To organise or to just throw it all in your bag? That is a debate that I’ve had with many of my fellow travellers on many occasions. My co-contributor Si will tell you that any sort of packing organiser is a big fat waste of time and money. He would much prefer to jam his clothing in around his shoes and toiletries. I on the other hand swear by some level of organisation (albeit I do roll up my clothing prior to packing).
I think the main reason packing organisation is so important is because I have a fear that one day I’m going to leave half of what I own behind in some hotel somewhere. The best thing about some sort of organisation process is that I generally can’t leave too much behind because everything has its place within my suitcase or backpack and it is easy to see if something is missing if you have a space sitting somewhere inside your bag.
So, if you are like me & have decided that you need a level of organisation to your packing, you’re probably asking what options are available and what would I recommend.
I’ve used packing cubes, compression sacks, travel space savers and plain old plastic bags as forms of organisation for clothing in the past and I now tend to only favour compression sacks.
However, here’s some pros and cons for the different forms of clothing organisers to give you a feel for what options are available:
Packing Cubes. They’re probably the most common and well known form of clothing organisation for bag packing. Most of the large outfitting brands offer a version and they are all fairly similar both in functionality and price. Basically, they come in three or four sizes, and the better ones offer a “back and a front” side of the cube.. Often mesh on one side and plastic coated on the other. These cubes are great for packing clothing like shorts or trousers and you can pack them so that you have dirties on one side (plastic side) and cleans on the other (mesh side). If you are a suitcase lover (and you have a very square suitcase) then they are ideal. You can fit a few cubes in, your clothes will always be organised and you can easily see at a glance if you are missing something from your kit. If you are a backpack lover then cubes can get annoying as you end up with gaps in your pack where the cubes don’t quite fit in with the shape of your bag. Generally, back packs are smaller than suitcases so you’re wasting precious space.
Compression Sacks. My personal favourite and the form of organisation I use for every trip longer than a week. Compression sacks do just what they sound like they do, you stuff them with your clothing (rolled up) and then you pull down on the compression straps to shrink your clothing down to a smaller size. You can get waterproof or non-water proofed sacks. I use the waterproofed type as it is another barrier to getting water into your pack and ensuring your clothing is nice and dry. Like packing cubes they do take up “valuable” space in your suitcase or backpack. They are more conducive to back packing (due to the fact that the sacks are cylindrical) but they still also leave those “spaces” in your pack. They can work in suitcases but you will find plenty of “wasted” space if you tend to pack all of your goods into some sort of organiser. Price wise, they are slightly more expensive than the cubes but they do have the added benefit of water proofing your clothes so….
Travel Space Savers. These are now proving to be a bit harder to buy than they were ten years ago and have fallen out of favour with many travellers but in my opinion they still have a place! Where travel space savers come into their own is when you are packing for a really cold climate and you need to take super bulky ski jackets or ski pants and you only have a smallish suitcase. Travel Space Savers work similarly to compression sacks in that you fill them up with your clothing but instead of pulling down on compression straps to shrink your clothing, you seal up the plastic bag and start rolling the whole bag up to squeeze all of the air inside the bag out, before finally sealing the container. The biggest issue with using them is you need to be quite strong to really squeeze the air out of the plastic container and they are prone to “springing a leak”, which is where the seal can give way- any small hole and the air rushes straight back in. If you are going to consider them then don’t buy the cheap ones you see in the thrift shop, spend the cash and buy the real ones, Space to Go, as they are less likely to “spring a leak” part way through your trip.
Plain old plastic bags. Believe it or not, you don’t need to buy any fancy packing organisers, you can just use plastic bags. Have a bag for each type of clothing- 1 for underwear and socks, 1 for t-shirts and dresses as examples and just fit them around your shoes in your bag. The plastic bags double as washing bags, so no need to carry any extra plastic bags for “dirties” and you could use different type of bags (from different retailers) for different clothing so that you know which type of clothing is in your bag or missing. The best thing about plastic bags is they are super cost effective and you can “squish” your clothes around other items in your suitcase or backpack but still have them organised. You don’t quite get the benefits of “shrinking your clothes” (although you can squish some of the air out of them before tying them up) but as it is almost free its easily the cheapest option available for organisation.
So that’s it, if you want to be able to know where “things” are in your suitcase consider some packing organisers or feel free to join Si and just pack your clothing in any way you can!