Oh yeah, the staging is critical. When I have the laundry basket free*, I tend to pack by first tossing everything I need into there, and then moving it from the basket to my actual bags.

~Sor

*My room is not so spacious that it makes sense to have both a place to store the basket *and* a hamper, so it serves as the collection-spot for dirty clothes, which makes it very easy to just bring them down to the basement when it's laundry time.