7 Ways to Save on Your Next Trip. Start With the One Thing You Always Pack but Never Use: Air.

A sweater is mostly air. So are a hoodie, a fleece and a puffer jacket. Here's how leaving that air at home pays for itself, plus six more ways to spend less before you even get to the airport.

SummaryCompressing bulky clothes lets most travelers fit a week into a carry-on. That one change removes bag fees, opens up the cheapest fares and leaves room for the trip home. Our budget travel columnist tested seven money-saving packing habits. The first one makes most of the others possible.

By Tessa MooreBudget Travel Columnist

Updated Oct 27, 20267 min read

Same clothes. The only thing missing on the right is the air.

I used to think I was just bad at packing. I'd lay everything out on the bed, cut it down twice, and still end up kneeling on my suitcase to close it. Then I'd pay $45 at the counter to check it, and another $45 to bring it home.

The answer turned up in a pile of laundry. Folding a sweater for a trip, I pressed it flat with one hand and watched it shrink to half its height. Most of what I was packing wasn't clothing. It was air. A reader had written in about a cordless vacuum kit called SpaceMax, so I ordered one to find out how much of that air I could leave at home.

The answer: enough to move a week of clothes from a checked suitcase into a carry-on, with room to spare. Over my next four trips I didn't pay a single bag fee.

Taking the air out turned out to be the first step that made six other savings possible. Here they are, in the order I'd do them.

One honest note first: I paid for my own kit. Compression makes clothes smaller, not lighter, which is exactly why tip 5 is about the scale.

Way 01 · The air

Cordless pump flattening a sweater in a SpaceMax bag — 30 to 60 seconds per bag, and the bulk is gone.

1. Stop packing air

We think of a sweater as a sweater. But knits, fleece and puffers are built to trap air. That's what keeps you warm, and it's also what fills your suitcase.

Rolling or folding tighter only pushes a little of it out, and it comes back the moment you let go. Packing cubes organize the bulk, but they don't remove it.

SpaceMax bags take the air out with a cordless pump in 30 to 60 seconds, then keep it out at the three places it usually sneaks back in: the zip, the valve and the film. The company calls it SpaceLock 3-Seal. Bulky clothes come out flat and stay that way.

Best things to compress: sweaters, hoodies, fleece, puffers and jeans. Leave out shirts you don't want creased.

Way 02 · Bag fees

2. Skip the checked bag, both ways

Most of us choose the suitcase first and then fill it. A bigger bag feels like the safe choice.

It's also the expensive one. On major US airlines, the first checked bag now costs about $45 to $50 each way, so $90 to $100 per person for a round trip. For a family of four, that can add up to more than one of the tickets.

Once the bulky pieces are compressed, a week of clothes fits in a carry-on. The bag fee drops to zero on the way out and on the way back.

One round trip without a checked bag: about $90 to $100 saved per person. A Travel Kit is $59.99, once.

Traveler with one carry-on walking past the bag-drop line — No bag drop, no bag fee, no carousel.

Packing methods compared
Method	Saves space?	Still flat on the trip home?
Folding or rolling	✕ A little	✕ Gets bulkier each repack
Packing cubes	✕ Organizes, barely compresses	= Same as before
Roll-up bags	✓ Some	✕ Never as flat the second time
Vacuum bags + hand pump	✓ Yes	✕ Often puff back up
SpaceMax kit	✓ Yes, 30–60 sec per bag	✓ Cordless pump + 3 seals

None of these methods reduce weight. Compression saves space, not pounds.

Way 03 · The fare

Small backpack packed with flat SpaceMax bags and the cordless pump — A long weekend that fits under the seat in front of you.

3. Pack small enough for the cheapest fare

The lowest price in the search results is usually a basic economy fare. On some airlines and routes, that fare only includes a personal item that fits under the seat. No full-size carry-on.

Most people skip it because they can't imagine fitting a trip into a backpack, so they pay for the next fare up or add a bag at checkout.

Compressed clothes change the math. An M bag holds jeans and two sweaters, an S bag holds the T-shirts, and the pump slides into a side pocket. For a long weekend, the cheapest fare stops being a trap.

Before you book: compare fares with your bags included, not the headline price. The cheapest fare is only cheapest if your bag fits it.

$45–50

first checked bag, each way, on major US airlines (2026)

30–60 sec

to flatten one SpaceMax bag with the cordless pump

~40

bags flattened on a single charge

Start with way #1: leave the air at home

Every SpaceMax kit comes with the cordless pump and a mix of S, M and L bags. Pick the one that fits how you travel.

See the kits · From $59.99 →

Free US shipping on the Suitcase + Closet Kit and Family Kit · 60-day money-back guarantee

Way 04 · The trip home

4. Leave room for the trip home

Every packing guide ends at the front door. Nobody plans for the gifts, the things you picked up, and the laundry that never folds as small as clean clothes.

