I have had the same problem, and even with food. I put washed lettuce in a ziploc (the expensive ones), and squished out the air so the lettuce would stay fresh (vacuum packed sort of). About 2 days later I went to use it and there was air in the bag as if I had never compressed it. Rather annoying. I might as well buy the cheap ones.

OK, here's the dumb question. <BR><BR> Don't your clothes get impossibly wrinkled when you squish them into ziplocks or anything else for that matter?

If you fold them neatly, they are no more likely to wrinkle than if you packed them by any other method. In fact, maybe less so because the clothes can't move around.

After a couple of times, none of them work anyway but I still like to use the ziploc 2 gallon size to organize my suitcase. Leave part of the bag "unzipped" and then when you squish your suitcase closed, the air will be smushed out anyway. Perhaps not as much but works for me.

You have to be careful when you squish the air out of the ziploc bag not to force the air out too fast/hard because if you do you will create a new hole (if the air can't escape fast enough through the top when you squish it out, it will create a new way to get out). If you press the air out very gently, a little at a time, you can avoid this problem. And I agree that the thicker bags like the freezer ones tend to work better. I also think that the ones with the closure that you press together yourself work better than the ones with the little plastic thing at the top that you slide over.

Question to be answered is WHERE is the air seeping in? My experience is that it isn't some teeny hole somewhere, it's right at the top on the corners, where the zipper makes the top of the bag thicker than the rest of it, so the seal just isn't complete. That's why folding over the top limits the seepage of air into the packet. <BR><BR>I've had limited success with closing the zipper 7/8ths of the way across before forcing out the air in the packet, then closing the last 1/8th while leaning on the packet. It's usually pretty obvious pretty soon if air is going to get back in there. <BR><BR>If you are REALLY compulsive, you can fill the bag with air, seal it, and then press on it to find out where the leak is.