Packing cube questions

[OMGitsnotgood]

I see packing cubes recommended on MN a lot. We’re planning a multi-centre trip for which I think packing cubes could be really helpful as we won’t want to fully unpack at each stop.

Has anyone tried them and not ‘got on’ with them, if not, why not?

If you love them, what are your top hints and tips for making them work?

And finally, there are so many to choose from. What should we look for when buying them? I’m not sure I want to spend a fortune on them, so good value recommendations would also be appreciated.

Thank you

I love them, especially for multi-stops. No real tips, just underwear in one, flip flops in another and clothes in a big one.

I also have a small one for odds and sods like chargers, Kindles etc.

They are good, but understandably not the revelation they are advertised as. They are just the equivalent to putting things in different carrier bags, but a bit neater and you can see the contents.

There are so many different ones because they are cheep and popular. The cheep ones do the job fine. The more expensive ones are sturdier, for people who travel a lot. I travel weekly and have both the expensive Eagle Creek ones, and the cheep Amazon ones. The Amazon ones are fine.

I love them, DH hates them. But he uses a ruck sack when we go on holiday, and last time we travelled, he had to empty it at security on the way home. We’re going away next week - he’s bought packing cubes!!! I just use cheap and cheerful ones from Amazon. My DD has been sold on them since travelling with children too.

With PCs, it’s easy to unpack - just put them opened straight into drawers in the hotel; it’s easy to organise outfits; clothes don’t get as creased; it’s easy to keep dirty clothes away from clean ones when you’re coming home. In fact, on the return leg, I completely repack my cubes according to washing requirements - so darks, lights, whites etc then I stack the cubes at the washing machine rather than leaving a pile of dirty washing on the floor for ages 😂.

Look for whatever is on offer on Amazon.

We do it totally different to PP. We pack outfits into each one. So, if first stop is 3 days, 3 sets of clothes into a larger cube (we find the larger ones much better than the small ones). Once you move on, those dirty clothes can be zipped away and left alone for the rest of the trip.

They are just the equivalent to putting things in different carrier bags, but a bit neater and you can see the contents.

This. What's the initial outlay? I have several from Muji but bought over a period of time so I dread to think how much it would cost to buy a set outright. But I use them at home to store clothes too.

Clear carrier bags would work too.

I'm a convert - we always mix clothes up in a single case so 1 pattern of cube per person - makes it simple.
Would probably do outfit/day cubes for a multi stop trip - that's what I did for dd's school residential.

I love them. I organise them in the same way i organise drawers, and at each stop of a touring holiday, I just take them out and lay them out on the floor or other surface.
Much neater than carrier bags, they jigsaw into the space available, and I can see what is inside each one. They also keep things neater and less crumpled As I also do backpacking trips, the compression ones mean I can fit far more into my backpack. I use them normally to go out, then compressing them means I make more space to bring home souvenirs on the way home. I wouldn't be without them. I have both the cheap and cheerful sort and the more expensive compression ones. But even the latter aren't that expensive.

Before you buy, do look at the space you have though. Some are sold in sets where you can't choose the combination of sizes that fit your needs and your bags best. Annoyingly I couldn't buy my compression ones individually, and the biggest of the set is no use to me at all, as it's bigger than my backpack!

Oh, and I always buy the sort with mesh tops, so I can see what's inside, and there's a bit of air flow so the clothes don't get musty.

With no offence intended, I honestly think it's just more capitalist quack, buy more stuff to use once it twice!

Plastic or drawstring canvas bags work beautifully and you already have those.

I just looked and even compression ones are now a lot cheaper.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=compression+packing+cubes&adgrpid=51566560965&hvadid=606328364371&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1006728&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=505410928301541702&hvtargid=kwd-324892238554&hydadcr=25804_2700101&tag=hydrukspg-21&ref=pd_sl_2871oi36yt_e

I don't think the initial outlay is in the 'dread' category - £20 for 11 piece set on Amazon. I do already pack underwear etc in bags but I can see that the cubes will be easier to use. I can see some uses for them at home too so think I'll give them a go.

Thank you all

If you're not going to go on holiday more than once or twice in your life, and they're 'one stop' trips, then probably you'll not be that bothered.

Plastic bags absolutely don't work beautifully... Or at least nowhere near as well as packing cubes do.
I'm not sure why pacing cubes are any more capitalist quack than anything else useful that we buy.

