How to Use Packing Cubes for Travel
Did you know there was a right way to pack a carry-on? This video takes packing tips to the next level by introducing you to some new ideas. Using packing cubes to pack a carry on has never been easier with this new packing strategy to pack in the right order!
If you hate watching YouTube videos and just come to this part of the internet to read blogs, Fin's carry on packing advice in the above video can be boiled down to:
Fin's Packing Secrets:
- Pack your toiletries, electronics, and shoes first. These things don’t compress well.
- Pack all that heavy stuff at the “bottom” of your suitcase or backpack- that way your bag isn’t tipping over all crazy while you’re at the airport.
- All that room you have leftover? That’s all that's left for your clothes. Pack accordingly!
- Fin's hottest tip is that she uses packing cubes and packs based on outfit or activity. To put it more simply- instead of packing all her shirts in one cube and all of her pants in another, she’ll pack an entire outfit in one bag. That way, when it’s time to go out dancing, she’s got her dancing clothes ready to go!
- Put that "extra" stuff off to itself so it doesn't clutter the rest of your carry on.
While we always appreciate the opportunity to hawk our wares at people on the old youtube, we also need to give a shoutout to something we don’t make- the Osprey Porter 46L backpack.
This is the same bag we took with us all over the world on our first trip. We having matching backpacks (cute, right?). The good news? They both still look like they’re brand new! While one day TRIPPED Travel Gear will be making its own heavy duty 46L backpacks, if you’re looking for an incredible bag in the meantime, you should check out the Osprey Porter.
Read transcript instead of watch video:
Fin: 00:00 First blow your mind tip is-
Fin: 00:07 I'm inspired to make this video because I feel like the way that I pack my bag, I've never seen as like normal packing tips so I'm hoping to share with you some new things you haven't heard.
Fin: 00:22 When trying to fit all of your things in a carry on, don't start with your clothes. The first things that should go in your bag is your toiletry bag pile of electronics. There's a lot of items and a lot of weight, so why did we start there? Let's see what that looks like. Now I've just taken up a fourth of my bag with those things. It's not. A real question is how are we going to pack our clothes into three quarters of a carry on suitcase? If you're new to our channel, then you don't know that I'm probably about to plug our own products here. We make travel gear and we sell it on Amazon. We have a compressible backpack. That's what this is a day bag and we make packing cubes that if you are a subscriber what you don't know is that we have new cubes for you guys.
Fin: 01:06 Yes we have this new six piece graphic cube set. They all are different graphic images inspired by our 10 month trip around the world. Each bag is a different pattern so that you can more easily remember what is in which bag. So the reason we sell our packing cubes as a six piece set is because that is the amount of packing compression cubes we find is the best for the carry on size. It's almost kind of like this packing kit. So in that no matter what colors you're getting it comes with this laundry bag and that's what I'm going to start with here. I like to use the lottery back at the beginning of the trip to store my extra set of shoes. So I have my pair of flip flops, sorry, all my dirty shoes. And I also have just a set of like slip on shoes because then I would be using my huge heavy hiking shoes to wear on the plane, so always wear your biggest pair of shoes on the plane.
Fin: 02:02 That way you don't have to carry it on your back or take up space in your rolling bag. I like to pack the extra set of shoes first because that's probably one of the heaviest things in your bag. After your toiletries, no matter if it's your backpack or your rolling carry on, you want all of your heavy items at the bottom for your back. That is just the best place for it to be on your body. But then if you're in the rolling carry on. Don't you hate when you're like waiting in line and you're like standing there waiting in the security line, you're standing there and all of a sudden your bag topples over in front of everybody. Yeah, that won't happen if you have your heavy things on the bottom.
Fin: 02:36 Quick lesson. There's a difference between packing cubes and compression cubes. Those are two different things. If you are searching for packing cubes on let's say Amazon, you'll see lots of varieties that essentially are just fabric organizers that help organize your luggage. The compression cubes are what we sell and what we use on our trip around the world there are great because they have two zippers so you put your clothes in it and then they have a second zipper where you compress your clothes down and it takes them air out so that you are able to bring more gear. That's not the blow your mind part. The blow your mind part is the two strategies and how to use this.
Fin: 03:19 The first strategy on how to use compression packing cube is not to organize them. Maybe how you would be organizing your closet at home with pants shirts is to organize it based on the activity that you're doing. So before we even put the clothes into the cubes, I took the clothes out of the closet and started to create these different piles. The first one is, let's call it active wear, gender neutral guys, gals, whatever. You are working out in climbing a mountain and lounging around the house. In, that's your active wear. You might see a lot of stuff online or it used to be a big thing about rolling your clothes, rolling. Your clothes doesn't work very well in these compression cubes we've found you're better off if you just lay your clothes flat. This is a tank top, a long sleeve waffle shirt running shorts, black leggings and a zip up hoodie. That's a lot of stuff. I'm also making sure not to overstuff this. The laws of physics still apply and if you overstuff this, you physically won't be able to close the second zipper. So part of the strategy is to put like the appropriate amount in here and I'll pull the second zipper closed.
