Whenever I pack for a trip—be it a quick weekend upstate or a no-holds-barred vacation abroad—I have the habit of letting my anxiety stuff my bags for me. Quite literally, it’s the albatross that hangs around my travels: I either end up lugging my excessive “just in case” items wherever I go, or constantly shrug a large bag suddenly made awkward by its emptiness onto my shoulder. That is, until I met the Foldie bag—the weekender that contains my plans A through Z and moonlights as a demurely compact handbag.

As the name suggests, the Foldie can do it all through some easy-to-pick-up origami. Fully expanded, the bag has as much room as your standard carry-on and dare I say makes better use of the space.

How much does it hold?

When I first got my Foldie a few months ago, its first test came swiftly: a four-day trip to the British Virgin Islands. I soon discovered that the front pocket easily held my Bible-thick winter read and two Moleskine classic notebooks; the full 40 liters of space in the main compartment (with the expansion unzipped) fit a week’s worth of clothes, chargers for four different devices, and another bag filled with toiletry bottles, plus room to spare for souvenirs; and the two inner pockets and wet pocket proved useful in sorting out the bag’s increasingly chaotic contents. The luggage sleeve was a relieving bonus that allowed me to transfer the hefty weight of my zealous packing to my roller bag.

Where the Foldie truly shines, however, is when it shrinks down. While the majority of its capacity in this form is swallowed up by its extra bits, the folded design echoes the larger tote in miniature—there’s a flat back pocket that’s just right for holding what you need to touch-up, like your favorite lipstick, an extra tube of mascara, and even a travel-sized bottle of perfume. And the top pocket was handy enough to earn Mary Poppins’s nod of approval as it fit what I assumed would be too ambitious, nay, impossible for its size: a 16-ounce bottle of sunscreen, a bulky hard case for my sunglasses, yet another for my regular eyeglasses, my phone, and my portable charger.

How is the bag’s material?

And while I had all of this on me, there was no way to tell. Just shy of 12 inches, I like to think of the bag as my do-it-all football, something I can easily tuck into my arm or beneath my airplane seat when I’m on the go. Credit for the bag’s comfortable carry goes to the material the Foldie is manufactured with, 290D twill-polyester, which balances the lightweight feel of a rain jacket with the reliable hardiness of a climbing rope. Whether I’m bringing it as a clutch or wearing it as a crossbody bag to the gym, it feels like it’s barely there.

More colors:

Looks-wise, the Foldie isn’t the sleekest tote on the market, but it’s not trying to be. It scores in having a distinct design, which proves a lifesaver when playing “I spy” for bags in a lazy river of neutral-colored luggage otherwise known as the baggage claim carousel. Unfolded, the tote has an almost cat-eared silhouette, and its compact form has an unmissable rubber “foldie” tag front and center on the belly. I have the bag in black, and I have yet to encounter any trouble spotting it in a crowd. Though if you’re searching for a pop of color in your luggage ensemble, the Foldie runs through the crayon box with colors ranging from orange to cognac, beige to teal, army green to Barbie pink.

Any cons?

The one true con I’ve experienced with the folded form of the bag is that there’s no way to attach a strap or additional handle to it once it’s folded, so you’ll have to settle for carrying the mini-Foldie by hand. The fully expanded version also doesn’t contain a computer sleeve, which makes me reach for my backpack when I need to bring along larger electronics like my laptop or tablets on a trip. Alas, in my book, these are both fair trade-offs for the traveler who wants to have their space and fold it too.

Final verdict:

After passing the gauntlet of a last-minute trip out of the country, I always keep the Foldie on me, whether it’s riding in my backpack during my daily commute, or in the front pocket of my suitcase on longer hauls. In a meta way, it’s become a regular in my roster of just in case essentials that can expand my carrying capacity to just the amount I might need, whether I’m picking up an extra handful or an armful.