Owner's Locker and cubes

[MichelleB]

What cubes are you using in an Owner's Locker???? Not sure what that is.

I'd love to leave adult pants, pjs, slippers, undergarments, shirts in one along with toiletries. Could it all fit? We are a family of 5 but I wouldn't leave the kids clothes (they change sizes too frequently). The idea of just taking a carry-on for us is extremely appealing but I'm not sure we could get everything in 1 and DH would never agree to 2 (having enough trouble getting him to agree to 1!). We don't take anything other than necessities when we go (toiletries, clothes, ipod, camera) - none of the "familiarities of home" that everyone else takes.

 

[Tara]

What cubes are you using in an Owner's Locker???? Not sure what that is.

I'd love to leave adult pants, pjs, slippers, undergarments, shirts in one along with toiletries. Could it all fit? We are a family of 5 but I wouldn't leave the kids clothes (they change sizes too frequently). The idea of just taking a carry-on for us is extremely appealing but I'm not sure we could get everything in 1 and DH would never agree to 2 (having enough trouble getting him to agree to 1!). We don't take anything other than necessities when we go (toiletries, clothes, ipod, camera) - none of the "familiarities of home" that everyone else takes.

Having some experience with packing and unpacking lockers now, I am a firm believer in not containerizing stuff, except for the little stuff that is best "captured" by the tackle box. (I'm trying to remember which DISer recently said the same thing...)

I've never been convinced of the merits of packing cubes - if you pack neatly, the cubes shouldn't make a difference. (Yes, they keep things "together" so you can take out sets, but the cubes themselves take up space, even if that space is small.) Plus if you are leaving toiletries, you'll want the option of packing clothes around them so that it all fits - the cubes might interfere with that.

That said, I'm sure there are some cube users who will give you a very different opinion! But the great thing is there's no risk to trying it out to see if it works. One of the best things about doing business with Owner's Locker is that they know they offer a great service and they're so sure of it AND so committed to members being happy with it that they offer a money-back guarantee. If you order a locker and then find that it doesn't work out for you, they'll pick it up and refund your money.

But I'll warn you...once you have a place to put stuff, I think there's a strong tendency to start considering incorporating more of the "familiarities of home."

 

[Dizny Dad]

. . . . But I'll warn you...once you have a place to put stuff, I think there's a strong tendency to start considering incorporating more of the "familiarities of home."

Couldn't do without our OL! We tried the "Space Bags" this time around. I wasn't convinced they would make a difference. DW and I each packed our big terry "Mickey" robes in large bags; each packed additional shirts and jackets. I was sure it would not make a difference, but they indeed cut the space they took in half. We again added stuff to the OL. Last time I could barely get the lid to shut flat. This time it was tight once again, but we were still successful in leaving more stuff in our OL.

I hope the "Space Bags" hold. I somehow envision a call from John or Brian notifying us that our crate exploded and knocked over multiple rows of OLs! Oops!

 

[MichelleB]

How do you get the wrinkles out after a year? Do you rewash them or just put in the dryer to fluff?

 

[Anal Annie]

Anal Annie reporting in for duty!!

OK, I am just SO-O very excited about our new Owners Locker and my new packing cubes I could pee my pants!! We're going on Friday for a quick 4 night trip and are getting our new OL...I shipped a 44 Lb box of stuff for our OL via UPS on Monday (due to arrive today). It includes ALL of our toiletries, OTC meds, mini umbrellas & ponchos, about 6 bottles of sunscreens (good until 2011), Downey Wrinkle Release, a string backpack, pool bag, spray fan bottles ETC, ETC. I am just leaving "stuff" no clothing or anything unless you count flip flops, slippers & hats. Plan is to travel via carry-on only for shorter trips so yesterday, I began packing for our trip this weekend. Now, I am still probably overpacking but that's because I am not 100% about the weather forecast yet. Accuweather.com & Weather.com don't match exactly...but basically are calling for daytime temps around 85-87 and evening temps between 69-71. Now, DS and I are cold at pretty much anything below 75....so I will want tank tops or sleeveless tops for mid-upper 80's, T-shirt type shirts for 78-80 and long sleeves / pants for anything below 75 so I'm packing an assortment of clothing.

I started with DH and DS, haven't done anything with my stuff yet except start a big pile! Once we get there I plan to just take the packing cubes out and set them into the drawers. I am taking a few of the space bags for dirty laundry.... I took some photos so you can see how they're going to work. I am already in LOVE with them!

This is a regular 21" carry-on suitcase. It expands but it is not currently expanded nor have I stuffed anything into the outside pockets yet:

Inside: 2 of the "large" cubes and 1 "small" cube + a pair of DH's sandals:

Individual cubes:

The small cube contains DH's underwear & ankle socks (remember, this is just a 4 night trip so didn't need a lot.) One large cube contains 2 bathing suits, 1 pr. of convertible zip-off pants and 4 pair of shorts. (I plan to have him wear another pr. of convertible pants down. He can wear them as shorts & I will stick the bottoms in the cube so he will have 2 pr. of long pants with him.) In the other large cube there are 2 sleeveless shirts, 2 long sleeve T's, 2 Polo type shirts and 6 regular T-shirts ( I can get 2 layers of rolled clothing in them).


