How to Better Organize Your RV–Part 2

Our RV had a large cabinet for a washer/dryer combo in our bathroom but we opted to not buy the washer/dryer combo and instead utilize the space for storage. To best utilize this space we used some Sterlite freestanding drawers that we slid into the openings and stacked atop each other. This has worked reall well for our bathroom storage needs.

Now as most of you know the closets in an RV aren’t the best design for maximizing use. We first thought about using some stackables in our closet but in our first year our closet rod broke so I completely re-designed the entire closet using portable closet racks we bought in Lowes (I also wrote a blog about that project).

There is also loads of storage under most RV beds so that is where we have stored extra linens, blankets and pillows. However since we are fulltimers we also have a lot of nice clothes that we might need for weddings, funerals or if we take a cruise someday. For those needs we bought a few extra-large air-tight vacuum packed space saver bags. These are the kind you pack full of items then use a vacuum to extract the air out of the bag allowing you to store twice as many clothes as in a normal bag.

Well before this blog gets too wordy I will end it with a list of several other items or tips as to how we save space:

• We use adhesive hooks that don’t damage our walls to hold our robes in our hallway. These easy-to-remove hooks won’t leave residue on our walls if we want to move them or get rid of them.
• We use Velcro to keep our stereo components in place. By putting Velcro on our dish box and sticking it to our receiver they don’t shift around and always stay in place.
• We use many of the collapsible kitchen items such as our salad spinner, measuring cups and one item we don’t have but want the Fold Flat Cheese Grater.
• We also have a collapsible Mesh Laundry Bag for our dirty clothes. It stays collapsed until our hamper is full and then out it come to take the clothes to the laundry.
• We also save space by rolling instead of folding our towels and my T-shirts that fit better in the overhead bin in my bedroom. It makes it easy to see what color T-shirt I am grabbing from the top cabinet.
• We also have our Plastic Bag Dispenser which hangs on a cabinet door for  recycling plastic bags to use as trash bags while traveling. Of course ours has a Texas A&M University logo…
• We store flour, sugar and our rice in Acrylic airtight food containers which help keep the contents fresh. It also is good for keeping bugs out and away from the RV.
• We use baskets in just about every room to store small items and to keep clutter to a minimum. They also double as decorative items. We have bought several of them in thrift stores making them an inexpensive storage solution.

     

These are many of the things we do to save space and protect items in our RV and we would love to hear about what other things of you do!

How to Better Organize Your RV–Part 1…

In keeping with the theme of helping those who may want to start the full time RV lifestyle or those who have just begun their adventure I want to offer some suggestions as to how we have over time become better organized. These are some things that we use and/or that work for us. We feel making the best use of space means giving the RV the feeling like it’s less cluttered and homier.

Not everything is about saving space as sometimes a simple solution is needed for noise problems. We originally thought we would have to buy Melmac or Corelle dishes when we first hit the road but since we already owned dishes we opted to bring them along and if they broke, well, they broke and we could always buy new ones. To protect our dishes as well as keeping them from rattling and breaking we first lined our drawers and shelves with nonslip shelf liners. We also used this same product to put between plates and bowls keeping them quiet and protected when driving down the road.

In addition we use Koozies to help protect our favorite glassware from rattling/breaking. We also have bamboo paper plate holders that double as spacers for our Pyrex cookware and for our glass serving platters.  These are all very inexpensive solutions that allowed us to keep our glass plates, bowls and glassware. As a result, in our nearly five years of travels we have had no glassware break. We have however dropped an occasional wine glass and broken it…

Another organizational product we use in various places are Sterilite storage boxes.  Not only do they help prevent items from shifting and rolling around, they also make it easy to find items stored in them because we can see what's inside since they are clear. We use these stackable container bins, in our pantry, in our closet, in our overhead bins and in our bathroom.  At first we kept a list of items in each storage container but now we know where most things are. Some folks actually tape a list of contents to the top of the lid.

We have lots of other suggestions but will break this blog into two parts so as not to overwhelm anyone. Look for How to Better Organize Your RV–Part 2 in our next blog.