This $21 Item Made Me a More Organized Traveler

I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty organized person. I’ve been Marie Kondo-ing my drawers for years. Folding my clothes in threes and rolling them has always been my technique when packing for any trip. When I first heard of packing cubes, I definitely thought, “I don’t need those.” Well, I was wrong. They are life-changing, even when packing for just a quick weekend getaway. 

Think of packing cubes like drawers you can travel with. They aren’t meant to save space—they are made to organize your stuff and allow you to keep your suitcase as neat as you would your bedroom (outside of the times you let it get really messy, of course).

Imagine you went away and only needed a few items, less than ten.  It would be simple to take things in and out of your bag as you need them, without making a mess.  But in the real world, we often travel with much more than that, even if we plan to “pack lightly.”

Need a shirt? Great. Take out the packing cube that is storing the shirts.  You can do this without disrupting the order of the rest of your bag and digging for all of the time trying to find a specific item. Like to roll your clothes because it saves space in your bag? Well, that works great when those rolled clothes are all pushed up against each other. But what if you take one item out? It’s like a domino effect, causing mass chaos in your t-shirt collection.  Packing cubes allow you to keep your clothes rolled, neat, and chaos-free.

I like that this set has a variety of colors, easy zippers with mesh sides (no mothball smells), and are made of water-resistant, flexible fabric.  Each collection comes with seven pieces, ranging in size.

Need more packing tips? Here’s how Marie Kondo packs a suitcase (and keeps herself organized in a hotel), plus advice from someone who’s traveled to over 90 countries with just a carry-on.