Post by mccallister84 on Sept 28, 2019 20:41:56 GMT -5
DH got a big raise and we leave for Disney in less than two weeks so I’ve decided to splurge (hahah!) on packing cubes. We travel fairly often in both duffel bags and suitcases.
It is H and I, and the girls - almost 3 and 15 months.
I got overwhelmed looking at amazon. What sizes do I need? How many? Any other recommendations?
Is your goal to have everyone using different colors? If so, I'd opt for larger ones for your stuff and then smaller ones for the kids. The count really depends on how much stuff you pack.
Also, pop up hampers are a game changer when traveling with the family.
Post by jackie011 on Sept 28, 2019 20:50:06 GMT -5
I bought a 6 piece set on Amazon a year ago. I took them on a short business trip and thought “hmm, what’s all the fuss about?” Then, I watched a few videos before packing for an international trip and they were life changing!! I originally packed like clothes together and quickly realized that it would have been better to pack outfits so that I could scale back what I brought in to the hotel at each stop. (12 night trip at 5 different venues) I can’t remember any of the videos, but I just searched “how to use packing cubes” or something like that and found A LOT. My set wasn’t expensive, maybe $20 or so for 6. After watching the videos, I went back out and bought a small set for PJs, socks, etc and I use those for DS when we take smaller trips.
I was the biggest doubter about packing cubes until I tried them. I always considered myself to be a varsity-level packer on my own, but packing cubes have seriously taken me to a whole new level. I have these ones from Amazon and they work great. The set has two large, two medium, and one small. I use the Medium ones a lot, because two fit nicely in a carry-on sized bag with some room left over for shoes, makeup, toiletries, etc. My husband's clothes won't fit in the medium size, so he uses the large ones. I don't think we've ever use the small one, but it would work okay for socks and underwear (I put underwear in the empty corners of my medium cubes, and stuff socks inside my shoes).
Post by RoxMonster on Sept 28, 2019 21:07:42 GMT -5
I love packing cubes for keeping me organized on our vacations because we typically move a lot (sometimes a different accommodation every night). It was a nightmare keeping things neat and organized previously.
I think I have two large, two medium, and two small. I do put like items together but it works for me because our trips are mainly hiking ones. So I just grab a pair of bottoms from that cube, a tee or tank from that cube, an outer layer from that cube and so on. Matching up outfits out on the trail doesn’t matter so much so it’s easy that way. I use the small ones for underwear, sports bras and socks.
Also my hanging toiletries bag has been a huge game changer!
My family is two sons (6 & 8), me and my H. We have a blue set for the little boys and a pink set for me. Each set is a large, two mediums and a small. My H doesn’t believe in them - I will not travel without them. I put each of the boys clothing in one. Swimsuits in another, jackets in another. For you, OP, I would start with two sets in two different colors and see how you like them.
Post by steamboat185 on Sept 28, 2019 22:10:24 GMT -5
We have 2 girls 6 and 3 and 2 adults and love packing cubes they just keep us more organized. We have several sets of packing cubes. If you just want one size I think medium is the most useful, but we use our slim sized packing cubes a ton too. Now that we have them we use them all the time and not always for clothing. We keep our scuba stuff in one to keep the items contained. We use the slim cubes to bring keep an extra set of kids clothing in the car at times.
We recently had our trip to Sydney interrupted when we got stuck in LA for an extra 23 hours. Packing cubes made out loves so much easier. I had thrown together cubes in our carry on that had PJ’s, 2 extra outfits, a bathing suit, toothbrush, hairbrush etc so when we finally got the the hotel at 1am everyone was in their PJ’s super fast and we were able to use the hotel pool during our extended layover. Of course we could have done that without the cubes, but I have zero faith that I would have gotten everything in the right spot for girls and myself (DH packs himself but added the bathing suit per my suggestion). We also had one of our bags lost for 5 days during this trip, but we pack using cubes and intentionally mix clothing among suitcases. While we all lost somethings being able to keep organized while intentionally mixing our clothing between bags meant we all had items to wear while they found our bag.
