Used to be a time when you could pack neatly folded shirts and pants into a large suitcase and unpack without a wrinkle at your destination. With baggage fees up to $75 per bag, that is now a luxury for just the rich and famous. Regular folks have to squeeze everything we can into a twenty one inch carry-on.
The smart ones took to ‘vacuum bags’, strong plastic bags of various sizes with the option to suck or press air out and flatten the contents. Thereby increasing precious cargo space in that carry-on. Hard core hikers swear by the practice or rolling up anything and everything that is flexible. It narrows the items’ footprint and prevent major wrinkling. Now that works mighty fine in a backpack, but take a few rolled-up items out of your suitcase, and invariable a few other items unroll itself simply because there are space again and you are back to a regularly packed suitcase with limited space.
Our last three trips saw the transgression to ‘packing cubes’ – lightweight material bags of various sizes (and colors) with a mesh top that zips closed to solid nylon sides and bottom. The cube sizes allow the packer to build a suitcase like a Lego set and in different layers. For us, this almost always guarantees wrinkle free items and great suitcase management wherever you are.
But not all cubes are equal. Our first set came from a big chain and the stitching came apart on one bag where the zipper applies pressure, making it tough to use (but still usable). For $15, one could not ask for more. On the second set, I splashed over $40 on cubes from eBags. You will here me mention this brand a lot. The cubes have a collapsible build-in wire frame with double zippers and the materials are a higher grade textile. An assortment of combinations in sizes and colors are available. Sometimes, you get what you pay for!
This Suitcase just got back from a 27-day European trip. Our daughter stayed over in 14 countries and I took the photo as she opened her suitcase back at home:
Family Budget Travel Tips
Tip 1: Two sets of cubes are enough for most trips and suited for short stays with two people.
Tip 2: Stack all the cubes in the largest one to store easily – after a machine wash!
Note: Cubes are the way to go and if interested, check them out on this site. Full disclosure, I have entered into an affiliate program with eBags as they offer truly quality products with excellent warranties.