I haven’t actually made any changes to my plans today, but I did order some more packing cubes. I was inspired by a post on the Liners app some time ago, in which someone asked whether you pack your cubes by outfit (i.e. you put one complete set of clothes in one cube) or by item (i.e. you only put socks in one cube, underwear in another).
I didn’t even know what packing cubes were a year ago. What a simpleton I was! I used them during my trip last year and was an instant convert. On that occasion I went for packing by item, but next time I’m thinking of going for packing by outfit.
When I do non-Disney trips, I pack by item. However, last time in the World I was convinced to try packing by outfit, and I was an instant convert. (I actually packed by day, rather than by outfit – we went at a hot time of year and I always changed into a totally different set of clothes after our midday break. So each cube had basically two complete outfits in it.) With four people with one bathroom it was incredibly nice to just be able to grab “today’s cube” and take it with me to get changed, without having to root around finding socks, etc. If you have more space to spread out in the room, I’m not sure it would make any difference to pack by item v. outfit, though.
We broke down and bought some for our upcoming trip but I’m doing it slightly different. For my kids, each outfit goes in a gallon size ziplock bag and then each kid has their own colored coded cube that all of the outfit/Ziploc bags fit into. Then we have two large and two small leftover so husband and I will each get one (shirt/shorts in large and socks, etc. in small)
I think packing by outfit will make everything neater and will make it easier to pack for the journey home. Each day I’ll put the dirty clothes back in the cube they came from. That way on the last day there should be almost no packing to do.
I do outfits together for kids and by item for me as my clothes are more boring, I may choose outfit at the time of. I love packing cubes for our big family as everyone has their own color cubes but the cubes can be mixed in a suitcase without mixing everyone’s stuff together.
I pack by category, but always have one set aside for “arrival/first day” which means I don’t have to hunt around what what I need to get settled in after a late arrival and before leaving for a park the next morning. Like @momfourmonkeys we all have our own colour, so everyone’s cubes are easily identifiable. My DH scoffed at the packing cube idea to start with, but borrowed a few of mine for a business trip and was an instant convert!
I got cubes for the family for our 2017 trip. They worked great for us. We packed outfits in cubes and accessories in other cubes. That worked great for us. We will definitely be using them again for out late summer trip.
I tried this but could fit less in each suitcase. I like to cram as much as possible in as few bags as possible. I don’t know why this didn’t work for me bc everyone seems to love them.
I like the idea of packing by outfit, never tried it though (I’ve never been one to go on “packable vacations” until recently).
However, packing to use seems easy… what about after it’s been worn? In the past, I just half-heartedly fold the clothes and stick them in a plastic bag to prevent the stink from spreading, but is there a better way(he asked in that infomercial way: in black and white and needlessly making the simple situation overly complex )
I keep all dirty clothes in one suitcase. Anything clean that’s left over is in a different suitcase. Sometimes I do laundry during the trip while playing at the pool. It’s not hard or tedious doing laundry on vacation. I like it better than doing laundry at home. Weird huh?!
I do one cube per item (shirts, shorts, bathing suits, etc.). Each day when we finish with an article of clothing, they go in one of the large ziplock compression travel bags. Whatever is left in the packing cubes at the end of the week is clean and whatever is in the ziplock bags is dirty (and in the summer especially, smelly and not stinking up my packing cubes!). Plus, the compression bags make additional room in the luggage for souvenirs!
We use packing cube by days. Each cube has 1 (or 2) days worth of clothing for the family. That works nicely, particularly when there were 5 of us (this trip) to pack for.
When we went last year we packed by person - each of my kid’s had one and then my husband and I each used one for our main stuff (I think we each had a pair of pants that didn’t fit inside the designated cube). Then I had one for princess dresses and one for miscellaneous stuff. It worked out really well for us.
We packed the adult cubes by item and the kids get one ziplock bag per day (usually has a change of clothes for the younger ones). As for dirty clothes, we bring a popup mesh hamper that everyone tosses stuff in and we cram it in one or two suitcases on the way home. Those suitcases go straight to the laundry room.
I must’ve had larger cubes than some people use as I could easily fit 3-5 outfits in each one, so one per outfit would waste a lot of space.
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