Travel Tip: Packing Cubes

Image photo from Amazon

Recently we went on a whirlwind trip to Niagara Falls.  We did the drive with our 3 kids (6, 9, 11), and were gone for 5 days.  5 days, 2 countries (US and Canada), and 6 states.  We crammed as much in as we could stopping at least every 4 hours or so to let the kids get out and explore and play in some area that we were near.  About a year and a half ago my sister convinced me to get these packing cubes and said they were great for packing your stuff in your luggage.  I resisted for a while...who needs separate bags for our stuff?!, but I am SO glad I finally gave in and got these.  I love these bags so much in fact, I have 2 sets of them, plus a 3rd set which is a different brand (and which I hate by the way!). 

Anyway, the packing cubes themselves are a great travel tip alone because you can keep everyone's stuff separated.  When I go someplace alone (almost never!), I use 1 or 2 of the bags for my clothes, 1 bag is for all my bathroom stuff, and 1 bag (the little one) is for phone chargers and accessories. 

But this trip we got really smart and used the bags to put everyone clothes in for one day (i.e. Monday's clothes, Tuesdays clothes, etc.).  We also had one bag with just swimsuits.  We packed a small carry-on size suitcase with everyone's pajamas, our bathroom stuff, make-up, and the small stuffed animals the kids would want to sleep with each night.  Then when we got to our hotel (or Airbnb), we just had to bring in the small suitcase and ONE of our cubes with our clothes/stuff for the next day.  When we unpacked at the hotel, we used that packing cube to put all of our dirty clothes in. So we had a big suitcase full of packing cubes which started out as clothes for each day, but at the end was full of our dirty clothes, and that suitcase never had to get pulled out of the car.

It's hard enough to go into a hotel each night with 1 or more suitcases, everyone bag of toys, pillows, the cooler, refillable water bottles, etc.  This time it was so easy to get in and out of the hotels and much less opportunities to forget something or leave something behind!  We are seriously packing this way EVERY time we road trip!