how have i gone so long without space bags? 
our storage room is quickly filling up with kids' clothes, and so i picked up 2 boxes of space bags at costco to help make room. OH MY GOODNESS!!! in one large-size bag i fit 5 kids' winter coats, 3 pairs of snowpants, and a couple other things! it shrunk down to about the size of a pillow! and there are 2 sizes of bag bigger than 'large'! pretty cool. there is a weird fascination about watching all the air being sucked out of it, i admit. i'm thinking of using one bag to put away all the jeans and other clothes that i'm saving to re-use in quilts or something. this is going to save us a LOT of space! i'm having visions of spare-blankets and quilts, scraps....
but - only buy them at costco! i spent $16 for a 15-pack! i saw them advertised at bed-bath-and-beyond on sale for $20 and it only included 5 bags! just a tip....