We’ve used eBags packing cubes and some of the medium size amazon basics ones. Both are great IME. We travel a lot (7-8 domestic trips a year, and 5-6 international trips a year). For our travel needs H uses 2 large size packing cubes and 2 medium for all his clothes (for a 2-3 week trip). I will usually use 3 medium cubes. The 9 year old uses 2 medium ones and the 2 year old has 1 medium size one. We have a separate bag for toiletries (1 medium size for myself and the kids and 1 medium size for H’s stuff). I use a small bag for my device cords and other random stuff. And I also pack 3-4 extra cubes to use on the return journey for souvenirs. I love packing cubes. Haha
I have a set from Amazon of 2 lg, 2 md, and 2 sm. My family is a 4 yo, Dh, and myself. When I pack all of us, I usually do a cube per person and an under garment cube. Dd's stuff can all fit in a small cube for a weekend. That includes 2 outfits per day so it would work for a week. If it's a week or more, all of her clothes can fit in a md one. Dh always uses a lg and I use a md or lg depending on the trip and what I'm wearing.
I prefer the cube/person setup but I know people also like the cube/day setup. I'll do that if it's just, but I don't like designating outfits for dd and prefer to choose on each day. Overall, I love packing cubes and can't imagine traveling without them now.
I have the Gonex brand from Amazon. I was a doubter, but they honestly make a huge difference. I think I have 1 large, 2 Medium, 1 shoe bag (I don’t use it for shoes, I use it as a dirty clothes bag), and 2 small. I’m probably going to order another large one though. I just got back from an international trip and that extra large cube would have been a game changer. The big positive for me is that using these leaves more room for my shoes, and since I can’t seem To travel anywhere with less than like 8 pairs of shoes, that matters to me lol.
oh, and my rec would be different colors for different people. I also don’t break them up by day because I don’t know what I want to wear on a particular day. I use them like - small cube for underwear, large cube for jeans, medium cube for shirts/dresses, etc...
I love them so much that I bought a set for my sister as a gift. I am resisting the temptation to confirm that she doesn’t use them so I can resist the temptation to ask her to give them to me. HaHa. They are nice to have around when it’s time to pack. My daughter absolutely loves them and uses them all the time.
I used them all summer for overnight weekends. I used the small and medium ones the most because I didn’t have much to pack. I could use a duffle bag as luggage but inside it wasn’t a squished mess. And I had stuff sorted for different parts of the day.
It may be a bit much to commit to two sets of mixed sizes, but DH and I share our sets. It’s great.
Would it make sense for a family of 4 to get 2 sets? Boys share a color (father and son) and girls share a color (mom and daughter). I just don’t want the kids to have a same color since they share a room or an area of the hotel when we travel, and I don’t think we need for us all to have our own set.
I have this set and appreciate the variety in sizes, plus the small laundry bag. They've held up well over the past few years. I just bought a few more small cubes, since I was always seemed to want another one or two when packing. DH tends to use more of the larger packing cubes since his clothing is larger. I love having different colors for each person when we combine our items into one bag.
We have had the eagle creek ones for years and love them. We got black and have added a set as each kid was born. To color code we just got colored tape and wrap the handles of each bag.
I bought a 6 piece set on Amazon a year ago. I took them on a short business trip and thought “hmm, what’s all the fuss about?” Then, I watched a few videos before packing for an international trip and they were life changing!! I originally packed like clothes together and quickly realized that it would have been better to pack outfits so that I could scale back what I brought in to the hotel at each stop. (12 night trip at 5 different venues) I can’t remember any of the videos, but I just searched “how to use packing cubes” or something like that and found A LOT. My set wasn’t expensive, maybe $20 or so for 6. After watching the videos, I went back out and bought a small set for PJs, socks, etc and I use those for DS when we take smaller trips.
Maybe this is what I need to do (watch a video) because they do nothing for me except create one more step in the packing process.
