Why You Should Compartmentalize into Cubes, Sacks, and Bags

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Welcome to Day 11 of 30 Days to Packing a Better Bag.

Don’t travel any longer without understanding the importance of compartmentalizing into packing cubes, compression sacks, and bags! 

Using these packing tools makes your bag more efficient, as you can sort clothing by category or in the order of when you will wear them. They also prevent you from having to dump all the contents out of your bag to find that one particular outfit — you know, the one thing that happens to be at the very bottom.

Placing your clothing in packing cubes, compression sacks or bags helps take the extra air out of your luggage, allowing you to pack more than you could if you just folded or rolled all of your clothes together.

It could be the difference between checking a bag and going carry-on or personal item only, saving you precious time and money!

Best of all, these options are available for purchase online and at most outdoor outfitters for cheap.

Why Compartmentalize?

There are so many benefits to using packing cubes, compression sacks, and other bags to compartmentalize your bag. We’ve already explained a few and sure, things look a lot neater, but that’s just the beginning. 

Here are some of the other many benefits of compartmentalizing:

• Organization: Organizing your things into different categories like clothing, undergarments, electronics, and accessories keeps things neat and makes it easier to find what you are looking for quickly and efficiently, without having to dump the entire contents of your bag out. 
• Maximize Space: When using a packing cube or compression sack, your clothing will be compressed into the smallest possible amount of space, meaning you may even be able to decrease your bag size! This is especially useful for bulky sweaters and jackets. 
• Separate Clean and Dirty Items: No more having to do the sniff test to check if your underwear is clean. You can separate your clean and dirty clothes during your trip using a packing cube or other bag. You can also use a waterproof bag for any items that are wet to keep them from ruining the rest of your clothes.
• Easy Packing and Unpacking: With all of your items already sorted into categories it will be easy to unpack when you get to your accommodation. For some categories, like accessories and underwear, you can simply put the whole packing cube in the hotel drawer. 
• Protection: Depending on the material of your packing cube, sack, or bag, they will provide some level of protection for your things and prevent spills from damaging any items in your bag.
• Optimize for Your Journey: Compartmentalizing also helps when you’re constantly on the road, as you don’t have to unpack compartments if you don’t need them. For example, I left my bag containing swimsuits at the bottom of my bag when I was visiting landlocked Siem Reap and stashed my minimal makeup kit for the majority of the trip. 

Cubes, Sacks & Bags: What’s the Difference?

Packing Cubes – Many travelers swear by their packing cubes because they can place all of their belongings inside and then stack the cubes inside their bags. They come in a variety of sizes to suit your needs and can be put together like a puzzle in your bag.

Brooke’s all-time favorite packing cubes are the Eagle Creek Pack-It Isolate Compression Cubes. They have an extra zip for compression which makes them even more effective.

Compression Sacks – These bags are a top tool for saving space since you can roll up your items and pull the tabs to press the air out. Choose styles from Sea to Summit or the unique Gobi Gear SegSac Traveler, which has slots to separate your clothing.

Other Bags – Ziploc bags make for an easy and cheap option to organize clothes. They can be labeled and then rolled to press out the air and save space (or vacuumed if you prefer).

Specially designed Space Bags, on the other hand, are similar in style and can be used for travel in order to pack as much as possible by removing air. The downside of using bags instead of cubes or sacks is that the zippers and seals can break.

How to Pack Cubes, Sacks and Bags

It took me the longest time to put this packing tip into practice. I have typically subscribed to the “black hole” method of packing, by which you jam everything in your bag and dump it all out again when you arrive at your destination. Not something I recommend.

After countless sessions of exploding my bag’s contents all over the floors of dorm rooms across the globe, my sister told me there was a better way. Here’s how you can do it.

Create a System

Whether you prefer packing cubes, compression sacks, zippered bags, or basic Ziploc bags, it’s important to have some sort of system.

Start by laying out all the clothing you plan on packing. Sort them however you think will be the most useful to you:

• Different categories together
• Different outfits together
• Separating cold weather and warm weather items

Fold your clothes width-wise (hot dog style) and roll. Then place in your cube or sack.

If you have more than one cube or sack, color coding can be a great way to remember where everything is. For example, place all shirts in your red cube and all pants in your blue cube. 

I used one compression sack for clothes, three cubes for toiletries and accessories, and three Baggu zippered bags for shoes, swimwear, and undergarments. Everything was placed into a different colored bag and every item had a place.

This makes things easier when you’re panicking, wondering what happened to your rain jacket. If you make sure everything ends up back in its original place, you’ll find it easier to repack on the road.

Then simply place your cubes, sacks, or bags into your suitcase or backpack and you’re on your way!

Avoid This Mistake

The first mistake I made when compartmentalizing was filling my compression sack to the brim. While compression sacks are great for shrinking the size of your clothing, they shouldn’t be abused. This applies to packing cubes and other bags as well.

When you fill them to capacity, it makes it harder to pack around them in your backpack or suitcase. Rather than having an overstuffed compression sack with little room for anything else, you can leave your compression sack ¾ full so that it will be easier to fit into your bag.

Check out this video:

How to Use Compression Sacks from Caroline Eubanks on Vimeo.

Do you compartmentalize when you pack? Which do you prefer; packing cubes, compression sacks, other bags, or a combination of them all? Let us know in the comments below.