The Art of Squishing Your Entire Life

I recently found a 1994 VHS of a cruise ship documentary at a Goodwill, and it smelled exactly like old carpet and desperate optimism. My suitcase usually smells the same, because I have a bad habit of shoving vintage sweaters into cramped corners.

Then I stumbled upon these 6 piece compression cubes from Amazon for thirty eight dollars and ninety nine cents. They looked strangely clinical in the photos, but I needed something to corral my hoard.

These cubes are basically little straightjackets for your clothes. The magic is in the secondary zipper.

You zip them up, then you zip them down, and suddenly your bulky knit collection is flat as a pancake. It feels like I am vacuum sealing a memory.

They lack the patina of a thrift store find, but they give my shelf a weirdly organized look that I have never managed to achieve before.

I used them to pack for a quick weekend trip. I brought: six velvet skirts, four oversized button downs, and a pair of chunky platforms.

Everything fit with room to spare. My suitcase looks like a Tetris game now.

If you are a maximalist who refuses to pack light, these might just save your sanity.