I’ll Never Use Packing Cubes Again After Seeing My Military Son’s Trick

For years, I loved using packing cubes to organize my suitcase. The color-coordinated, stackable containers are touted by travel professionals and organizers alike. I thought I was packing efficiently and smartly, but then I learned about how my military son was packing his duffle bag for military academy. 

To pack his 40L duffle bag, my son uses Ziploc bags as an efficient and simple way to organize his things. Now, I’ve replaced all my packing cubes with this pantry staple — and I’m never turning back.

When my son left for the United States Military Academy, aka West Point, the long list of packing items seemed impossible to fit into one 40L duffle bag. Sure, boots could be tied to the bag, but what about all the other essentials? To add to regular packing stress, everything he packed in his civilian bag had to be transferred from a civilian bag to an army-issued duffle in just minutes on Reception Day (otherwise known as R-Day). He learned that Ziploc bags were the most cost-effective and simple, efficient way to pack and keep everything organized. 

This packing method is so smart because it’s very adaptable, too. He can easily group similar items together — he could pack categories of items in each bag (socks and underwear in one bag, pants in another) or separated by days/outfits. The best part is that he can quickly grab what he needs from his big duffel, whether it’s in the dark or early in the morning, or if he just has a minute to get dressed or repack. Not only does this method make it easy to pack and repack quickly, but it also helps create more space in his bag and keep things cleaner by separating dirty and clean clothes.

I adopted the Ziploc bag packing method for my own travel after seeing how it worked for my son. I use various sizes of Ziploc bags to pack and organize all my travel items, from clothing to workout gear to toiletries. The process is simple. First, I separate everything I plan on packing into categories. Personally, I like to group by clothing category type (i.e., underwear in one bag, dresses in another) but you could also pack by day of the trip. It’s like a packing filing system: shorts in one bag, socks in another, and dresses by themselves. Because I can compress the air out, the method allows me to bring at least one (but sometimes more) outfit per trip than I would have packed otherwise. Options on a trip are always a smart choice.

While I prefer making the bags as flat as possible for extra storage space, they can also be manipulated to fit into rounded corners or other empty spaces if my suitcase is oddly shaped. Additionally, I fear getting stopped by the TSA (the idea of someone rummaging around my unmentionables makes me uncomfortable). With the bags, a TSA agent can quickly see and identify whatever they need to examine instead. Usually I pack a few extra bags for a trip, too, and use them to separate dirty and clean clothes as the trip goes on or as I come back from my vacation. The extra bags also ensure I have a replacement Ziploc bag in case they break. Unfortunately, most hotels do not have Ziploc bags in the front desk toiletries stash. A few years ago, I might have laughed if someone had told me I’d replace my packing cubes with Ziploc bags — now, I’ll never look back.