Post by yourmother on Sept 29, 2019 9:18:00 GMT -5
I travel about 15-20 times a year and packing cubes were a real game-changer for my routine. I was already pretty seasoned at being efficient with packing and unpacking, but the cubes have simplified my routine even further. There isn’t a right or wrong way to use them, as you can tailor them to your own needs. I will say that unpacking and repacking while at a hotel and then home takes me under 1 minute. No lie. Ok, maybe TWO minutes, but still. Love them!
Post by yourmother on Sept 29, 2019 9:20:27 GMT -5
Oh!!! And another plus is that you can leave your clothes in the cubes while at the hotel and have them in the drawers for organization while staying in a hotel. Your clothes will be (somewhat) protected while in the drawers.
Thought of another tip- one of the videos I watched was all about “ranger rolling” your clothes into nice tidy little packages. I was mesmerized with what all they could fit in a backpack! I also read comments that said if you’re doing that, be sure to bring the Downy wrinkle release spray 😉. I’m the first person to whip out an iron at a hotel, but that spray really works.
Would it make sense for a family of 4 to get 2 sets? Boys share a color (father and son) and girls share a color (mom and daughter). I just don’t want the kids to have a same color since they share a room or an area of the hotel when we travel, and I don’t think we need for us all to have our own set.
I guess it depends on how you pack. When we travel we each have our own carry-on sized suitcase — with cubes, H and I can pack for a week in a carry-on — so we don’t worry about colors. But if you pack multiple family members in one suitcase, then color-coding makes sense. So if your kids share a suitcase, and you and your H share a suitcase, then what you mentioned should work just fine!
Post by litebright on Sept 29, 2019 10:07:43 GMT -5
We started using them a few years ago and now have sets in four colors, one for each of us. DH uses them almost daily to pack his work clothes to take with him to the gym, where he goes before work. He mostly uses the large and medium ones, for trips or the gym.
I prefer to pack using the small and medium cubes. So our medium-sized ones definitely get the most use.
We each have our own color. Sometimes we have our own suitcase, sometimes we share. This way I can just hand DS his color cubes. We went on a cruise this summer and did some land before. i kept the land clothes in a seperate cube to make it easier to only take out that cube for the beginning and leave the rest packed until the cruise. Super convenient.
Do your clothes get wrinkly when you use these? I scoffed at them a year or two ago in a post I made asking about them, but you guys may be changing my mind.
Do your clothes get wrinkly when you use these? I scoffed at them a year or two ago in a post I made asking about them, but you guys may be changing my mind.
Mine actually get less wrinkly with cubes. They are better contained.
Do your clothes get wrinkly when you use these? I scoffed at them a year or two ago in a post I made asking about them, but you guys may be changing my mind.
Mine actually get less wrinkly with cubes. They are better contained.
Do you roll them or place them in folded? Is there a specific video I should watch?
We're going to PR in November and planning a 3-4 week trip for next summer and I would really love to minimize our luggage for both trips. I'm thinking investing in packing cubes may be the way to go.
Mine actually get less wrinkly with cubes. They are better contained.
Do you roll them or place them in folded? Is there a specific video I should watch?
We're going to PR in November and planning a 3-4 week trip for next summer and I would really love to minimize our luggage for both trips. I'm thinking investing in packing cubes may be the way to go.
I place them in folded. I do a cube for tops, a cube for bottoms, a cube for underwear, etc. I'm not much of a video watcher, but I am sure people out there have some good tips and tricks.
I gave them as gifts to my parents a few years ago, and now they give them as gifts to everyone they know.
Do your clothes get wrinkly when you use these? I scoffed at them a year or two ago in a post I made asking about them, but you guys may be changing my mind.
I don’t generally bring clothes that wrinkle, but sometimes I’ll bring a blouse or slacks (we generally only travel for pleasure so we wear casual clothing on trips). I fold everything as flat as I can, and I can fit way more folding flat than I can by rolling. I agree that a travel-sized bottle of Downy wrinkle release can take care of any wrinkles that pop up.