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space saving compression packing and storage bags

pjrose

pjrose

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I'm thinking of getting some of those plastic bags that you squeeze the air out of for packing or storage. I don't want the vacuum kind, as if I use them for travel I won't have a vacuum for the trip home.

I checked K-Mart and WalMart, but they both had the same kind, vacuum only. I couldn't find them at Kohls and then got tired of looking.

Years ago I bought some cheapo ones and got my money's worth - the first time I tried using one it popped.

Any recommendations of brand to get (or not get) and where to get them? Or do these sound better than they really are?
 
I think we bought ours straight from Space Bags online site. After a while they do wear out and don't keep the air out and need to be tossed. The only problem with these bags is that they will compact your stuff so much that you will get so much in a suitcase and it will go over the weights permitted by the airlines.

We now use the packing cubes.
 
A friend told me about the system she uses; I thought she was crazy, but I finally tried it----and I love it.

She (and now, I) buys the 2 1/2 gallon plastic food storage bags at the grocery store. She fills each with everything for one day--or sometimes for two days. I, on the other hand, fill each with everything of one type: t-shirts, underware, etc. Once you have the garments in the bags, you can press on the bags, which you have partially zipped, and get most of the air out. It's not as flat as a vacuum bag, but it's pretty flat.

Unpacking is a breeze; everything of one type comes out at once. For cruises, they are really great: the "packs" just lie on the shelf in the end of the closet. You can see everything with a quick glance, and if TSA goes through your luggage, they can't mess it up. They just lift up the packs without opening them: they can see everything in the pack. The bags are cheap and when one goes, you just get another one. An additional advantage is that stuff doesn't wrinkle: it doesn't move around; it stays just like you put it in. My friend "packs flat;" I roll things; both work just fine.

My husband watched me pack my bags and scoffed--he now uses bags, too.
 
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Wow Pat, great idea - thanks for sharing. I'll try on our next trip!
 
I got some carry-on size "space bags" where you push the air out, and I wasn't impressed. I got just as good results (and less wrinkling) with rolling. I think the bigger ones for home storage make sense and would save space, but for travel I feel they were a waste of money. Luckily I didn't pay much, I bought them from amazon.
 
PStreet1 said:
Once you have the garments in the bags, you can press on the bags, which you have partially zipped, and get most of the air out. It's not as flat as a vacuum bag, but it's pretty flat.
Click to expand...

To add to this process I use a straw stuck in the open corner of the bag and suck the rest of the air out, making the bag even smaller. A vacuum bag without a vacuum!

One of my Boy Scouts taught us this trick years ago.
 
For packing we use the mesh packing cubes to organize shirts, undies, power cords/chargers etc. and roll most of the clothes. We had the same result as others with the 'squeeze the air out' type of getting overweight long before a bag was full.

Don't tell DW about the segregation of outfits for cruises. I can see the stack of organized outfits in my mind now!

The vacuum variant of plastic bags are sure handy for putting away winter bulky clothes/comforters though.

Jim
 
2.5 gallon Hefty Bags worked very well!

I followed PStreet1's suggestion :hi: and bought 2.5 Gallon Hefty Zip bags. I debated two larger sizes of Ziplock with double zippers, but they were really really big, and cost a lot more for fewer bags. I think it was about $3.49 for twelve Hefty bags - and I used about 6-8 of them.

I did search a few stores for the roll-up type, but only could find the vacuum ones, and they were a LOT more expensive.

I packed by type - t-shirts, undies, swim, etc. Some things I rolled, some I folded. Then I squished, sealed most of the way, and squished some more. For the most part, the bags stayed fairly flat, though some did regain some air. It didn't matter, as I had plenty of room.

The great thing was how organized my big suitcase was - wow! No more digging to find what I wanted, and I just put the bags right into the appropriate drawers. I hung a mesh bag over the doorknob for dirties, and always knew that whatever was still in the bags was clean. I also knew at the end of the trip that whatever was STILL in the bags hadn't been needed :eek: .

I've kept the empty bags in my big suitcase, along with some things we only use when traveling.

Thanks for the suggestions; I'm a convert!
 
What a great idea. I will be trying the ziplock bags for our trip to Hawaii in October. I always have couple of the gallon size bags on hand and will check next time I'm at the store for the larger ones. Now if I could just figure out how to squish my camera gear and DH ( who wants to take everything he owns), I would be in heaven. :D

Suzanne
:hysterical:
 
pjrose said:
I'm thinking of getting some of those plastic bags that you squeeze the air out of for packing or storage. I don't want the vacuum kind, as if I use them for travel I won't have a vacuum for the trip home.

I checked K-Mart and WalMart, but they both had the same kind, vacuum only. I couldn't find them at Kohls and then got tired of looking.

Years ago I bought some cheapo ones and got my money's worth - the first time I tried using one it popped.

Any recommendations of brand to get (or not get) and where to get them? Or do these sound better than they really are?
Click to expand...

check walmart near the luggage I have gotten the non vacuum type there a few times. We put all of our stuff in them for flights as we had a bleed through issue when our luggage got wet during loading several years back.
 
The bags are a good idea.

I roll everything, but each roll is a complete outfit. It's really compact, and I can fit the extras, like swimwear and pajamas in the extra crevices. It's really convenient to grab an outfit, especially when I'm traveling from place to place rather than staying in one place. I make my kids pack that way, too, and it's great to make sure they remember to pack everything.
 
If you are costco member, they have them both online and in the store.

If you are not a costco member I think, but I am not sure, but you can still order from costco.com but there is a surcharge for non members.
 
We used these for a five-week trip around Europe about 8 years ago--they were fantastic! I think ours were from LLBean and they worked great. We weren't backpacking, but we were using just one small roller bag and one small backpack per person, and staying no where for more than 3-4 nights (a week on a cruise out of Barcelona in the middle was the only exception--the steward showed us our room, turned around, and we had all of our laundry for him! Expensive, but we decided a better value than spending one of our precious days in Europe doing laundry. I think he was a little...surprised.)

Anyhoo--not sure if LLBean still sells them, but it was worth purchasing the higher quality bags. These were the squeeze and roll kind--not vacuum.
 
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