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Meagan Butler

Brushing Your Teeth On The Couch

I am not a fan of putting on my underwear in the kitchen. Nor am I a fan of balancing on one foot to pull my sock on while the other foot is somehow smashing into the mini blinds next to my “so called RV Queen sized” bed. These things actually happen, people, and they happen consistently inside of my RV. The thing is, I deal with the smushed quarters. I try my best to not get mad when there are four pairs of shoes lined up along the uber-sheik carpeted floorboard in my kitchen. I cringe, but deal, when I see the dishes drying on top of my stove. It’s just part of being an RV owner. We try and cram as much stuff inside our home on wheels as we can. We aren’t tent camping for a reason. We are high maintenance, and any RVer who tells you otherwise is lying because the low maintenance people are sleeping in hammocks and using their dirty socks as walking sticks. High maintenance people try and bring every comfort of home with them on the RV trip. Why? Becuase we can.

Here’s the thing. An RV simply can’t hold everything. The RVer can do two things: deal with the explosion of stuff in every nook and cranny, or we can organize ourselves in a manner that requires less of that so-called stuff. I choose the latter. It’s no secret I am a tad persnickety when it comes to keeping things neat and orderly. My nickname is Monica {the ever-loving OCD character on Friends}for a reason. I love to organize, I love to vacuum, and I love for everything to have a place and that place to have a place. As we prepare to leave our Forest River Sandstorm behind this weekend and make the jump to a bigger vehicle more equipt for bigger people, I am reminded of the little things Pat and I have come up with to keep things neat, orderly, and functioning inside of our RV. A few simple items can make RVing less disheveled, more organized, and leave more room for the important things. Like beer.

1. The electric skillet. This bad boy cooks practically everything. We make eggs and pancakes and sausage in the morning, and spaghetti sauce in the evening. Its flat cooking surface cooks quickly and evenly. The non-stick surface wipes clean. I love this cleaning factor the most because water logged egg chunks in a sink without a disposal can be so nasty. Wipe and toss. The best bit? One skillet for almost every meal. Less space in the cupboards=more room for other things. Note* This is electric. If you are going off the grid, you will need to run the generator. I say it’s worth it.

2. Baskets Our baskets are used two-fold. The first thing we do is use our baskets for transportation of our items to and from the RV. Since we don’t have a pantry, we have to get creative with the items that won’t or can’t fit inside the refrigerator. We bring things like chips, jars of salsa, paper towels, condiments, coffee, and other items like Ziplock bags from our house to the RV inside the baskets. What we don’t store in other places, we keep in the baskets. Each basket has items of similar content, so finding the gummy bears inside the ketchup basket is not a problem. We keep the baskets on top of the cabinets while traveling. We measured out the space and brought those measurements with us when we went basket shopping. Being precise meant we were able to get more baskets and have very little slipping and movement of the baskets while driving, and the things inside stay safe and unbroken. You can even put wine bottles up in the baskets, but I’d suggest wrapping the bottles with a kitchen towel to avoid clinking and possible breaking of the precious juice. After your trip is over, simply take the baskets down and bring the items back inside your house. It’s simple, easy, and organized.

3. The Yeti Cooler This is one of our best purchases to date. We love all things Yeti and swear by our cooler. While we have a few Yeti coolers, our favorite cooler inside of the RV is the Yeti Tundra 105. This cooler serves a few purposes. We transport our food to and from home in the cooler. Even with a few ice packs tucked inside, our food stays cold for an entire day (and longer). Once we get to our location, we empty the Yeti and fill our fridge with food, but because we have a small RV refrigerator, there is only room for food. This is major sad-face for us because part of camping involves the adult beverages we enjoy outside every night. Yeti to the rescue! Our Yeti cooler is quickly loaded with beer and other drinks (we like water, too, people). We can fit about 50 beverages inside when we add ice. Our drinks stay ice cold for days and days and days. No joke. After about three days, we empty the water and add a little more ice, and we are good to go for many more days. The next best thing about the Yeti is that it doesn’t look bad inside of the camper. If we wanted to keep the Yeti outside, we could. We’d put bear proof locks on and meet the bear-box requirements (our Yeti is bear resistant). But realistically? We love this cooler and would never leave it outside because it’s not the bears we are afraid of, it’s the other Yeti lovers who might want a 105 to add to their collection. So, we keep the cooler inside. The Yeti serves as another spot to sit and is the perfect height to put on and remove shoes. Win.

Needing to make space inside an RV is inevitable. There are tons of tricks and hacks that people use to make their RVing more comfortable. While our solutions might not be crafty, they are simple and easy to do. We love the fact that our RVing is easier now because of the little changes and additions we’ve made to our camper. Even in the upgrade, we will be using our organization solutions, because let’s face it…an RV is an RV and it is close quarters and cozy!

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