Organized Travel: The Magic of Packing Cubes

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Staying organized while traveling used to be an issue for me. With two young children to entertain, the last thing I wanted to do while on vacation was constantly tidy up. My family was notorious for the messy hotel room. This was until we discovered packing cubes.

One of my kids received a set as a gift, and since we were about to travel internationally, I thought it might be a great idea if we all tested out traveling with packing cubes to help reduce travel stress and chaos.

I did quite a bit of research to find the best packing cubes. I wanted something that would be durable and easy to use. I read reviews and travel blogs, but there wasn’t a single stand-out that was clearly better than the rest. So I decided to buy a different brand for each person in the family and test them ourselves.

I purchased a set from Gonex, one from Shacke Pak, another from Bagail, and we already had the Eagle Creek set that was a gift. Each family member’s bags are also a different color so that it’s easy to recognize our items.

After ten days abroad in three different locations, I was thrilled at how much more efficiently we were able to travel, and the messy hotel room was no longer an issue! Our first trip with packing cubes was the first time our hotel rooms stayed neat and organized. It was easy to pack, unpack and repack. Even when sharing suitcases, nobody’s items were mixed up. This was a life-changing discovery and we’ve never travelled without our cubes since then.

As our trip progresses, we either use a hamper for dirty laundry, drop it directly in to the suitcase, or put it into empty packing cubes, depending on how our accommodations are set up.

There are a couple different ways to use your packing cubes and you’ll have to determine what works for you. You can put different items into each cube — pants in one, shirts in another, undergarments in a third and so forth — or the way I like to do it which is to group and fold individual outfits together and pack them into cubes. Depending on size and season, you can fit one of more outfits in a medium or large cube. You can fold or roll your clothes in the cubes but just don’t overstuff them. It’s better to take more cubes than to struggle to zip them up. Packing is so much easier. I just fill the cubes with the items I need. I also help the kids pick out what they are wearing and bringing and help them pack their cubes. Then we just drop the cubes and our toiletry bags into out suitcases and we’re ready to go. It works for long trips or just a weekend away. I will never NOT use packing cubes again.

The cubes take up almost no space when empty and are easy to store in the bottom of a dresser or even in your empty luggage. 

So which brand is best? I still don’t have an answer. Honestly, each set is great and none of them are remarkably better than the others. If you need some help choosing, I just recommend finding a combination of sizes and colors that you want. My family is going to stick with our four brands and four colors. You really can’t go wrong with your choice of cubes. They are all fairly inexpensive and once you experience the magic of packing cubes, you will never travel any other way again.