Packing Ideas.

[Ted]

I'm always looking for ways to save space and/or time when packing. Thought I'd share one with the hope that others would pass their tricks on so we can learn some we had not thought of.

When we first got the camper, I bought small jars of mayo, ketchup, soy sauce, mustard, etc. These had to stay refrigerated so took up space in the cooler or fridge. Rolled around a lot as well. Now I grab extra small packets when I go out for lunch. Besides the usual condiments, I have found you can get things like jam at target, low-fat mayo and Dijon mustard at Panera Bread, Taco sauce (mild or hot) at your favorite Mexican restaurant, soy sauce or sweet and sour sauce at the Chinese food counter at your grocery store, etc. Salt and pepper also. All of these can fit in a plastic bag stored with the rest of your food supplies and don't need to be kept cold. And they can stay in the camper so don't need to be packed and unpacked with each trip. Oh, and their free! But please just take what you need or think you will use, or they may become hard to find.

What are some other packing tricks people are using?

 

[Kodachrome]

I use as few containers as possible in order to sub-categorize items such as clothes, toiletries, etc. For example, except for my gray water container, a collapsable 2.5 gallon container, there is nothing outside of the camper when I am parked. That way, if I need to bug out in a hurry due to any number of circumstances, I am not plagued by crap all over the camp site.

So all my clothes are nicely available in the couch storage, all my food on the other side. The other thing to do is keep as many things as you can "camper" specific so you are not constantly moving things from one place to the other.

I also use Stowmate pouches. Although they are pricey, they are bomber in quality and work perfect, I really stay much more organized because of them:

http://www.stowmate.com/shop/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=9

We are actually starting to work on some better designs too that might be off road or small camper specific, so stay tuned...

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

We pack our clothes in dry bags. We roll up one complete change of clothes for every couple days and stow them in our respective dry bag. We have learned the hard way that sometimes our clean clothes can get damp from spilled water, torrential rain coming through the windows when we are driving, or plain ol' condensation. The dirties go in a regular laundry bag. The bags are color-coded so we know which bag is whose. We sized the bags for about two weeks of clothes. After that, we hit the washateria.

We also put our outdoor carpets in a (bigger) dry bag to keep the entrapped dirt from sifting out of the carpets and all over the inside of the camper.

 

[Barko1]

My dirties go outside the camper and inside the truck bed through the turnbuckle port. who knows I may have lost something under the camper but I haven't missed anything

 

[chnlisle]

Pam thinks I'm Anal!!! You win Mark.

 

[BSS]

I like that one Barko!

I store my garden hose and extension cord in the propane closet while I'm on the road. They barely fit, but they're out of the way and I don't have to scrounge or bum a hose when I'm on a long trip and need a fresh water refill.