Needs ideas: packing for 4

[preacherman]

Ok so I am needing some ideas. My wife, two boys and I have been traveling/camping a lot out of our truck/expo trailer set up. Our trips range from 3-12 days. Even though we have gone out a lot we have yet to find a great solution for our clothing. I need some ideas on how to pack and manage each of our clothing. No mater what we do it seems like we end up with exploding bags of clothes pouring out of our trailer or the back of our SUV. To make maters worse we have severe outdoor ADD. We may have mtb gear, climbing gear, and ski clothes all on the same trip.

So how do you guys keep up with multiple bags of clothing in a way that it does not get out of hand on long trips?

 

[digitaldelay]

Eagle Creek

I've been looking at some of the packing solutions available from Eagle Creek.

http://shop.eaglecreek.com/packing-solutions.html

Jason

 

[Ramjet]

X2 on the Eagle Creek packing cubes and folders. I'm a sales rep and use them to help organize all of my samples. It helps tremendously.

 

[preacherman]

You know what's funny I use the eagle creek stuff religiously when I travel overseas but I never even thought about it with the fam. It's so easy to fall into the "we have plenty of room in the trailer" trap.

I may also try individual rubbermade totes for each family member. The hard part is we have a Roof top tent so the bags end up getting put in and out of the car a hundred times a day bc there is no room in the tent for them.

 

[E.J.]

http://mountainsmith.com/index.php/travel-storage/travel-storage/modular-hauler-4.html

We've been using one of these for a few years now and have been pretty pleased with it.

 

[Ramjet]

http://mountainsmith.com/index.php/travel-storage/travel-storage/modular-hauler-4.html

We've been using one of these for a few years now and have been pretty pleased with it.

Those are awesome as well, E.J. Totally forgot about that one.

 

[nwoods]

I have faced some similar challenges, compounded by trying to fit it all in a Jeep. We just use duffle bags, sorted a few ways:
1. Dad and son share one duffle for 80% of activity/attire
2. Mom and daughter share one (larger) duffle for 80% of the activity/attire
3. We have one or two additional duffle's for the 20% of activities, such as snow gear, rain gear, etc... Usually fit it all in one medium duffle
4. Mom has a backpack with all the stuff a mom needs. Medicines, haircare, booboo candy, etc....
5. We also all bring light weight backpacks that carry our day's stuff (yes, if you are counting, Mom has two packs, plus a duffle, and she is happy, so we are happy)

Frankly, the biggest challenge is pillows. Everyone sleeps so much better with their own normal full size pillow....

 

[Ramjet]

If you have down pillows, like we do, you can put them in compression stuff sacks and you can make them fairly small.

 

[ddog45]

My family of four uses the fancy ruberized northface bags. Each of us went to rei and picked our own color each person is in charge of their own bag. I also keep a cheap piece of astro turf in the trailer and throw it out on the ground and have the kids keep their stuff organized. The astro turf seems to keep some boundries on the mess.

 

[preacherman]

Man these are some great ideas. I too struggle with the full size pillow thing. It makes the nights better but 4 pillows is so much space. I like the down pillow idea. I also have a travel pillow I got at rei that works well, maybe three more are in order.

 

[nwoods]

The Nemo Fillow is supposed to be the solution to all this. THey have them at REI also.
http://www.nemoequipment.com/product/?Fillo+(Moss+Green)

Looks adequately sized based on this video (though the girl is fairly petite). Hmm, I can't link to the video and I can't find source on Vimeo. Just scroll through the images at the bottom of the webpage linked above and you'll see the video.

 

[Beowulf]

For pillows we use the Montbell Pillow. Stuffed Size: 3.7" x 3.1". Then I use a custom made pillow case out of t-shirt material.

For bags I use the Northface Basecamp Duffles in size small actually. One for each person. One for food. One for canyoneering gear...etc.

 

[nwoods]

For pillows we use the Montbell Pillow.

Is that just an compartmentalized air bladder, or is there padding in it as well (like the Fillow)?

 

[preacherman]

I have a few of the north face duffle bags but mine are the extra large ones. I've got one that has been all over the world with me. They are good bags. The small ones would be good because then I could put them in the trailer or on the roof rack in a pinch.

 

[Beowulf]

The Montbell Pillow is one large air chamber, but with inner ribbing forcing it into a more natural pillow shape when inflated.

I would love to have the Large and Extra Large in the Dune color as well. The small ones are surprisingly big. It holds all the clothes I need for several weeks. If it a long trip with lots of mountain biking then I use a second one just for the cycling gear. The small size really allows me to conserve space and stack where needed.