Pro Packing Cubes – Do They Really Make Packing Easier?

Planning and preparing for a trip, I think over the years I have managed to get down to a fine art. Packing on the other hand, I’ll openly admit, I’m rubbish at! For me it’s the most tedious part of travel and something I wish I didn’t have to do. I’d love to be able to live by the passport, pants and purse theory but unfortunately, I just can’t. Instead I grab my luggage, whether it is a suitcase or my backpack, and then try to ram everything I own in it. Needless to say this is not ideal and even after many broken zips, a lot creased clothes and too many swear words to count I am only just learning the error of my ways.

When Pro Packing Cubes sent me a set of their packing cubes to try out, I’ll be honest I opened the package and thought ‘eh? What am I supposed to do with these?’ Throughout the blogosphere and beyond people rave about how packing cubes have revolutionised the way they pack and how they didn’t know how they managed it before they were invented it. Seriously, I couldn’t get my head around how a few pieces of material was going to help, so on our recent visit to London I decided to use them and see what all the fuss was about.

What are Pro Packing Cubes

They are a set of fabric bags that come in four sizes ranging from small (great for the little things like a pair of shoes, toiletries or even electrical cables) to extra-large (which are perfect for clothes, especially jumpers and jeans).

Here’s the technical stuff…….

Ultra-Lightweight Design
Unique ultra-lightweight fabric
Soft to the touch
Unbeatable strength to weight ratio
8 vibrant colours

Durable Design!
YKK Zippers – the smoothest running, toughest and snag free zippers you can find
High grip color coded zipper tips for ultimate ease of use and durability

Mesh Compression Panel
Compress quickly
They let your clothes breathe!

Grab & Go Handles
No more fumbling around to find belongings
Just grab a cube & go!
Cubes make great toiletry bags or even day bags for excursions

Craftsmanship
Double stitched and lined Seams
These Cubes can take a good stuffing!

Reasons to use them

There are some great reasons to use them. They allow you to pack more as the cubes compress clothes that you put in them, saving you 30% of room. Therefore, giving you more space for other stuff or allowing you to pack more, great especially if only travelling with hand luggage, as we do on most trips.

Also, I always live out of my case/backpack wherever I go. Quite often we visit somewhere for a night or two, three at the most, therefore I personally do not see the point in fully unpacking just to repack a couple of days later. As the Pro Packing Cubes come in a range of sizes you can pack different things in different cubes making it easier just to get out of your luggage what you actually need.

On our trip to London I used three cubes – one for clothes, one for make up and toiletries and one for electronic items. By doing this, I could just get the relevant cube out of my case when I needed it and put it back easily once I had got out or used what I needed.

I also took a spare cube to put my dirty clothes in once I had worn them. This made working out what needed washing and what didn’t when we got home a lot easier, I simply got the cube out of my bag and emptied it straight into the washing machine.

Will I use them again

Yes I will, we have a month-long road trip through California planned for June where I will be trying to take as much as I can in my rucksack to reduce the amount of times we need to find a washing machine. We are only staying one night in some places so by using the cubes I hope I can save room, meaning I can pack more and live comfortably out of my rucksack without having to drag everything out of it to find the thing I need, which I have a habit of doing(!)

Would I recommend them

Yes I would. Having now used the Pro Packing Cubes I can now totally understand why so many people use them and recommend them. I can’t believe that it has taken me this long to discover how good they are. I can see loads of opportunities to use the cubes when not travelling too, like visits to the gym, especially if swimming is your thing, you could use them to keep your wet clothes separate from your dry clothes, Seriously, if you have never used them before, give them a try as I think you too will be surprised how great they are too!

Do you use packing cubes? Do you agree that once you have used them you can never go back?

• We were sent a set of Pro Packing Cubes for review purposes