do you think its better to fold or roll when packing clothes?

do you think its better to fold or roll when packing clothes? or something else?

Hey Wadi, and welcome to AusBT!

I must admit, I'm a 'fold' guy. I've heard that rolling is much better for keeping out the creases, and that makes sense, but I tend to travel as light as I can, and my sole piece of checked-luggage is a garment bag rather than a regular suitcase, so folding is the go for me.

No matter which you do, though, I find a quick 'steam' of shirts in the hotel bathroom helps smooth out creases - especially if the clothes are made from a good quality fabric.

Run a hot bath and hang your shirts on the shower rail and close the door to let the steam gather. Don't forget to check to make sure the bath doesn't overflow!

Turn the bath off and keep the door closed while you head out to dinner, for a swim or walkabout etc. The steam is absorped by the shirts, the weight helps pull the creases out and smooth the shirts, and then the shirts dry naturally with fewer wrinkles.

A tip: if you're a bit rushed for time, keep one shirt - the one with the least wrinkles, or which shows them the least - out of the bathroom, just in case the shirts aren't completely dry before you need to dress up. Then at least you have one dry shirt to wear!

I'm a huge fan of rolling. I tend to make a one-day pack: boxers rolled around socks, undershirt or t-shirt rolled around boxers, buttondown (if any) rolled around t-shirt. Since everything else (jeans, sweaters, trousers, suit jackets, etc) gets more than one day of use, it gets rolled separately (trousers, sweaters, jeans) or folded on top (jackets).

I'll usually re-roll the day's dirty laundry inside a hotel laundry bag and put it back in my travel bag to keep it separate.

One of my favourite tips is to keep a dryer sheet in your suitcase so that your clothes don't smell like travel. And don't forget to either avoid taking liquids altogether or to wrap them in something watertight.

I like David's steaming tip too...although it's irritating to try in a hotel with those no-steal coathangers! My preferred option is to try to buy shirts marked "easy-care" for when I travel on business. These are a polyester-cotton blend, which makes them wrinkle resistant. Of course, some people find them less comfortable to wear given there's some synthetic fibre in them, but try a couple of different brands and find one you like.

Alternatively, you could try the <a href="http://www.rtwblog.com/">No Baggage Challenge</a>...although that does depend what line of business you're in!

Rolling does seem to be more space-efficient than folding, for some reason.

Another thing to consider would be that when rolling it does make it quite a bit easier to quickly grab something out of the luggage without messing up everything around it.  Plus rolling does make it easier to stuff all the 'holes' that are typically left if you're just folding and neatly putting it in.

Usually I lie the clothes flat down, little folding as possible if the material creases easily and I roll up smaller items to fill in the gaps. If space is of importance I find rolling cuts down on space.

I'm a big fan of the Kathmandu zip-up clothing bags which come in several sizes. I pack underwear socks into the small size, T-shirts/shirts in the medium size and the large ones can accommodate say two folded shirts side-by side.

I travel with a roller duffle bag and these zip-up bags pack neatly inside it. My trousers/shorts are at the bottom of the bag and very easy to get to. Shoes are placed around the sides of the bag to fill in the air space. When I'm travelling and staying at different hotels for 1-3 nites each for example, I just pull out the bags and place them in the drawers in my hotel room. I usually leave the items in their bags whilst at the hotel and take out what I need.

When it comes time to re-pack I simply zip up the bags and restack them into my roller bag placing the smaller bags around the sides to fill up the holes. Very time-saving and recommended.

I often travel to the US with a half-empty hard-sided suitcase where the clothes can end up creased, so I use the clear, zipped pillowcase bags which are just the right size for a week's worth of clothes. The clear bag also allows me to hunt for an item without opening up the zip completely.

Fold all the way.

Roll nice and tight. More space efficient.