Packing Cubes: What I learned after living out of them for 1.5 years

So there is one question that seems to split the packing community into two groups. The question is, should you use packing cubes or not? And then the debate goes on. Should you use a packing cube from Peak Design? Or isn't Eagle Creek much better? Should you roll your clothes or should you fold them? But in my opinion, this argument is really easy to settle. Every trip is different. No two trips are the same. And in my opinion, all those products or using no packing cubes, they all have their strengths and weaknesses and need to be packed differently. And I'm going to share with you now my opinion or my educated opinion of things I learned about packing cubes. And let me know what's your favorite way to pack. The goal is just to keep all your things contained in one space and not have a big mess when you arrive at your destination. I personally travel mainly without the packing cube when I go on hiking trips. We usually go on trips for several days. And I like to roll outfits for one day into one roll. So as you can see here, I took a t-shirt, then I added my shorts, some underwear, some socks, everything I need for the next day. And then I just roll it all up into one compact roll that stays together by itself. In my opinion, packing cube is everything that just holds your things together. So you can also use just a plastic bag to keep your things together. Or like in my husband's backpack, he has these compartments with zippers that also work like a packing cube. Apart from hiking and when I need more than one outfit, I personally prefer to travel with packing cubes. Just because I usually go on long trips for several months. I have a backpack that's just a big bucket. So I need the organization and I want everything not to fall all over the place. And the third thing is that I am very, very lazy. I don't unpack at my destination. So I personally just put my whole backpack as it is into the closet. I zip it open, I zip open my packing cube, and that's how I live. And then the next thing for me is that packing cubes are not only for clothes. And I have one packing cube where I keep all the other random small bags and stuff that would otherwise fly around in my bag. So the first type is just a regular packing cube, like this one that my husband uses. It's just very simple, square, nothing special. And then the other type is compression packing cubes. And do you really need a compression packing cube? In my opinion, no, because I used to travel in the past with a big packing cube like this. And I just had the perfect amount of clothes to fill this up. And then there would be no effect with any compression whatsoever. Nowadays I travel with compression bags, but just because I like the form. Not because I really need the compression. And I have two different ones. I have the one from Peak Design and the one from Eagle Creek, which are, I think, two of the most popular models that are out there. But as you can see, apart from the form, they have two very distinctive differences. When you look at it from the side, you will see that even though the compression is closed, it still has a wall on the side. Compared to the Eagle Creek, that totally zips the side wall shut. Another thing that influences the way you can pack them is the way they open. For example, the Peak Design one, you can open all the way, but the Eagle Creek one, it only opens partially, more or less halfway. Okay, let's start with method number one, regular folding. In my opinion, it's not the most useful method, but you can use it in all three packing cubes. Here, where you only open partially, it's very difficult to get things out. And also here in this one, when it's open like this all the way, and you have to get something out from the bottom, it's not very useful. At least I cannot do it without making a huge mess. And also in a deep bucket like this, I find it very hard to see what's at the bottom of the thing. So I only find it useful for things you don't need to access all the time. And actually, just regular folding is the method that I used here in this Eagle Creek packing cube. What I have in here is a rain jacket, long pants, and my hoodie. I pack it all into here. And now that I'm in Brazil, and we have 30-something degrees, and I'm sweating like... I don't access this at all. So I always just keep this somewhere in my bag until the day that I will need it again. The next method that many people use is rolling. And apart from rolling my hiking clothes, which I talked about in the beginning, this is not my preferred method, because I cannot roll things without messing them up. And in my opinion, in the peak design for the way I travel and for my clothes, it would not make sense either, because I have all this volume here. And if I roll them, I have to stack them on top of each other, and then I don't find things again. Rolling, I think, is probably a good idea for a packing cube like this, where you have a lot of space. So the third way, and my preferred way of doing it, is the KonMari way. Many years ago, I started with this when I still had an apartment. I started to organize all my things standing in the drawer. And in my opinion, this packing cube is the perfect substitute for any drawer, because you have all this volume here on the side. The nice thing about the KonMari method is that everything is folded standing up. They can even stand by themselves. And you can always see everything that's in your packing cube. And I also can take things in and out when I need them. And since things are standing in there, even when it gets more empty, things are not falling all over the place. Especially for someone like me, who does not unpack, and I really live out of this thing, it's so useful that I can just put things in and out as I need them. But again, this method will not work very well on something like the Eagle Creek one, because you cannot open it all the way. On the other hand, it works very well with something like a normal packing cube. When I had a bigger one in the past, I just always had two rows of things stacked in there. But the more I optimize things, this size just got too big for me. And this one small packing cube from Peak Design really carries all the clothes I need, apart from the backup cold weather gear that I bring with me. So as you can see, the reason why I'm using this is not really the compression. It's just the form factor when it's compressed and when I use it. But I also really enjoy the high walls. When it's uncompressed, it gives the whole thing a little bit more structure. And I have three more tips for you. The first one would be that Ziploc bags, bigger Ziploc bags, make awesome compression packing cubes. What I did in the past is just put my clothes in a Ziploc bag, close it all the way, just leave a little bit, a centimeter at the end, and then kneel on it to get all the air out and just close it shut. That was awesome. Worked very well. My clothes never got that small with any other method. But honestly, traveling full time, I would destroy the Ziploc bags every few weeks. And then it's not practical. That's why I use packing cubes. Tip number two. Especially when you travel a lot and when you basically wash on the road like I do, what we keep inside our bags is this little aroma clothes flavor bags. You can purchase them everywhere. We just always make sure to have one inside. And then our clothes always smell nice while traveling. And the third thing is, if you have something that's very big, like a puff jacket, but it's full of air, then use either a big Ziploc bag or also what works very well is dry bags like this. I mean, a little bit bigger size than this, obviously. But when you just get all the air out and then roll it up and seal it airtight, then it takes up much less space. Usually, I would give you the recommendation to just try out what works for you. But I know that packing cubes are expensive. And I mean, for me, traveling full time, I have no apartment. These things are basically my wardrobe and my closet. So I have no bad feeling purchasing them when I find a new one that I like. But I know that it's not a thing that everybody can do. And that's why I hope that this video gave you a few more ideas. Let me know how you like to travel, if you use them, which ones you use, what works for you. I'm curious to hear it. If you want to see more videos from me about minimalist packing, I will link the playlist right here. And other than that, thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video. Bye!