Packing - Folder, Roller or Bundler?

I used to be a "roller". But I tried the packing cubes last year and now find folding and putting things in the cubes is the way to go.

I'm a roller inside 2.5-gallon plastic bags. I can fit more in, and it ends up less wrinkled when I get there :)

I am a combination roller and packing cube packer. I roll pants and tops and they nicely line the bottom of the suitcase. I then can put cubes on top that have underwear, night ware, socks and other items that can be categorized. I also use a cube as a laundry bag. Pam

I stack all my tee shirts, folding in the sleeves, and then roll them into a log. Ditto over-shirts, pants etc. I place everything in it's own 2&1/2 gal Hefty zip lock bag. Packing cubes for underwear, baggie for a bit of costume jewelery, baggie for a colorful scarf. Paper bag for the extra pair of shoes (so they can breath). Makes it easy to find what you are looking for. Also I take two or three cheap wire hangers and some cloths pins. Steam out wrinkles or hang up a hand washed shirt to dry. I put several sheets of fabric softener in each big baggie. At the end of a long day of touring I tear a softener sheet in half and stuff them into the toes of my shoes. Goodbye any stinky smells!

OK - here goes! I'm a folder; it's more efficient, and you'll have less wrinkles if you fold correctly. After you fold, you need to put your clothes in something that keeps them from silding around. Packing folders like these do a great job. When I read that rolling is more efficient than folding, meaning it saves more space, it drives me a bit insane. Firstly of all, two T-shirts are two T-shirts - no atoms are lost or gained by rolling or folding. Secondly, when you roll something, you have empty (read wasted) spaces in the 'corners'. Picture 3 mailing tubes butted together in a row; if you put that row of mailing tubes in a tightly-fitting box, you'll have empty spaces because the tubes don't have corners that meet...Make any sense? Now, if you are also bringing pencils with you, I suppose you could put as many pencils as possible in those empty spaces...You could roll, then squish flat, your clothes in order to eliminate that wasted space...but in that case, why not just fold them in the first place? And don't get me started on bundling...;-) ** Thanks for indulging me; today is " Learn to Format Day" at my house... ;-)

What I'm curious about is, if you are a roller or a bundler, when the thing you want to get to is on the inside, do you have to completely unroll or unbundle everything. Or do you just wear what is next, regardless. I guess I'm a folder/bagger. I fold two pair of slacks in the middle and put them on the bottom. I fold three golf shirts, put them in a large mesh bag, and put that on top of the slacks. Two sets of underwear (shorts, sox) are folded in a small mesh bag. My toiletry items are in a school kid's pencil box, and my camera charger and extra netbook battery are in a stuff bag. The underwear, toiletry kit, and electronics go on top of the shirts. I usually have a light sweater that goes over everything, which is held down with the bags straps. I also carry, in a ziplock bag, two inflatable hangers, an elastic, twisted clothesline, and four drip-dry hangers-clothespins for washing as I go. See my webpage. ETA: Volume has never been a problem for me. I get to the Lufthansa carryon weight limit (17.6#) before I ever get near the size limit. Packing methods like rolling and bundling don't decrease the weight. I think packing cubes add to the weight.

You go Eileen!!! Colors, bold, italics, underlining...you've got it all!!!! :-) I like packing cubes. Bundling seems to be efficient, but you can't take an item from inside the bundle without messing the whole thing up. I fold, but sometimes roll things, and put them inside my packing cubes. I like the cubes to keep things together. When I arrive at a destination I remove the cubes and put them in the drawers, leaving the contents inside.

WOO - HOO !!!

Shirts folded & in a folder. Underwear, 1 T shirt, lounge pants, socks and electronic/misc. gear in 3 small packing cubes. Slacks(1), shorts(1) and a sweater folded and placed flat in bag underneath everything. Also, a mesh bag for dirty laundry. I travel with clothes that are wrinkle resistant and a poly blend. None of my favourite thick cotton golf shirts come along on a trip. Everything is easy to access and I can see what is in each 'package'.

I'm a folder. I fold everything and have 2 Hefty 2.5 gallon bags of shirts/tops, 1 2.5 gallon bag of slacks, and 2 gallon zip bags of underwear and exercise clothes. The 2.5 gallon bags really help to keep everything organized. My husband is a bundler; personally I don't like it because I am constantly undoing the entire bundle to retrieve the innermost item. Each to his own. Carole

To me, bundling is made for the (business) traveler who needs to take dress slacks/skirts and jackets/blazers. You bundle them because, especially with blazers, they really don't fold well. And trying to fold skirts - oy. Then, you TAKE EVERYTHING OUT and put it into drawers and the closet. It's unnecessary, and counterproductive, to bundle if you travel the way most of us do. Heck, that bundle might only have (1) pants and (4) shirts total! Not worth the effort! According to me ;-)

Oooh, good topic and some good ideas. I was just wondering if I should try Eagle Creek envelopes ( really I just wanted some new travel stuff...) I'm a roller for the5 shirts/3 pants bottom layer on top of a big black new empty garbage bag.On top of that are the baggies with the different chargers, socks n underwear and more travel stuff. Torn out pages from Guidebooks roll.
I don't unpack in hotels unless there for 5 days or more; do you guys unpack for 3 nights or fewer?

I'm going packing cubes too, still trying to figure out if I want to fold or roll on my upcoming trip.

Folder, mostly. I used packing cubes and folding envelopes for trips to Italy and Spain, but recently weight the cubes and envelopes empty (i really am a packing nerd!) and combined they weigh about 2 pounds - so for my recent trip to Mexico it was back to zip-locks...I did take the plastic thingy from the envelope though to help with re-folding!

