I was never a believer in packing cubes — until I tried them. Now I’m sold. They make packing for a big trip tidy and organized, and you can get a lot more into your suitcase.
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The Challenge: a ten-day trip living out of a suitcase
We were planning an international trip, moving cities and hotels four times. I’d be hauling my own bag. I knew I probably wouldn’t unpack at each location, so I’d be living out of my bag. I wanted to try to “pack light,” a phrase I’ve never uttered before.
I started reading blogs (they can very helpful, you know) about packing for international travel, or for long trips. The travel experts are obsessed with packing cubes. It always seemed kind of dumb to me. Why take up extra value space in my suitcase with additional packaging. But people are excited — no, passionate — no, obsessed — with packing cubes.
After some research, I went with eBags Packing Cubes in tangerine.
They come in an assortment of colors. Orange makes me happy, so that’s what I chose. These are not compression packing cubes. Here they are, ready to be filled:
Lots of clothing and shoes for a small space
Our trip was for ten days. Keeping in mind that I am a chronic over-packer, here’s what I needed to jam into those cubes:
In case you’re counting, that’s two sleeveless shirts, three short-sleeve shirts, four long-sleeve shirts, three pairs of pants, one pair of shorts, two jackets, and three pairs of shoes. (One pair pants, one shirt, one cardigan, and one pair of shoes would be my traveling outfit, and would not be packed.). I began the process of rolling, which the experts say reduced wrinkles and is a better use of space.
I got all of those clothes, plus a bunch of socks, into four of the packing cubes! For scale, here are the filled cubes, next to my 16-pound dog. (He is sad here, because he knows what packing means.)
Tops are together, pants are together, outerwear is together. I don’t have to dig through my suitcase to find anything. I added one more packing cube for bras, underwear and pajamas (which I figured no one needed to see). I can’t believe I got all that clothing into those little bags!
Packing cubes make for an organized suitcase
Post-trip, what’s my verdict? I’m all in. The packing cubes made my life on the road much easier. They kept everything organized and in their places, so I could find them. No more digging through a mess of a suitcase to find the clean underwear.
Half-way through the trip I reorganized and consolidated dirty clothes into one bag. That kept the dirty clothes all together and out of the way, and seemed to keep the cleaner clothes fresher.
I was afraid that rolling my clothes would result in lots of wrinkles. Actually, the opposite is true; I was remarkably wrinkle-free. And when each item is rolled, it’s easier to see what’s what. Also, because of the cubes, I was able to get more into my suitcase, with room for souvenirs!
I will definitely continue using packing cubes, especially for trips longer than a weekend.
