Are you tired of messy suitcases and struggling to find your essentials while travelling? Packing cubes could be the solution you need! These handy travel accessories help you stay organised, save space, and make packing and unpacking a breeze. Tune in to learn how packing cubes can transform your travel experience and decide if they're worth the investment for your next adventure.
Are Packing Cubes Worth Using?
Yes, travel packing cubes are worth it, especially for frequent travellers, business travellers, families, and backpackers. These handy tools help keep luggage organised, save space, protect clothing from wrinkles and spills, and make packing and unpacking more efficient.
Frequent travellers can maintain a consistent packing system, business travellers can keep professional attire neat and accessible, families can organise each member's items separately, and backpackers can separate items within a single compartment for easy access.
While some people avoid packing cubes due to their cost, added weight, and perceived complexity, the benefits far outweigh these drawbacks. Packing cubes provide superior organisation, making it easier to find items without rummaging through the entire bag.
Overall, packing cubes enhance travel efficiency and reduce stress, making them a valuable investment for most travellers.
Different Types of Packing Cubes
Packing cubes are compact, lightweight fabric containers designed to help travellers organise their belongings within a hard suitcase or backpack. Typically made from materials like nylon or polyester, these cubes come in various shapes and sizes to fit different types of luggage.
The primary purpose of packing cubes is to compartmentalise your items, making it easier to find what you need without having to rummage through your entire bag. By using packing cubes, travellers can neatly separate clothing, accessories, toiletries, and other essentials, ensuring a more organised and efficient packing process.
Types and Sizes of Luggage Packing Cubes:
Standard Packing Cubes
- Small Cubes: Ideal for socks, underwear, and small accessories.
- Medium Cubes: Perfect for t-shirts, shorts, and other lightweight clothing items.
- Large Cubes: Best for bulkier items like trousers, jackets, and sweaters.
Compression Cubes
These cubes come with an additional zipper that compresses the contents, reducing the volume of your clothing and maximising space in your luggage. They are particularly useful for travellers who need to fit more items into a smaller bag.
Mesh Cubes
Mesh packing cubes feature breathable mesh panels, allowing you to see the contents without opening the cube. This type of cube is great for items that need ventilation, such as gym clothes or damp swimwear.
Toiletry Cubes
Specifically designed for toiletries, these cubes often come with waterproof lining to prevent spills from damaging other items in your luggage. They may also have multiple compartments to organise smaller items like toothbrushes, razors, and travel-sized bottles.
By utilising different types and sizes of packing cubes, you can tailor your packing strategy to suit the specific needs of your trip. Whether you're heading on a weekend getaway, a business trip, or an extended holiday, packing cubes can help you stay organised, save space, and ensure a smoother travel experience.
Benefits of Using Packing Cubes
Organisation and Efficiency
Packing cubes help organise luggage by categorising items such as tops, bottoms, and accessories into separate compartments.
This system ensures that everything has its place, making it significantly easier to find specific items without having to rummage through the entire suitcase.
By keeping your belongings neatly arranged, packing cubes save you time and reduce stress, especially during hectic travel situations.
Space-Saving
Packing cubes can help maximise space within your luggage, particularly when dealing with bulky items.
This space-saving feature is ideal for travellers looking to pack efficiently and avoid checked baggage fees by sticking to carry-on luggage.
Protection and Maintenance of Your Clothes
Packing cubes protect your clothing from wrinkles and potential spills by keeping items securely in place and separated. They also help maintain cleanliness by allowing you to separate dirty clothes from clean ones.
Some packing cubes even have dual compartments specifically designed for this purpose, ensuring your clean clothes remain fresh throughout your journey.
Convenience
The ease of packing and unpacking with packing cubes is a major benefit. You can quickly remove and replace cubes as needed, keeping your suitcase organised throughout your trip.
This convenience extends to security checks, where having your items neatly compartmentalised allows for quicker and smoother inspections.
Packing cubes ensure that you can access what you need without disrupting the rest of your luggage.
Additional Hygiene Benefits
Packing cubes can also help prevent bringing bed bugs home from your travels. By keeping your clothes sealed within cubes, you reduce the risk of bed bugs infiltrating your belongings.
After travelling, you can run the packing cubes through a hot cycle in the dryer to kill any potential hitchhikers, providing an extra layer of protection for your home.
Drawbacks of Using Packing Cubes
Additional Weight
One drawback of packing cubes is that they do add some weight to your luggage. However, this weight is typically minimal, especially with ultra-lightweight options available on the market. At Globite, we offer packing cubes made from lightweight yet durable materials, ensuring that the added weight does not significantly impact your overall luggage.
The organisational benefits and ease of use they provide often outweigh this minor increase in weight.
Cost
Investing in high-quality packing cubes can be costly, with prices varying based on brand and material. However, many travellers find that the initial investment pays off in the long run through increased convenience and durability.
Our Globite packing cubes are affordable and allow travellers to test starting with a budget-friendly set to experience the benefits without a significant upfront cost, and you can always upgrade later if needed.
Limited Flexibility
Packing cubes may not be as flexible when it comes to packing irregularly shaped items or for those who prefer different packing methods. They are designed to fit standard clothing and accessories, which might make it challenging to pack items with unique shapes.
However, many packing cubes come in various sizes and shapes, allowing for some level of customisation. Additionally, using a mix of cubes and traditional packing methods can help maintain flexibility while still reaping the organisational benefits of packing cubes. So whether you've got a large hard suitcase or a small carry on suitcase, you can rest assured you've got luggage cubes to suit.
What Travellers Say About Packing Cubes
"People seem to love them or not, depending on your packing style. I converted and won’t go back. In my head, containerising the various components of a pack just makes things so much easier. And the compression cubes do actually save a decent amount of space."
"Yes. They are definitely worth it. The modularity and packability is fantastic. They simplify packing and unpacking dramatically, and help save room.”
"I became a convert about 20 years ago. For short trips I use them to set outfits apart, for longer trips I group things together. Keeps my bag from becoming a bottomless abyss, especially when I had to travel that one carrier that hand inspects everything that got brought on the plane."
It's clear that despite a few hangups, for seasoned travellers trying to bring some calm to the chaos of packing and living out of a suitcase, luggage cubes can make a world of difference. As well as helping organise your various items within your limited luggage space, they undoubtedly also bring peace of mind to travellers who would otherwise be worried about rummaging through their belongings desperately trying to find their next pair of clean underwear.
Summing Up
Packing cubes are a valuable investment for many travellers, offering significant benefits in terms of organisation, space-saving, protection, and convenience. While they add minimal weight and come with an initial cost, the advantages they provide, such as easier packing and unpacking, maintaining cleanliness, and keeping items accessible, far outweigh these drawbacks.
See our full range of travel packing cubes.