Honestly, rolling does do more than folding some times. If you roll tightly, and take up space in the corners with underwear/socks/etc, it does save space. When I used to work as a counselor at a summer camp each year, I was able to pack more when I rolled than when I folded. For Europe last year, I folded on the way there, but on the way back when I had to fit some of my souvenirs etc inside, I rolled because I was able to save space. It's not the best system since you items can be more wrinkly and it can be hard to get to your different items, but in my experience it can save space.

Used to roll, ....now I fold my shirts, pants and sweater and put them in a large lightweight packing cube, socks and underwear in smaller cube..works for me, keeps everything neatly together and stable

Packing cubes & an envelope. I packed all i needed for 2.5 weeks in a 19 in suitcase using those. My suitcase weighs less than 5# so the weight of the cubes didn't matter much. Also, the suitcase doesn't have inner compartments so all of the space was useable.

I'm a roller and a folder. I roll jeans and other items to fit them in awkward spaces like at the bottom of the suitcase, and then I fold items which I put in last, on top of things that are less flexible like shoes and certain ladies' undergarments.

I use a packing folder, cubes & stuff it sacks. I can get all my outer clothes in a medium folder, and I like the rest to be organized. I put my 2 paid of pants in first then fold all the other items individually, fold the pants around them, close the folder and it fits in in my carryon, takes up about 1/3 of the space.

I roll, fold, and always use packing cubes. A lot depends on what the item is and how much space you have. Often, I roll larger items around a bottle (of wine, limoncello, what-have-you) for cushioning purposes.

I start out the trip with good intentions, rolling, end up the trip shoving.

LOL Karen, I am not alone! I got back late last night from Italy... Just opened my suitcase can couldn't believe the mess. There were things shoved in the corners and in between a few breakable items. The stuff at the bottom was neatly folded, though.

None of the above, I just buy it all when I get there.

Roll and place in packing cubes. This allows me to pull out a shirt or pair of pants without disrupting the other pieces of clothing. I can view the colors of all my tops and and make a quick decision without making a mess. I have tried other techniques--this way works for me.

I'm a roller. I roll each item individually. I also use the rolled items vertically in my convertible carry-on to give it some structure. I put sundries (e.g. socks, underwear, electric converter) into zip locks. I like rolling the best because it's easy to reach into my bag and remove the item I want. I tried the bundling method. I think Elaine's right. The bad thing is to get one thing out, you have to remove and repack everything. That's fine if you're going direct to one hotel and staying there but it doesn't work for getting in and out of your bag regularly during your trip. I've played with packing cubes but haven't yet decided they're necessary.

(Edit): I put two Packing cubes (the size of each is 13 1/2 inches x 10 inches x 3 inches) in a carry-on size bag. A person might think that using a carry-on size bag as the primary bag, putting things in that bag is not easy to do, it is tedious and time consuming. No. Packing things in a carry-on size bag can be easy and quick, not tedious. My bag is set down on its side, and opened like a suitcase. The two Packing cubes containing underwear and socks are put in first, at the "bottom" (actually at a side of the bag), side by side. On top of that is space for one folded pants, 2 or 3 folded shirts (long sleeves), sleepwear in an Eagle Creek packing sleeve, two hats, rubber thong sandals for showers, pillow case, silk sheet sack in its pouch, a collapsed umbrella, an insulated vest filled with goose down (for traveling at the Alps mountains in Switzerland, or in England in October), a Rick Steves "Clean Kit", and a towel. My oral hygiene items and most other hygiene items are in a pencil bag (transparent) that I put in a pocket at an external side of the carry-on bag. My travel alarm clock and other small items are in that pocket. My carry-on bag has padded straps for carrying the bag as a back pack. When not in use, those straps can be in the wide pocket at the exterior of the back of the bag. I do not carry my bag as a back pack. I cut off those straps, and disposed of those straps. In the wide pocket for the straps I put an envelope (9 inches x 7 inches) containing my trip itinerary (one sheet of paper, printed on both sides) and airline information; and an envelope of that size containing small maps and my instructions for sightseeing written on index cards); and a big pouch in which I will put picture Post cards and other pictures and papers that I will acquire in Europe. I also bring a small shoulder bag, the size of the Rick Steves Civita shoulder bag.

None of the above....I just toss the stuff in. I have come to realize that if I carefully pack my bag spending hours to utilize every cubic inch there is no freaking way in heck I am gonna fit everything back in when I am scrambling to pack to go home and only have 2 minutes to toss everything in. So I just haphazardly toss stuff in when packing so I know I have enough space coming home to pack that way as well.

OK, confession time, last year when we made our big trip to Europe,I read every travel tip I could find on this site on packing, When my sister-in-law, who used to buy for Saks(learned to travel on a moment's notice) and is an expert packer volunteered her services, I said yes! We folded and fit everything needed in my 21' bag. I could believe how wrinkle free most of my stuff was.

As I never pack clothes to take on holiday I don't have this quandry. If you wear everything to travel in then you don't have to pay for luggage.

I'm a combination folder/roller and use those compression bags to squeeze out more space. I've found that if I don't use them on the way out, I can use them on my way back and generate extra room for some souvenirs.

I'm a bag lady. I use compression bags for a couple reasons: 1) I can get more in my carry on suitcase that way and 2) dirty clothes stay separate until laundry day. You do need to be careful about packing so much that you cross weight limits but I never pack THAT much.