Do Vacuum Bags Reduce Weight or Make it Heavier?

Vacuum pack bags are a life saver if you’re trying to make use of the space that you have, but do vacuum bags reduce weight or make it heavier? Well, the short answer is, No and here’s why…

Vacuum packing your sheets or clothes or any item does not reduce the weight of the items in the bag, if anything, with the extra weight of the vacuum bag, it can weigh a little more than the items normal weight, but the difference is minuscule, the real benefit of vacuum packing your items is to keep them fresh and to reduce the physical size, giving you more storage space.

What is Vacuum Packing?

Vacuum packing is the term used for using a vacuum cleaner type device to suck the air out of a bag which in turn, compresses the bag massively, saving on the physical space the item may take up originally.

For example, if we think of a pillow as being a large bouncy, fluffy object, that can be compressed and then allowed to rebound back into shape..

normal size pillow

If you wanted to store a few of these, you would probably have a hard time trying to fit 3 or 4 of these in a tight space, or shelf or even a storage container, this would be one of the ideal situations where people would use the vacuum packing method to compress the pillows into tight, flat shaped items that can be stacked and stored.

same pillow but in a vacuum sealed bag

You could store 10 vacuum packed pillows in the same space as storing 2 normal sized pillows. Just look at the difference in dimensions from the pictures above.

Why Do People Use Vacuum Pack Bags for Things?

Saves space

The main reason people use vacuum pack bags is due to storage space, or lack of storage space.

As you can see from the pictures above, Vacuum packing your household items can be very beneficial to save loads of space and we very much recommend doing so if you’re wanting to store clothes, pillows, duvets, pretty much anything that can compress well, for long periods of time.

Keep things fresh

If you have a whole bunch of bed sheets or linen that you use once a year for guests for example, You would be far better off, vacuum packing all of this and save on your storage, not to mention, this method also keeps your fabric items smelling fresh as there is no air within the bag, meaning, no dull, old air gets to the items, so once you cut open the bag, it’ll be just as fresh as the day you vacuum packed it.

Travel

Even though you may not ‘save’ weight by using a vacuum bag system, doesn’t mean you would not be able to pack more things into a suitcase/luggage when going abroad.

Think of it this way, if you did not use a vacuum pack bag, you would probably only fit half of your items within your luggage/holdall, therefore needing additional luggage/suitcases for your travels, which also means more check-in costs for your bags.

If you were to use vacuum seal bags for your packing, you would be able to fit 2 to 3 times more items inside your luggage, saving you $$$’s on the weight of another suit-case.

Does Vacuum Packing Reduce Weight?

Lots of people ask the question “Does vacuum packing reduce weight or make it heavier” quite a lot, for the people asking this question, you’re thinking about this vacuum packing method completely wrong, let me explain.

Your effectively minimizing the space required within your storage capacity, which means you can store or fit more things into your space or area, wouldn’t you rather save physical space than a few extra pounds of weight? This ultimately can reduce the weight of your overall luggage by not factoring in the weight of another suitcase or holdall bag itself, eliminating the weight of a second case which in some cases can be up to 5kgs per suitcase on its own.

Having said all of this, it is a very easy mistake to make, thinking that vacuum packing reduces weight of items because, by looking at the space you’re saving, you would automatically think that you would be saving weight as the object you’re vacuum packing shrinks visibly by 10 times, this is how our brains work!

How Much Does a Vacuum Seal Bag Weigh?

Surprisingly, vacuum pack or sealed bags weigh as little as 120 grams per bag, that’s not a lot, considering these bags are jumbo sized and compress anything by pretty much 80% in actual size, Personally, I’d rather 80% more physical storage space in my home than worry about an additional 120 grams added to the overall weight of the contents, which is literally 1/10th of a bag of sugar.

Our go-to Recommended Vacuum Bags

Are They Worth it?

If you have loads of fabric type things laying around the home such as, blankets, bed linens, pillows and clothes that aren’t normally used throughout the entire year and would make sense to store them for the majority of the time, then yes, absolutely they are definitely worth it, vacuum bags are a must have! no questions asked.

Once you get a pack of them and start using them for everyday uses, you’ll wonder how on earth you managed to live without them, they will create space where space was once amiss.

To add, most of these bags, depending on what you use them for, can be reusable, yes! You can actually re-use these vacuum storage bags for absolutely anything, from pillows and bed linen to most cured meats or general foods that keep better being air-tight.

What Are The Best Vacuum Bags to Buy?

The best vacuum storage bags on the market in our opinion are the Spacesaver Premium Vacuum Storage Bags, This company were the first/original manufacture to produce these types of storage solutions, besides that, they are very affordable and because you can re-use them, last a very long time.

Conclusion – Are Vacuum Storage Bags any Good?

To conclude, Do vacuum bags reduce weight or make it heavier? By the time you have taken the air out of the bags by using a vacuum cleaner or pump, the actual additional weight of the bag itself is negligible and shouldn’t be cause for concern either way.

You will definitely be saving the cubic space within your storage area that will make a whole load of difference when trying to add space from thin air, get it? thin air… because flat pack vacuum packs are usually thin and you’re using thin air to make stuff thin?? Ok, I’ll leave it there with the corny jokes I promise.

If you’re wanting to use vacuum pack bags for traveling, then these are a must, on one hand it may not save or reduce “weight” of your items but it’ll save you from having to bring multiple suitcases, and suitcases or holdalls can range up to 5kg empty, whereas each jumbo bag we’ve recommende only weigh 120 grams, so if my math is correct, you can use up to 41 jumbo vacuum storage bags for your one suitcase before you even reach the weight of what another suitcase would weigh itself.

And checking in multiple suitcases costs more than one.

Think of how much room you would save or have left within your one suitcase just by using these vacuum bags in the first place, not to mention your clothes being as fresh as a daisy once you’ve got to your destination!