Frequent Flyer Approved Packing Cubes to Snap Up for Less than $30

JossTravel2025-07-096660

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I don't know if you've heard... but checking a bag these days can be risky proposition. With lost luggage, flight delays, and any number of potential travel related SNAFUS, carryon is simply the best—and only—way to travel. You heard it here first! But the longer the trip, the tougher the endeavor it is to pack with only a carryon. Sure, there are the tricks of the trade; making your smaller bags do double duty, ensuring that your capsule wardrobe is easily remixed with the addition of some strategic accessories, travel size beauty products. At a certain point, though, there's only so much you can jam into a rolling carryon. Or so I thought!

LeanTravel Compression Packing Cubes for Travel Organizers with Double Zipper (3-Pack (2L+1M), Black)

$26.39 at amazon.com

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I travel a lot. But on a trip in 2023, I had to prepare for a full week abroad with an outfit for both day and night, in vastly different climates (potentially chilly in Paris, and boiling hot in Arles). I have to admit, I was really grappling with whether I was going to end up violating my own rules and checking a bag. But sometimes the internet delivers (algorithms are really something!) and almost as if by design, while I was worrying/planning, I came across a TikTok of Bethenny Frankel discussing packing cubes that were actually worth it, which I implicitly trusted because Bethenny seems to have the same amount of patience for nonsense and inefficiency that I do... exactly zero. So in my cart the LeanTravel Compression Packing Cubes went, arriving on my doorstep right as I started to plot out my outfit plan for a week away in France.

And let me tell you, they are no joke. Not only did I get a full week of pajamas and workout clothes (which I didn't use, SMH) packed, but I had seven full days worth of outfits, and changes for the evening, plus one or two extra pieces just in case. And not only did I get my bag to close easily, the double zip compression saved me so much space that I was able to bring along 4 pairs of shoes, and still (still!) have room to do some shopping. Color me impressed.

I am bought more to see if the bigger sizes buy me even more wiggle room in my game of carryon bag Tetris. Truthfully, I found that these are clutch even if you aren't doing carryon only. If you're traveling this soon don't think twice. Once you go compression cube (specifically these), you don't go back. At least I haven't. In fact, I haven't traveled without them since I got them.