Packing cubes or other top packing tips?

[Needtosoundoffandbreathe]

Going on holiday soon and will be travelling around, staying in different places every couple of days so living out of suitcases. Should be mid 20s Celsius and fairly casual most of the time, I'll be taking beach and walking stuff as well as things I can wear in cities/sight seeing.

I'm already thinking of cutting back on some of the stuff I'd usually take (we'll have access to laundry facilities in a lot of places) and thinking of using packing cubes. I've done this once in the past and haven't bothered since, not sure why. Do you have any top tips for this kind of thing? Would you advise using packing cubes again?

I’ve found packing cubes convenient. Apart from usual cubes with clothes and underwear I did arrival cube with everything for the first 24 hours including nightwear. I also did a cube with medicines and a cube with beach stuff.
It kept space tidier and simpler. And at the end you put all dirty things into one cube, zip up others and off you go.
I also took a few skirt/ trousers hangers with me as well as the last year there wasn’t enough for us all.

Thank you - I think I need better packing cubes than the ones we've got in terms of sizes and quality too.

Packing cubes are a game changer!

I found them good for holidays where you are moving around every couple of days as you don't have to unpack everything, just gets the cubes out, so I'd have one with underwear in, one with t shirts etc etc. On the way home one or two full of dirty laundry.

I’ve bought a few sets from Amazon - they were good and one set from Primark - they were just for one use. Then used different colours for different people.

Are you doing hand luggage only?

You definitely fit more into packing cubes as you can zip them up and squish the air out. DH took mine on his current trip and says he overdid it and broke the zip 🙄

I personally don't get on with packing cubes, they take up far too much room IME.

However I like the idea of separating things when packing so that they are easy to store and unpack. I use nylon type zipped bags that weigh nothing and hold loads, they can be compressed if you flatten them and I have various sizes and colours. I got them in the Tiger shop, brilliant things. I've been known to use large ziploc bags also and push the air out of them to flatten.

I'm a minimal packer most of the time, but if moving from place to place the zipped soft bags are great.

But each to their own.

Aren't these just packing cubes by another name?
I have 2 types - some cheap Primark ones which are essentially nylon zipper bags & some compression ones from Amazon. I'm not sure they hold any more or take up.less room, though!

Hell no! Although I'm planning to cut back, I couldn't do hand luggage only.

The ones I use are kind of similar I suppose, but not as stiffly structured IYSWIM. The zips on the cubes go all the way around and the bags end up squared and high (sorry for the daft description!), but the bags I use just have one zip at the top and are more ahem, floppy 😊To me they just fit flatter and better. I've tried the cubes already and got far more in to the carry on without them.

I used packing cubes for the first time last holiday and they were a game changer

Thanks everyone. I've ordered the top packing cubes from some reviews from Amazon. They look a better product than the cheap ones we've used once before and they're made from recycled plastic bottles. I remember rummaging through suitcases last time we did a holiday like this and it was a pain.

I travel quite a bit and packing cubes are a godsend for me. I am very regimented with my packing and they really work for me and as I fold to fit each cube and dont roll my items, clothes tend not to crease in the cubes.

Also have different colours of cubes for different people so can see whose clothes are whose, no messing about. The footwear bag is great for putting shoes in standing up so they are all together and keep dirty shoes away from other things (or use shower caps from hotels on the soles).

Take out the case onto a shelf or whatever, quick as you like. A also pack a few hangers that go into one cube which has items I prefer to hang, a couple of dresses or linen trousers.

Easy to re pack your dirty clothes into whites/coloured etc for when your coming back.

Have tried many different price points and you really dont have to pay silly money for them, bought so you can see whats what, a bright pink and a black set a while ago in Aldi, which are just as good as the more expensive ones, and have the mesh and good zips

If you are travelling with more than one person, and more than one bag, split everyone's stuff between each bag - so a couple of outfits per person per bag, rather than one with all your stuff in. If one bag goes missing, it's much less stressful!!

I'm not mixing the whole lot up that will just be a nightmare at the other end. I do put an outfit of each of us in the other's case though. Always take a change of underwear in hand luggage.

It depends on how you pack.
Different coloured packing cubes for everyone.
Put a couple of outfits in a packing cube (full outfits). Reach destination. Open one bag. Chuck the right color at each person, and you're off.

My packing cubes are soft nylon zipped bags.

OP, I'd definitely used cubes if you're moving about lots, they make things much easier. I'd put the next days outfit in a cube if we were leaving early too, so nothing to think about first thing in the day.

We usually swap a cube. For example, I put a change of underwear, a T-shirt, pair of sandals and a swimsuit in one and hand it over. If we are touring, I like to take old knickers (I save them up) and throw them away after wearing. DD did this with t-shirts too when we toured India. I usually pack a T-shirt and swimsuit and change of underwear in my hand luggage too.

I take an over the door shoe hanger with 9 spaces tuck toiletries in each shoe space, roll up and pop in the suitcase. When I get to where I’m going I unroll and hang over the bathroom door. It means toiletries, sun cream etc is handy. I find hotel bathrooms don’t have useful space for shampoo etc. when the kids were small I’d pack a complete outfit and pop one in each shoe space, then I could grab everything they needed easily.

Can anyone recommend a set of decent packing cubes of 5 or so different sizes but of different colours as well?!

The ones you use are still called packing cubes aren’t they? I’m not sure what other ones you are thinking of!

The ones I've ordered have arrived. Next question: to roll or fold clothes in packing cubes?

As I said up post I always fold, find rolling creases more and if you fold one item around another say one outfit it also helps with creasing.

I've always used packing cubes and we tend to throw them loose into the car when camping etc. agree that a different colour for each person is good. When 'posh' travelling for work I put each days outfit including jewellery into separate cubes (not very full) so I don't have to think or unpack everything when I'm jet lagged.