This is a duffle bag about the size of a typical gym bag:

Inside is one large cube + 2 mediums. Hard to see, but there's room on the right to stick some shoes or whatever...

This is all of DS's stuff. In the large cube I got 1 pr. of nylon pants & 1 pr. of convertible zip-off pants and 5 pr. of shorts. In one medium cube there's 3 sleeveless shirts, 2 long sleeve T's and 5 reg. T-shirts. In the other medium cube there are 2 bathing suits, his underwear, ankle socks + 2 really large T-shirts he uses to sleep in.

 

[MichelleB]

So are cubes just packing cartons basically? I thought they were the things that take all the excess air out. I'm confused!

 

[Anal Annie]

So are cubes just packing cartons basically? I thought they were the things that take all the excess air out. I'm confused!

I think you're thinking of the "space bags" that you roll up to squeeze the air out. I am taking those for our dirty laundry. They really do squish stuff up. They are like giant plastic bags that condense the air out. The "packing cubes" that I took pictures of are these little lightweight nylon bags with some mesh on the top so you can see into them. They zip open and you can put a lot of rolled clothing into them (which reduces the wrinkling). I don't like putting my stuff into the drawers where other peoples stuff has been (nothing personal but...it's just an ewww thing for me) and this way I don't really have to unpack. Rather I'll just take the cubes out of the suitcases & set them into the drawers.

 

[MichelleB]

Got it! Thank you! I think we need space bags! My goal is to get 5 of us into 2-3 carryons!

 

[TIGGERmetoo]

Anal Annie - thank you so much for all the info on packing cubes. I was just looking at them yesterday but wasn't sure if it would be worth the trouble.

Tara - thanks for the tip on using the packing cubes in the Owner's Locker.

I think I'll order the cubes for my luggage and just use the "tackle box" for the OL.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We find it is easier to put all the "other" stuff in our OL and just pack 3-4 outfits of clothes per person when we travel. Without all the "extras" like toiletries and laundry soap and extra kitchen things, we can get just our clothes in a carry on easily.

It is my experience that putting things in containers in the OL doesn't work at all. Even the space bags weren't so good for some of the things. The only clothes we have in our OL are PJs, swim suites, DVC jackets, Mickey robe, and fleece for each of us. The fleece, PJs and robe were put in space bags, but we stuffed the swim suits and DVC jackets in small spaces. Because the locker doesn't have completely squared off corners and sides, it is easier just to pack things together in inside each other. We each have a pair of walking sandals in the OL too, and those go on the very bottom. BTW, I didn't find the stuff in the space bags wrinkled all that badly. Maybe it's because the Florida humidity helps after you hang them up.

We were able to go last week with one small carry on bag that was not full plus we each had a briefcase.

 

[Anal Annie]

We find it is easier to put all the "other" stuff in our OL and just pack 3-4 outfits of clothes per person when we travel. Without all the "extras" like toiletries and laundry soap and extra kitchen things, we can get just our clothes in a carry on easily.

It is my experience that putting things in containers in the OL doesn't work at all. Even the space bags weren't so good for some of the things. The only clothes we have in our OL are PJs, swim suites, DVC jackets, Mickey robe, and fleece for each of us. The fleece, PJs and robe were put in space bags, but we stuffed the swim suits and DVC jackets in small spaces. Because the locker doesn't have completely squared off corners and sides, it is easier just to pack things together in inside each other. We each have a pair of walking sandals in the OL too, and those go on the very bottom. BTW, I didn't find the stuff in the space bags wrinkled all that badly. Maybe it's because the Florida humidity helps after you hang them up.

We were able to go last week with one small carry on bag that was not full plus we each had a briefcase.

I used a TON of ziplock bags to separate my stuff for the OL. They're so much easier to maneuver when packing and you can see what's in them. I used one for misc. OTC meds & bandaids etc., one for stuff like moisturizer & lotions, one for bug spray & bathroom air freshner, one for our lanyards, one for our little individual personal size spray / mister fans, one for batteries ETC. I debated about leaving more than just flip flops, slippers & hats but I honestly ran out of room!

 

[Tara]

I used a TON of ziplock bags to separate my stuff for the OL. They're so much easier to maneuver when packing and you can see what's in them. I used one for misc. OTC meds & bandaids etc., one for stuff like moisturizer & lotions, one for bug spray & bathroom air freshner, one for our lanyards, one for our little individual personal size spray / mister fans, one for batteries ETC. I debated about leaving more than just flip flops, slippers & hats but I honestly ran out of room!

