Packing cubes vs plastic bags or tote bags

[jacob]

Why are packing cubes even a thing?

Packing cubes are square and fit in luggage, but...
Plastic bags are free.
Tote bags can be used for other things.

[Western Red Cedar]

I think it is primarily about organization. It is possible they are more efficient with space, though I can't say I've tried to use tote bags as a like-for-like replacement. DW has used them for a couple years, and I finally picked two up after traveling with her.

I travel with backpacks, which means I'm regularly digging through a large pack to find a particular item. With two packing cubes I can remove them and have easy access to the rest of my bag. The ones we own have two sides, which allow you to place clean clothes on one side, and dirty clothes on the other.

I've used plastic bags before (like reusable grocery bags), but they tend to deteriorate on long trips. Tote bags could be a good replacement for packing cubes as long as you have the preferred sizes. We often bring one or two reusable bags that you can stuff down to fit into a purse or pocket. These can work well for dirty laundry, as well as for day-to-day needs. The cubes I own allowed me to get organized for 3+ weeks with a day pack rather than a larger bag, and I'm not sure I could have made that work with tote bags.

Definitely not necessary and I lived many years without them, but they do keep me organized on the road.

[Jean]

I don't really see the point of them. Usually, the time you lose opening and packing in them again is more than the time you lose searching trough your bag without them.

[Ego]

I have used them for years. They compress stuff down to small manageable cubes. They organize stuff into winter cube, running cube, food cube, cooking cube. They come in various sizes and can make it efficient to pack unusually sized packs. For instance, Ortlieb panniers taper slightly to the bottom. I can squeeze more stuff in there efficiently with different cube sizes. I can reach down and pull out the one cube I need rather than have to unpack the entire bag.

I agree they do not make sense for an out and back trip where you just unpack when you arrive and repack before returning home.

[Western Red Cedar]

@Jean - the major issue I observed was traveling with a 40-50L backpack. Sometimes I'd only be staying somewhere for a night or two and didn't want to completely unpack and repack my bag. However, I might need one particular item like a pair of swimming trunks or hiking socks. I would often end up digging though the bag and needing to repack it again before I left.

In the meantime, DW would simply remove her packing cubes and have easy access to everything in her bag.

[mountainFrugal]

I do compartmentalized packing for back/bikepacking, for keeping travel art supplies in order, for keeping documents semi-waterproof, keeping our van tidy etc. I do not pack everything in this way for trips, but stuff that is specialized like ego mentioned, or emergency kits stay in a bag ready to go. These 4 mil bags last a long time, are food safe, and you can compress stuff down and seal the air from getting back in. When they are worn out from their "waterproof" function, they are used for stuff around the house like old hardware. After years of use I think I have only used about 40 bags. There are different sizes, but I use the 10X12 inch ones. Shortened amazon link: https://a.co/d/iXYncdl

[Jean]

I do have one dry bag in which i put all the small items, as they are usually the ones that could be made definitively useless by touching water.

[unemployable]

I mean there's a whole industry around selling us crap to put all our other crap inside. Even a store segmented at solely this purpose.

[OutOfTheBlue]

Well, I guess this falls under "appropriate response" as per the ERE book, with no universal, definite answer.

Someone living out of a backpack could have some use for a portable drawer (packing cube) or two, where they can store all their non worn clothing items.

Case in point, one L and one S compression Eagle Creek Pack-It can fit most all of my wardrobe, and a dry bag holds any dirty clothes and doubles as a wash bag (some packing cubes also offer a separate compartment for keeping dirty laundry).

But I agree this is mostly "crap" convenience, and a plastic bag or some groceries bag will do just fine for most purposes. I would probably not buy them again if they were to be lost or destroyed. They hardly justify the price tag difference.

The problem with containers is often the added weight (including the backpack or outer bag itself). It all adds up. For instance, why take a toiletry bag/EDC bag/emergency kit bag when a zipper plastic bag is good enough?

Traveling makes you treasure and reuse these little 100 ml or less bottles though.

[Laura Ingalls]

https://www.eaglecreek.com/products/pac ... 8HEALw_wcB

These puppies will condense puffy stuff into packages that look like vacuum sealed meat. If the stuff is dirty it contains the stink.

I find them handy as I mostly travel with a 50 liter backpack with one large drawstring at the top. Avoids lots of pawing through the bag. I am on team cube although it probably is consumerism at work.

I thought the were very handy when DS and I stayed in the smallest hotel room ever. (It was like 6x8). I was able to fit my cubes in the drawer under the bed. I hung my then flat backpack on a peg and keep my toiletries bag in the outside pocket. I do use a very light tote small tote bag for spare shoes.