Early Retirement Extreme Forums

It seems like a good idea ... except the whole system begins to break down once one starts generating dirty clothes?!? Now you need two bags or at least keeping track of which is what. Why not just use a plastic bag ($0/no weight/bulk) instead of forking over $10-30 bucks and adding a couple of ounces?

I prefer to keep all my stuff in the bag while traveling. I never use the dressers, etc. in the *otel rooms. Perhaps that's my mistake?

My favorite work place gift ever is a Lands End duffel bag that has a zip on one end with a sack inside. You can put dirty clothes in that end and it expands into the bag replacing the space the cloths took on the clean side.

I had to google on the cubes -- this doesn't look useful to me.

Bingo! I was considering sewing in a net-fabric divider into my bag to do exactly that. Otherwise I agree so far, packing cubes only seem to make sense when fully packed.

Right. Packing cubes are only useful for things that will not change in size. (or where the groups will not change in size). That is likely everything aside form clothes. If the packing cube/thing changes in size well enough (like, say a mesh bag) it could still work for clothes, but there might not be much point other than for segregation of dirty clothes or maybe grouping together outfits or clothing types.

When I was traveling every week, I think I only took enough clothes for the trip. I'd roll everything (and now I also secure with rubber bands, which helps a lot). Then when I get home, everything in the the bag is dirty. I just took the bag to the washing machine put all the clothes from the bag into the wash. Then when done, they'd go back into the bag for the next trip, not even into the closet.

I use large ziplock bags (2.5 gal) for packing. If you lay on them while zipping them up, they work like space bags.

Not putting clothes into the dressers is a good way to make sure you don't leave them there. Plus bugs. I try to keep everything on the wire racks.

Agree with tossing the whole bag into the wash. I even like to wash my travel bag - I never realized how scented/stinky/repulsive all the smells are that I've picked up until I arrive home and find my bag one smelly mess of dirty clothes, scented room air fresheners (never mine!), and other random grossness like cigarette and wildfire smoke. Must. Wash. Everything.

I also use a plastic bag to put the dirty clothes in. It's one of our trash bags. So when I arrive at home, everything in it goes in the wash, and the bag will be used next to line the trash bin when I take out the trash (may take a week before it's used, but who cares; doesn't take up a lot of space refolded).

I shower with my clothe, stomp on them during shower time, and let them dry over night while sleeping naked.

If I can wash clothes during my travel I just keep them clean, if I end up with a batch of clean and dirty laundry I usually put the dirty laundry in a plastic/trash bag in my luggage. I don't think the packing cubes would be that much of an improvement if any and wouldn't be worth the cost. I tend to travel very light though so storage isn't much of a concern in general. If it's just me I can travel with just my backpack(it is a pretty sizeable backpack though). I can get in my laptop, headphones, chargers etc along with two pairs of pants(and wearing a 3rd of course), 7 t-shirts and underwear/socks. Enough to cover me for a full week before needing to do laundry.

I just bring a trash bag and put the dirty clothes in that (inside my backpack) until they're washed.

I will be the lone yes vote in packing cubes. The two I have are very useful in keeping my backpack organized. I have also used them to pack my stuff in DH bag and when we get to our destination I just grab my cubes. I think I can get more clothes in one than a similar sized ziplock. Mine are very lightweight (less than 2oz. total) I generally put my stuff in drawers if they are available (in the cubes) As for dirt stuff I generally put them is a plastic grocery sack til closer to the end of the trip then I condense my clean stuff into one bag and the dirty stuff in another.

https://www.google.com/shopping/produ ... QgTYIqwQ

Packing cubes help us when we are travelling with lots of shorts stops and three persons' sets of clothing. We know which pack is night clothes and which underwear, chargers, etc. when we are in transit (on train, etc) and don't want to do much unpacking of a tightly packed bag. We bought IKEA packing bags so not so expensive and there is a mesh bag with hanging hook in this set (possible shoe bag?) which we just stick the dirty clothes in. By the end of the trip this bag is quite plump and the others are almost empty.

I might not bother with packing cubes if going somewhere without size-constrained luggage or with longer/proper stop overs. I doubt they would be so useful when travelling on my own. One person hunting through luggage for an item does not make such a mess as three people doing it.

Not sure why the men in my family can look in a case/bag/cupboard and _not_ find something that I can lay my hands on easily. It does make it easier if they are hunting inside a smaller space (its hard not to find an item within a specific packing cube).

brute has a packing cube with a separating membrane in the middle. front is for clean clothes, back for dirty. both are mesh to air out, but the membrane is plastic to keep them from mixing.

brute finds this slightly more convenient than using bags.

After reading the positive cube posts, I realized my wife would probably prefer packing cubes. She is a fan of the big heavy hard suitcase. I persuaded her to switch to a (large with rollers on one end) duffle bag. But she usually packs the kids clothes with hers and the cubes would make it easier to organize/separate them.