Some are rollers, some are bundlers, and some are folders. If you're in the last group, you probably use some brand of packing folder--a fabric device with two acrylic sheet boards between which layers of clothes are compressed. I like them and generally use two 15-inch folders on many trips when packing my Red Oxx XS Aviator--in addition to keeping my clothes mostly neat, the folders fit the dimensions of the XS Aviator perfectly and provide some structure.

But, I didn't like the concept of the clothes within rubbing together. I know the folder tries to cinch the clothes so that they don't move much during travel, but I felt that the process of cinching caused an unnecessary amount of rubbing. As a result, I cannibalized other packing folders for boards to place between layers of clothes. It's a solution that worked, but somehow seemed insufficient and left me with a lot of folders without boards.

And then, several weeks ago while sitting in a hotel room in Myrtle Beach, I had a sudden inspiration--the Eureka moment (which made me totally get that apocryphal Archimedes story). Sitting by the TV was a laminated document explaining the hotel's services. A standard letter-sized 8.5" x 11", very close to the size of the boards in the folders, much thinner, and just as smooth.

Over the past several weeks, I've played with this idea and can now say I've found a very workable solution that allows for some creativity of expression. Using laminated legal-sized 24 lb stock paper, which at 8.5" x 14" is almost exactly the same size as the boards provided with the folders, I can now keep my clothes smoother and neater while packed in the folders. In addition, by printing travel photographs or checklists on both sides or using colored paper, I've got a solution that both is inexpensive (the OfficeMax across from my office laminated my stock paper for $1.75 each and at worst, they'll generally do the work within 24 hours of dropoff so little lead time before a trip is necessary) and fun to play with.

A solution not for the rollers and bundlers out there, but if you use packing folders, it's an idea that's worked well for me.