teeth
• washing
• suncreams/bug spray
• medical

Whole family packs of:
-rain wear

• warm stuff

Take carrier bags for dirty clothes and fold into them.

Suitcase has a separate base for shoes, chargers/cables.

end sections for the toiletries.

I fold neatly in cubes and never iron.

Whole family uses them.

@AllstarFacilier , how are you using them? I pack things by type - underwear, socks, t-shirts etc.

@MrsMarzetti Please tell me your packing tips for clothes not to be dressed. I have tried everything and nothing works, drives me crazy!

I use a cardboard template and ‘shop fold’. Yes it means sharp creases, but they drop out easily enough to look smart enough

Bonus skill left over from Saturday job in a clothes shop

Fold trousers in half, if need be put a folded flannel where the fold is. Tops should be have one fold width ways, if you have to quarter them use socks to pad out the vertical fold.

I travel by bike and love them, it's so much easier than everything just loose in panniers. I've got Osprey ones that I can just stuff in bike clothes, undies and other things that don't really matter how they're packed, Eagle Creek rectangular ones that have more shape for off the bike clothes that I don't want to get creased, and then a Lifeventure one that is a bit more plastic for my dirty clothes (being a bit more sealed means the stink doesn't get everywhere!)

This is good for a single-destination holiday but wouldn't work for me as most of my holidays involve two or three nights in each place. I can't be digging down to the bottom of the case for a pair of shorts while disturbing all the layers above, and i dont want to unpack and repack every other day..

I use compression cubes but my big discovery last year was the "skivvy roll" technique. Lay a t-shirt flat, place a pair of pants on it. Fold in the sides so the pants are enclosed. Place a pair of socks at the neck end, foot part inwards and the open end sticking out to the sides. Roll up tightly, then fold back the ends of the socks over the ends of the roll to hold it together. On holiday just grab a roll and you only need to add a bra and shorts/trousers/skirt for a full day's outfit. Such a time saver.

Oh and regarding the "rolling clothes saves space" theory, late last year I did a single resort holiday. No skivvy rolls as I unpacked fully on arrival.

I folded all my clothes on the way out and rolled them as tightly as I could on the way back. They took up exactly the same amount of room in the suitcase.

I discovered them last year and think they're brilliant.

On a single destination holiday I rolled up dresses in one, swimwear in another etc. I didn’t even unpack - just put the cubes on a shelf in the wardrobe and took things out as I needed them! We use a different colour for each person. I used another for an outfit/nightwear for my hand luggage.

I also went on a multi-destination holiday so that time I packed cubes with outfits etc for each destination.

Then I use them for dirty laundry too (rolling definitely saves space here).

Brilliant for business and leisure travel.
Business: I try to pack everything into my suitcase so having packing cubes means I can pull out my laptop and cables to work on the train or at a conference, without showing other people my pyjamas. I have one cube permanently in my case, packed with my travel hairdryer and straighteners. Also a permanently packed toiletry bag, one of those fold out hanging ones. Same colour as my packing cubes for aesthetic satisfaction.

Leisure: easy quick unpacking on arrival - treat the cubes with undies and tops etc as mini drawers, just unzip and flip the lid under and put them in drawers, or on shelves. Each family member has their own so if combining luggage, just hand them out on arrival. Also a cube with cards and games etc can sit in the living area and less likely to forget to repack something.

I find rolling my trousers and tops and tshirts means I get leass creases. i suppose it also depends on the material type too. I imagine silk and linen would crease no matter what.

Also where I can get away with it I take any socks with holes or underwear thats too old too and just chuck them once used. Then I have new replacements at home when I get back.

I had to do some longer business trips to cold places last year, before it was winter in the UK. Had to pack massive long down coat & down gilet, had originally planned to wear it to airport but I would have melted. The cubes were fantastic for this, as well as warm fluffy jumpers. I don't have special compression cubes, just the normal cheap ones worked fine.

Yes plastic bags same principle but cubes are so much quicker and neater + close up properly, no knots needed. And some are half mesh so you see immediately what's inside.
It feels nicer to put away my pile of knickers, t-shirts etc in a hotel drawer inside cubes. (if I even bother to unpack)
I don't always bother with them for shorter trips but 5+ days with lots of stuff on the agenda I love them.

Also second @Isthisblocked , I'm not very strong and I don't want to risk dragging a massive suitcase up and down the stairs.

I’ve been using them for years. Either I pack a day’s clothing in each or undies/pyjamas/socks in one, tops in another, trousers in a third and so on. Dirty clothes get put in one or two cubes for coming home. So much easier than rummaging around for a pair of socks or whatever.

I use different sizes of ziplock freezer bags. You can squeeze the air out so they take up minimal space.

I use them all the time - very handy even for one night work trips as everything is kept separate neat and tidy.

My friend introduced me to these last year and it's a revelation for me. I do a fair few short breaks and I can pack each days outfits in a cube. It also stops me over packing which I tend to do.