Packing Cube Questions

[Anal Annie]

just received my two new sets from ebay. i already had a set so these add to it. i purchased a black set to put dirty cloths in for on the way home. i always keep my laundry separate but they tend to make a big pile so i thought why not. black is distictive so thats where the dirty stuff will go.

I use the air compression space bags for our dirty laundry. Makes more room in the suitcase for the ride home and who cares how wrinkled the dirty laundry gets anyway?! I shove these things FULL and it's great for making extra room!!

 

[Alexander]

Don't know why I ever subscribed to this thread because NOW I HAVE to have these. I ordered two of the sets and they are scheduled to deliver on Monday. Can't wait to try them out. I got a grasshopper and a titanium (I think that was the color)

No Kidding! $96 later, I am the owner of four sets of these! I ordered blue, titanium, raspberry, and the grasshopper. We are doing a week at WDW and then B2B cruises on the Dream, so I am looking forward to being able to pack neatly and quite a bit of stuff!

 

[Mjasp]

ROLL, ROLL, ROLL!!!
(Give it a try - take some clean laundry fresh out of the dryer & pack a cube & leave it sit for a couple days. You'll see how easy it works & how little stuff wrinkles.)

Now why didn't I think of that Now I know why you have your screen name Thanks I will be doing that.

Don't know why I ever subscribed to this thread because NOW I HAVE to have these. I ordered two of the sets and they are scheduled to deliver on Monday. Can't wait to try them out. I got a grasshopper and a titanium (I think that was the color)

 

[biomechgirl]

We're going to Paris for 4 nights then to Barcelona 1 night before the cruise and I am going to TRY to get what we'll need for these days in our carry-ons so we don't have to root around in the checked bags tooooo much until we get to the cruise. Since the international carry-ons size limits are smaller (17") and we're limited to 26 Lbs for carry-on items on Air France I am planning HARD. I did a "test pack" for DH (since his stuff is bigger) and was able to get 1 pair of Dockers, 1 pair of convertible zipoff cargo pants, 3 pair shorts, 4 T-shirts, 2 Polos, 4 pr. boxers, 1 bathing suit & a small toiletry bag in and it weighed just under 17 pounds. The cubes are definitely the easiest way to unpack and repack quickly.

I thought about doing something similar but with 2 small children, snacks/toys/games to entertain them at the airport/during the flight, other miscellaneous child related accessories, plus the carseat we will probably end up gate checking I don't think I'm going to want to carry on clothes too. I might try to put our Barcelona clothes all together in our medium sized cubes though so we only have to pull them out for that part of the trip.

 

[Snow What]

Add another packing cube nut! I use them to pack my son's clothes. It is much easier to use a small cube to pack for each day on the cruise. This way, I don't have to worry about getting to the end of the cruise with his last pair shorts that don't go with his last shirt! I just hand him a cube every morning and that's what he would wear. Made things very simple for both of us!

I pack a separate cube filled with swim clothes and a different one for PJs.

It even makes unpacking very easy because everything stays together.

I use zip lock baggies for this. I have two girls and would dress them the same (especially in WDW) There is a complete outfit in each bag (down to socks, undies and matching hair accessories) and the child's name is written on the outside. I toss them a bag in the AM and they are good to go!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I'm thinking these would not only work great for packing for the cruise - but for our camping trips as well!

We just bought a pop-up camper and got back from our first trip. Had a great time, but my one complaint was how messy and disorganized the camper got. Now we are thinking of taking it down to Fort Wilderness in December and I'm wracking my brain for packing / organizing ideas.

I think we could probably each use a set of these in our duffels, plus maybe an extra couple for the one night we'll camp on the way down and the way back. That way we can put all four of our clothes for that one night in one cube and not have to get everything out for one night.

What about instead of packing one cube with all pants, one with just shirts, etc, you used one cube for the first three days, one for the next. Does anyone do anything like that?

 

[sinnika]

I'm thinking these would not only work great for packing for the cruise - but for our camping trips as well!

We just bought a pop-up camper and got back from our first trip. Had a great time, but my one complaint was how messy and disorganized the camper got. Now we are thinking of taking it down to Fort Wilderness in December and I'm wracking my brain for packing / organizing ideas.

