Packing cells are the first thing essential thing you absolutely must buy before you head on your trip. Hold on a sec. Online travel bloggers acts like packing cells are the holy grail of travel gear (because they make a tidy commission when you buy a set). Here are a few reasons why you don't actually need them.
1. They are not waterproof
Having all your underwear separated from other items is a super smart move, but if that bag gets wet which can happen even at airports as your luggage sits on the tarmac, your $60 packing cell is just another soaking wet item you'll need to dry out. Plastic bags either the shopping kind or large ziplocks offer a lot more protection
2. They Don’t Actually Save You Space
Stuffing your clothes into a tiny cube doesn’t magically compress them into another dimension.What does save space? Rolling your clothes and shoving them into a plastic bag, or wearing the same shirt four days in a row.
3. They Add Unnecessary Weight
If you are trying to squeeze under 7kg of carry-on then those 10 packing cubes with zippers are 250g of wasted allowance you don't need. You could have squeezed in a few extra pairs of undies or a few more snacks.
4. You cant see through them.
With a packing cell you still have to unpack everything. Ever tried getting one pair of socks out of a perfectly packed cube? You unzip, dig, mess everything up, repack, zip again. Repeat every day. With a clear plastic bag you can see your favourite undies sitting right there at the bottom of the bag because they were the first thing you packed.
5. You’re Not Filming a YouTube Packing Tutorial
Unless you’re trying to impress your 12 followers with an aesthetic “How I Pack for Bali” reel, nobody cares how neat your bag looks.
So What Do I Use Instead?
Here’s my budget-friendly, no-nonsense system:
- 3 Plastic shopping bags for tops, bottoms and dirty clothes (light, free, easy to replace).
- Ziploc bags of various sizes for underwear, toiletries (if the shampoo explodes, you’ll thank me), cables, medications.
- Drawstring bag for shoes.
- The rest? Straight into the backpack
If you want to travel cheap, light, and stress-free, ditch the cubes for plastic bags. Just make sure you reuse them and dispose of them carefully.