Amazon's £11 compression storage and travel bags people wish they'd 'tried sooner'

Fitting all your luggage into a cabin bag can be tricky. Equally, a lack of wardrobe space may leave you feeling it's time to pack away your winter clothes ready for the summer. Luckily, Amazon has a solution that's proving very popular both with travellers and declutters alike.

The Amazon Basics Vacuum Compression Zipper Storage Bags come with airtight valves and a hand pump so that you can pop in your clothes, towels or sheets and suck out the air to make them smaller. They cost just £11.39 for five, which works out to £2.28 each and are large, measuring 80 x 60cm.

The bags have heavy duty double-zip seals and triple-seal valves to help shrink items down by 80 percent to fit into suitcases or store under beds. The bags get a 4.4 star rating from more than 89,000 reviews - more than 60,600 of which give five stars.

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One happy shopper said: "Absolutely love! These products come with a pump but you can also use your hoover. Saves you so much space. Really recommend buying - good value for money. I have already purchased two more packs of them."

Another added: "I travel a lot to conventions for work when I sell as a vendor, and I need to take A LOT of stock with me, but am too stingy to pay for multiple suitcases when I fly - so I'm well acquainted with using vac bags. My old ones were looking very tired and some of them weren't staying sealed, so I figured I'd check on here for new ones.

"Stumbled upon these and noticed they came with a hand pump, not something I'd ever thought about. (I've asked hotel staff to borrow their hoover before, incredibly awkward haha). Ordered a packet of the large ones, they arrived the next day and these are absolutely amazing! The hand pump is easy to use, it screws on to the cap on the bags so no worry about it pinging off while you're deflating the bag. Inside the cap has a little foam disc to dampen the airflow which is a nice touch.

"I used these for a flight a week after purchasing, and then the return flight, and they stayed deflated and sealed for the entire flights and the whole day leading up to my return flight."

A third posted: "I bought these for some very bulky sofa cushions that I'd replaced but wanted to keep as really good quality feather-wrapped foam. But nowhere to store until I had a chance to recover and use. A friend recommended these bags and I have to admit, I was really sceptical, primarily because of the depth of the cushions. Well, I tried anyways, more in hope than belief, and OMG, they are AMAZING!

"The cushions are about 70x75cm and 15cm deep. I really needed a bigger bag, probably 100x90cm but I simply couldn't find one. Even so, this worked brilliantly. Though stuffing into the bag was a bit of a faff and very, very funny (I had help and we actually sort of folded in half and then straightened out once in the bag).

"Tried to remove the air with the hand pump, which was actually pretty good, but it would have taken me ages, so I tried with my hoover and the hose attachment (If you have a 'stick' hoover, buy a hose attachment, they're not expensive and makes a huge difference). I highly recommend using the hoover and not the pump. My friend squeezed down on the cushions as I was sucking the air out and it's now just under 4cm in depth - from 15cm! The quality of the bags are really good, nice thick plastic and the double 'zip' appears super strong. Though make sure you go over the zip bits a few times to make sure it's completely closed. I'm so pleased with these that I've ordered some smaller sizes to store my winter duvet, jumpers and other bulky items. Highly recommend."

However, one person said they didn't work: "These are a lovely idea in practice but three out of the set are all useless as they re-inflate over night. I've had to stop up holes with tape - sadly it doesn't quite do the trick. Advise that you look elsewhere and consider something with more quality."

The storage bags are described as follows on Amazon: "Ideal for storing off-season clothes, towels, linens and so on, these vacuum seal bags are made with layers of PA and PE films, which improve tear and wear resistance and help protect clothing from moisture, dirt, mould, odours and more.

"Vacuum-packing storage bags compress clothing, winter clothes, linens, drapery and more down 80 percent for compact, stackable storage under bed, in wardrobe, closet, cupboard or in suitcase when travelling.

Find out more and order the vacuum compression storage bags via Amazon here. Alternatively Argos has a pack of six storage bags for £10 which also require a vacuum. And eBay has a pack of six compression packing cubes for just £5.99.