I think we could probably each use a set of these in our duffels, plus maybe an extra couple for the one night we'll camp on the way down and the way back. That way we can put all four of our clothes for that one night in one cube and not have to get everything out for one night.

What about instead of packing one cube with all pants, one with just shirts, etc, you used one cube for the first three days, one for the next. Does anyone do anything like that?

We do that for 2 and 3 day trips. If it is summer, I can get one person's stuff in a med packing cube (Underwear, socks, tops, shorts, a skirt) and put all 4 of us in one carry on. We did the same for our luggage for the med cruise as I was afraid if all of our luggage did not make it, we had enough clothes for a few days and could do laundry.

I also use the small or medium for all the books, papers, gadgets for the plane ride, plus I'll use a long skinny or small for snacks. The long skinny fits my tupperware container (the long rect one - I think its meant for lunch meat). I also use the packing cubes at the gym to carry a clean set of clothes.

 

[cemeb4dk]

just came across this thread some great info, These would make it great to hopefully get a way without checking any bags for our 9 night stay at wdw. There will be 2 adults and our DD5. We are going in Sept so it will still be all summer clothes, but my question and I didn't find a clear answer is what size bags or combo of fit in a standard carry on bag. For instance can I get 2 large and a medium into a carryon bag?

Thanks

 

[mikmouse]

I use zip lock baggies for this. I have two girls and would dress them the same (especially in WDW) There is a complete outfit in each bag (down to socks, undies and matching hair accessories) and the child's name is written on the outside. I toss them a bag in the AM and they are good to go!

We just use GIANT zip lock bags. Works great. Very easy to unpack and pushing air out helps to pack as well. It's wonderful because when we unpack we really don't. We just pick up underwear, shirts, etc. and put it in a drawer or shelf. I even use light plastic hangars that you get when you buy clothes and pack with them. Just hang up when you get there. I saw a friend of mine do all of this on one of our cruises and we were amazed how fast she was ready and we were still unpacking Did it ever since.

 

[Anal Annie]

just came across this thread some great info, These would make it great to hopefully get a way without checking any bags for our 9 night stay at wdw. There will be 2 adults and our DD5. We are going in Sept so it will still be all summer clothes, but my question and I didn't find a clear answer is what size bags or combo of fit in a standard carry on bag. For instance can I get 2 large and a medium into a carryon bag?

Thanks

Probably. If you are selective in what you pack. Also depends on the bag & on how you pack the cubes. If you go back to page 1 of this thread & look at post #9, I included a picture of a std. carry-on suitcase along with 2 fully loaded large cubes (with my DH's clothes) and 1 small cube. Outside of a spare pair of shoes or sandals this doesn't leave much room for toiletries tho so they may need to go in your personal article bag (ie a backpack or boarding bag). We don't have a toiletry problem when we go to WDW because we have an Owners Locker so we have just about everything we need down there. We were able to go for 6 nights in March of LAST year in carry-ons only. But it was cooler temps so I had to pack for layers, bring some long pants and bring light jackets.

Personally, I think a week in carry-ons stretches my packing skills and ability - unless I wanted to plan to do a couple loads of laundry which I don't typically do while on vaca.

 

[Mjasp]

Well we are back from our cruise and I just had to stop by and tell you about our first trip with our packing cubes and pack it flat toiletry kit.

First let me tell you, the packing cubes are GREAT!!! Everyone should have a set. We went for 7 days and used one 3 pc set and one extra medium cube.
As far as wrinkles go, only certain material had some wrinkles but not enough that Downy wrinkle releaser couldn't take care of.

Now to the Pack it flat toiletry kit...Just pay the $25 and get yourself one, it was wonderful!!!! So I packed everything with 5 pairs of sandals in ONE large suitcase, neatly!!!!

My daughter had the sleeve for her dresses and she wore all her dresses and they had NO wrinkles.

Now next thing is a new set of luggage. Any Suggestions?

 

[dthogue]

good information - guess I'll be buying packing cubes

 

[krispykreme97]

Got a set of 3 larges. Easily fit 8 pairs of pants. I could probably put a few shirts on top of that. Plan on using them in Alaska. I could easily fit all three larges in my carry on but plan on using my larger checked bag to have room for shoes. I plan on order mediums for shirts and small for underwear and tee shirts. The cubes can be used numerous ways. I may use one for are two day pre cruise and I day post cruise in Seattle. I could use all the larges for my clothes and use all mediums for my 10 year old and smalls for my 3 year old. Use one for all formal wear etc.