I found that once I packed the locker, it was a lot more space-efficient to take the stuff out of the ziplocs I had them in (in most cases) so that smaller individual items could fill up all the nooks and crannies between bigger items. If you aren't dealing with a full locker, that might not be as important, but in our case, both our lockers are pretty darned full now! (Actually, neither is as full as the first one was before we got the second one, but I digress.)

It is easier to pack and unpack if things are containerized, but containerizing would surely push me over into a third locker, and I'm not quite ready for that yet.

 

[Anal Annie]

I found that once I packed the locker, it was a lot more space-efficient to take the stuff out of the ziplocs I had them in (in most cases) so that smaller individual items could fill up all the nooks and crannies between bigger items. If you aren't dealing with a full locker, that might not be as important, but in our case, both our lockers are pretty darned full now! (Actually, neither is as full as the first one was before we got the second one, but I digress.)

It is easier to pack and unpack if things are containerized, but containerizing would surely push me over into a third locker, and I'm not quite ready for that yet.

I understand what you're saying as that's how I pack my care packages that I send to my BIL in Iraq - I fill ALL the nooks & crannies, even if it's with loose Hershey Kisses... But in this case, I literally have about 125 different items in our OL stuff (multiplied in some cases x 3 for things like lanyards & fans). That would be like dumping out a toy box full of McDonald's Happy Meal Toys!! It would be worse than trying to root thru my junk drawer in the kitchen looking for a specific screw. It would just be a large box of junk if I didn't organize it somehow. I would hate it but I'm glad that works for you.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I found that once I packed the locker, it was a lot more space-efficient to take the stuff out of the ziplocs I had them in (in most cases) so that smaller individual items could fill up all the nooks and crannies between bigger items. If you aren't dealing with a full locker, that might not be as important, but in our case, both our lockers are pretty darned full now! (Actually, neither is as full as the first one was before we got the second one, but I digress.)

It is easier to pack and unpack if things are containerized, but containerizing would surely push me over into a third locker, and I'm not quite ready for that yet.

I agree. The only thing in containers is the stuff we put in the Tackle box provided.

 

[Tara]

I understand what you're saying as that's how I pack my care packages that I send to my BIL in Iraq - I fill ALL the nooks & crannies, even if it's with loose Hershey Kisses... But in this case, I literally have about 125 different items in our OL stuff (multiplied in some cases x 3 for things like lanyards & fans). That would be like dumping out a toy box full of McDonald's Happy Meal Toys!! It would be worse than trying to root thru my junk drawer in the kitchen looking for a specific screw. It would just be a large box of junk if I didn't organize it somehow. I would hate it but I'm glad that works for you.

I haven't counted my individual items, but here's a visual:

A quick count came up with 100 items just on the left side. The lockers are in the photo for scale since I had to stand on the coffee table to get everything in the picture. I still need to type up my inventory since I mostly did it on the computer but then got in a rush and was just writing things down as I packed them.

Anyhow, I didn't find it difficult to unpack - since I took almost everything out and put it away anyway, things being loose wasn't a big deal. There was nothing junk drawer about the experience. Here's a copy of the photo on Flickr with notes in case you're interested. As you can see, it's not like I'm not dealing with a lot of items either. Just keep in mind that once you're packing your actual locker, you might find you have to do some things differently...unless you've figured out a way to convince your husband that second locker is a good idea after all. Or you might find everything fits just fine - just be prepared to improvise.

 

[TLinden16]

I put my clothes in the big large size ziplock bags. I thought about using the space bags, but I don't know how wrinkley the clothes get when you suck the air out. I fit four days of clothing for myself in there (four t-shirts, two pairs of capris, two pairs of shorts, undies, and a jacket). I have enough room around the sides to fit my other stuff in (shoes, toiletries, etc.).

I found that the tackle box took up too much room, and didn't fit what I really wanted in there right, so I wound up bringing that home, and buying a fanny pack at a gift shop that I use as a toiletry bag. I store my smaller items (tooth brush, tooth paste, deodorant, etc.). I can fit it in the OL easier, and fill it up more to maximize space.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I need to type up our inventory too. DH hand wrote it as we put stuff in on check-out morning. I guess I'll have HIM type it, since I can't always read his writting. I'd like to get it on our OL page too.

Tara, frankly, I think we have that much in ONE locker!

 

[Tara]

I need to type up our inventory too. DH hand wrote it as we put stuff in on check-out morning. I guess I'll have HIM type it, since I can't always read his writting. I'd like to get it on our OL page too.

Tara, frankly, I think we have that much in ONE locker!

I have to see photos of this.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I have to see photos of this.

LOL, DH is a good packer, and I can do a good job sitting on the lid while he puts the lock ties on!

 

[Anal Annie]

Thanks for the visuals...the notes were neat. I guess we'll see this weekend how it goes...I'd prefer to keep stuff in their bags if I can... I am at the countdown now!! Tomorrow at this time we should be almost to the airport parking lot! Trying to plot our route to the airport using backroads rather than the major highways since it's the start of a holiday weekend....want to avoid traffic jams on DC beltway!

Now back to trying to cross some things off my "to do list"!