They're invaluable for anyone on a multi stop trip.

With no offence intended, I honestly think it's just more capitalist quack, buy more stuff to use once it twice!

I am intelligent enough to have weighed up whether I am falling for capitalist quack thank you.

We travel many times a year. Next trip will involve 7-8 different hotels so trying to make my life easier. The cubes are more like drawers than drawstring or canvas bags - which I don't already have, so would have to buy them anyway? Or use carrier bags which is fine but not as easy to use at all. I can see some uses at home for organising too

They are very useful and save a big unpack as you can just put the open cubes into drawers. I like the double zip compression ones to maximise space. It's definitely worth spending a few ££ more and getting decently made ones. Ours are 6+ years old, we travel at least 4 times a year and they are still going strong.

I’m a convert, and so is dh, and we are very different packers.

top tips

• they are all pretty similar, compression ones do compress a bit, so just get the colour you like. I find rectangular bigger and smaller better than odd shapes but they all work
• you do not have to use all the cubes on every trip
• You don’t have to put the same stuff in the same shape on every trip
• not everything needs to go in a cube

I always use a cube now for underwear, if nothing else.

We travel many times a year. Next trip will involve 7-8 different hotels

You'll love them then, @OMGitsnotgood

Yes I'm all for paying a little more for better quality, was just going off what PP said about Amazon cheaper ones. Do you know which ones you bought please?

I tried and hated then, I stick underwear in the net bit and piles in the main bit either night wear on top

@OMGitsnotgood my compression ones are these, in the turquoise.

Gonex Compression Packing Cubes, 6 PCS Travel Luggage Packing Organizers with Mesh Extensible Suitcase Organiser for Travel, Pink https://amzn.eu/d/3MqClMa

They've been used many many times and are as good as me. No tears, no zip issues. But like I said, the large one night out might not be as useful to you for travelling. Possibly at home though .

The 2 of us have recently done a 25 day trip with a different hotel every 2 days. We took 2 large suitcases and we really could not have managed without packing cubes as we did not unpack the suitcases properly once. I also took 3 large bin liners which I had on the go for dirty washing.
I have 3 sets of cheapo ones, which I bought from Amazon. I find the larger ones are more useful so 2 of these sets are large ones only. We used all 3 sets.
My only complaint with them is that they were not properly see through so I would try and get ones with less solid fabric. I would not use plastic bags as your clothes could sweat and they don’t zip all the way round like packing cubes. You don’t need the packing cubes to fit exactly together in the suitcase. You will find that when once your clothes are in the cubes you can just scrunch the cubes up a bit.

I don't think they're a big deal tbh. Mine are ok for separating stuff but that's it-they don't compress things. If anything they can make efficient packing more difficult, as you are constrained in terms of where you place things to the cube. They aren't better than different carrier bags, although they look nicer.

We had to stay with family for 3 weeks between leaving our old house and moving into our new one. The packing cubes were so useful keeping things organised with 3 people and a dog sharing one room!

No real tips but they kept everything where it should be, I can imagine it would have a made a difficult situation even more fraught if we'd been tipping the contents of our suitcases onto the bed every day looking for matching socks!

We have a different colour per person and for a longer or multi stop holiday, pack outfits in each cube then split the cubes between the cases so everyone has clothes and underwear if one goes missing.

i sometime sort dirty clothes while I’m away by cubes to make the washing easier too…

Love them. Different colour per person if we are travelling together.

I have compression ones that mean I only need the tiniest case for my weekly work trips to London.

We are the same as @SpringOfContentment and pack 3 days worth of outfits into a packing cube due to moving hotels. Each of us has our own colour and then tech/extension lead with adaptor plug etc is in another colour meaning it is easy to find. We pack all 4 colours over 4 cases so that if one case goes missing we still all have clothes. Yes we need 4 cases, DC's are teen boys, have you seen how big their shoes are? Add pool sliders into that too.

What I did was roll clothes and did a rough measurement, watched a lot of youtube videos on them and ordered 1 set from Amazon and then worked out what would work best for our family. We remove some from the case and put them in the drawers but unzip it on the bed, remove the outfit, zip it back up and back into the drawer. I also labelled them so we knew what was in each one, literally paper tape on the handle.

Dirty clothes went into one suitcase whilst away and we could shuffle the packing cubes round very easily into the other cases. Brilliant for what we needed. We will be using them again in summer for a UK holiday too.