So the suitcase won't close on the last night, and the “fix” is a $30 to $60 duffel from a gift shop, which then costs another bag fee to fly home.

Compressing your clothes leaves empty space for what you bring back. Because the SpaceMax pump is cordless and weighs 4.6 oz, it travels with you. The night before your flight, you repack every bag on the hotel bed in a few minutes.

The extra-bag trap: $30 to $60 for the duffel, plus $45 or more to check it home. Leaving room up front costs nothing.

Repacking SpaceMax bags in a hotel room with souvenirs — The souvenirs fit where the air used to be.

Way 05 · The scale

Weighing a carry-on with a luggage scale at home — Ten seconds at home beats a surprise at the counter.

5. Weigh your bag before you leave

Here's the part most vacuum-bag ads skip. Taking the air out makes your clothes smaller. It doesn't make them lighter.

That matters because once a bag has more room, it's easy to keep filling it. Overweight checked bags on major US airlines often cost $100 or more each way, and some airlines weigh carry-ons too, especially on international and budget routes.

So the habit that protects all your other savings is a ten-second check at home. Lift the bag with a luggage scale, compare it with your airline's limit, and take out the heaviest thing you won't miss. SpaceMax prints “Compression reduces volume, not weight” right on the box for this reason.

Smaller, not lighter: compress for space, then check the weight. Shoes and toiletries are usually the heaviest things in the bag.

Way 06 · The laundry

6. Pack for half the trip and wash once

We pack one outfit per day, plus a few “just in case” extras. For a ten-day trip, that's a lot of clothing to carry, check and pay for.

Seasoned travelers pack for about half the trip and do one load of laundry in the middle, at the hotel, a laundromat or the sink. It cuts the bag in half and costs a few dollars.

It works best when clean and worn clothes stay apart. Keep clean outfits sealed flat in M and L bags, and give worn clothes their own bag. You always know what's clean, and laundry day takes minutes.

Ten-day trip, five days of clothes: one mid-trip wash, half the packing, and still everything in one carry-on.

Clean clothes in SpaceMax bags kept apart from worn clothes — Clean on one side, worn on the other.

Way 07 · At home

Winter coats compressed flat in SpaceMax bags under the bed — Between trips, the same bags hold the winter coats.

7. Make the kit work all year

Most travel gear spends 50 weeks a year in a closet. That's the hidden cost of buying something for two trips.

The same thing that takes up room in a suitcase, air, takes up room in a closet. Winter coats, comforters and off-season sweaters are some of the bulkiest things we own, and we only use them half the year.

Between trips, SpaceMax bags take those coats and sweaters off the shelf and slide them flat under the bed. One pump, one kit, used all year, so the cost per use keeps going down.

Suitcase + Closet Kit: 24 bags and one pump. Some go in the carry-on, the rest clear out the winter closet.

Why 10,000+ travelers choose SpaceMax

★★★★★ What travelers say after leaving the air at home

Lauren with the SpaceMax pump and a packed carry-on

★★★★★

Ten days in Portugal, one carry-on

“I'm a chronic overpacker, and I'd written off vacuum bags because my last set puffed back up by day two. My sister swore by this one, so I tried it for Portugal. Ten days of clothes went in one carry-on, and the bags were still flat when I repacked for the flight home.”

10 days, one carry-on, $0 in bag fees.

Lauren M.Seattle, WA · Verified Buyer

Marcus showing flat SpaceMax bags in his backpack

I finally book the cheapest fare

“I always skipped basic economy because I couldn't fit a trip in a backpack. A friend packed for a long weekend in front of me with these bags, and I ordered a kit that night. Now a three-day trip fits under the seat, and I book the lowest fare every time.”

Books the cheapest fare on every short trip now.

Marcus J.Atlanta, GA · Verified Buyer

Rachel storing winter coats in SpaceMax bags under the bed

Bought it for the beach, kept it for the closet

“I bought the Suitcase + Closet Kit for our family beach trip, and it did the job: four people, carry-ons only. What surprised me was afterward. The rest of the bags now hold our winter coats under the bed, and I got a whole closet shelf back.”

A whole closet shelf freed after the trip.

Rachel P.Phoenix, AZ · Verified Buyer

7 Ways to Save on Your Next Trip. Start With the One Thing You Always Pack but Never Use: Air.

1. Stop packing air

2. Skip the checked bag, both ways

3. Pack small enough for the cheapest fare

Start with way #1: leave the air at home

4. Leave room for the trip home

5. Weigh your bag before you leave

6. Pack for half the trip and wash once

7. Make the kit work all year

Why 10,000+ travelers choose SpaceMax

Ten days in Portugal, one carry-on

I finally book the cheapest fare

Bought it for the beach, kept it for the closet

What's in every SpaceMax kit

Packing the air

Leaving the air at home

Choose your SpaceMax kit

Travel Kit

Suitcase + Closet Kit

Family Kit

Try it on your next trip

Leave the air at home. Keep the money.