 

[shburks]

These intrigue me, as I've never heard of them before! I am wondering though, do they not add extra "weight" to your bag?

Also, by the pictures, this is how I pack my bags already, how do these cubes make it any differant? When I first read the post, I thought it was the type of back where the air is extracted, but this doesn't look like it is.

I've been using these for a while and just recently convinced duh to get on board. For example, we spent 5 days of Spring Break in DC staying with friends...ie living out of suitcases on the floor. We packed in two suitcases (needed church clothes and lots of walking shoes!) but all packing cubes went in one suitcase. So easy to get everyone dressed. Grab the handles and pull out your cubes...ds are red so pull out the two reds, get pants, shirts, undies and socks. Done. Rezip and back in suitcase. No mess no digging through things to find what we needed.

 

[MaleficentRN]

I just got my order, (thanks OP!) and I thought they'd be bigger. I'm planning on packing four of everything for a week. I guess when I zip it up they compress the clothes? This'll work, right?

 

[Floridagram]

I just got my order, (thanks OP!) and I thought they'd be bigger. I'm planning on packing four of everything for a week. I guess when I zip it up they compress the clothes? This'll work, right?

I thought the same thing. They seem so small. There have been so many positive thoughts on them that they must work but I am a bit nervous. At least I will get to compare the way the cube clothes get there opposed to clothes packed loosely in the suitcase! Either way we are going on a Disney cruise so it can't be bad!

 

[Anal Annie]

I just got my order, (thanks OP!) and I thought they'd be bigger. I'm planning on packing four of everything for a week. I guess when I zip it up they compress the clothes? This'll work, right?

I don't know what size of cubes that you ordered but if you got larges you can definitely fit 4 of everything - you have to learn to ROLL your clothes. The cubes don't compress anything all on their own but they keep everything neat & organized. You have to do the organizing for them to work. Go back to page # 1 of this thread & look at the pics I posted as examples. In post # 139 on page 10, I detailed how much I was able to get in our little 17" international size carry-ons (which are considerably smaller than our normal domestic size carry-ons). We survived 4 days in Paris & a move to Barcelona without hardly having to touch the stuff in our larger checked bags - we pretty much lived out of our carry-ons. The weather messed me up a little bit as it was cooler than it should've been for August so I did have to pack some extra stuff last minute in the checked luggage that we had to access. But overall, packing for a few days at a time worked out GREAT for this trip. On our return trip home before we left Barcelona I packed about 3 days worth of our remaining clean clothes in the carry-ons & put all of the dirty laundry in the checked bags. THANK GOODNESS I did because after we got to Paris to transfer planes our flight from Paris back to the states was CANCELLED and we got stuck in Paris for an extra day and they did not give us our checked luggage back!! They kept it!! There were sooo many people that had like NOTHING with them. They had checked everything. Don't ever, ever do THAT!!

 

[MaleficentRN]

I thought the same thing. They seem so small. There have been so many positive thoughts on them that they must work but I am a bit nervous. At least I will get to compare the way the cube clothes get there opposed to clothes packed loosely in the suitcase! Either way we are going on a Disney cruise so it can't be bad!

You got that right!

 

[Anal Annie]

I thought the same thing. They seem so small. There have been so many positive thoughts on them that they must work but I am a bit nervous. At least I will get to compare the way the cube clothes get there opposed to clothes packed loosely in the suitcase! Either way we are going on a Disney cruise so it can't be bad!

You too...go re-read some of the other posts that SHOW you how they work!!! I cannot go ANYWHERE now without them!! When we go away just for a weekend now I combine tops & bottoms into 1 cube for each of us. Longer trips everything gets split up with tops & bottoms separated. It is so easy to just say here's your cubes and here's your cubes and these are mine, esp. if you label them or use different colors for each family member. (I only have 2 colors) so I color coordinate as much as I can...then I slap a piece of masking tape on the top of the ones that I have so many of the same color & I just write whoever's name on it. We went to visit my parents over Easter and I used 1 of the packing folders for all of our church clothes. Worked perfectly.

 

[Floridagram]

I believe you Annie! I will be finding out in the next 2 weeks;
this time 2 weeks from now I hope to be all packed!