Fin: 04:30 So I've got like a nice really compressed here's all my active wear. Our next fun pile of clothes is leisure leisurewear cafe where friends wearing clothes have like casual bottoms, these shorts. And then let's say like the jeans I have on, cause remember you also get to bring the clothes on your body into the airport with you and on your trip. And I've got this black tank, I've got this green tea, I've got this pink tea and I've got this vomit color, my cafe where is currently in a smaller cube than the leisure where I just showed you. This is our large and this is our small and I didn't even compress this one yet. I'll just kind of like grind, chop it down and then it won't like get stuck. I don't really know how to explain this without sounding like I'm explaining the laws of physics but sometimes the internet can be a strange place.
Fin: 05:20 So my next just like category you would expect would just be your dinner clothes. But the point of the message here for your organization tips is to divide your packing cubes up by category. The reason why that is helpful is because then every time you're going in and out of your backpack, you don't have to like pull a shirt out of one and shorts out of another. You can just say like we're going hiking, I'm going to grab my hiking bag, and then you've got a bunch of stuff in there. So like think accessories to to pop in there. Sometimes when I'm using these and going to a more formal event, like a wedding weekend is such a good example. I'll put my entire rehearsal dinner outfit and one my whole like wedding reception, ceremony outfit and another and sometimes cause I'm tall, I'm hardly using heels.
Fin: 06:06 I'll just have flats. I'll put my shoes in there too and I'll put my pieces of jewelry. If there's like a specific bra I need for the dress, I'll put that in there and like literally then you're like getting into the hotel. It's Friday night. Everyone's like racing around you just like grab the packing cube and you have everything you need for that one outfit in this bag. It is like such a game changer. I just can't, you know I'm going to say here's the fun category. Are you ready for the fun category? Wait, I guess is not the fun category. This is like the loser category. These are things that you're bringing in your bag because you are saying to yourself, I should bring our rain coat, a bathing suit. That really nice shirt and case we do this thing. It's kind of like the non-essentials that you're still gonna bring, but you're just like, will I really need this?
Fin: 06:58 They're going to go in our last packing cube. Why is because these aren't going to get my bag all messy and disorganized. When I'm looking for things that I actually want to wear, they're just here. They can be at the bottom of my bag but not too far to the bottom. Remember we have all the heavy stuff down there. This is a good example of an overstuffed cube. I could probably squeeze that down if I really wanted to, but sometimes if it's over stuff that just makes it more bulky and kind of awkward in the bag. So I'll let it have a little bit of extra air and it can just kind of push and squeeze as it needs to in my bag. But I wanted to overstuff one a little bit so that you could see like you can use it as a packing cube. You don't have to zip the zipper if you don't want the laundry bag to largest two smalls and the sixth one. This one has multipurposes to store electronics. I sometimes like to just put snacks in here and put this in my purse as you could use this as your, you know, wet bathing suit bag. But I left this one out of the backpack cause I usually have this in my purse with me. But of course I could go in your carry on as well.
Fin: 08:06 It's the backpack packing strategy part of this video, hands down. The reason we purchase this specific backpack for travel is because the front pouch has this entire office area and I talk about this in the backpack review. Okay. This is like the ultra 15 inch laptops. My iPad massive notebook. I have gotten into situations as probably many of us have where you're like trying to shove your backpack up in the top section above your seat and it's just like, it's just like almost doesn't fit. But the charger is just so dang bulky that it ends up creating this little bump on the outside. And I'll be able to get my whole backpack up on the top, but then it's like just the charger is always like causing a scene and then I'll have to like pull the backpack down. Everyone's waiting for you and you have to pull the charge around and then it's like awkward.
Fin: 08:57 Then you're like holding the charger and you're like in your lap now, so no bulky items in the front pouch. The charger is just going to go at the bottom with all of my other heavy gear. So we have electronics at the front, we have our toiletries and your makeup bag or whatever else you're bringing with you hairdryer. Those are going towards the bottom of the bag for weight reasons and if there's even like a heavier side, I'm pushing that closer to my back, not on the outside of the bag but closer to where it would be on my body. Next I'm going to take the laundry bag has has two pairs of shoes in it. Remember my third pair of shoes is on my feet and that's going towards the bottom. I already have my underwear and like my scarves and other kind of accessory things on either side.
Fin: 09:42 So there are no clothes in this bag yet. So really when you're packing a carry on size you only have half of a bag. And then my not even compressed down cube of things I don't want or need. That's just going to like go in a drawer when I arrive. This is a great opportunity to bring your trip backpack or Tim might have it on his back in the airport and I will keep mine in my bag so that I can use it for like our day trips and it's just not like cue to the airport. I'd rather have a arm bag purse, so I just pack it along with, I know I look small now, right? It doesn't, this is not an internet magic trick. All that stuff really is in there. Thanks for hanging out with me. I'd love to know where you're going.
Fin: 10:22 Like where's your trip to and if you think that we can be friends, go check out some of our other content. Maybe we have some good suggestions on what to do when you're going to your destination. And of course, we'd love for you to check out our trip travel gear. We sell everything on Amazon, but we also have an eCommerce store. You can see it on there, but it's just sending you to Amazon anyways, so you can just check out the direct links that'll take you there. Have you packing, enjoy your trip.
