There’s nothing worse than living in clutter…unless you’re trying to camp in clutter. And that’s only surpassed by the agony of trying to cook in clutter in a camper!
The slogan “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” should be the mantra for RVers! The best way to control clutter in your camper or mobile home is to purge anything useless. You may think that it’s something you might need…someday…but if you haven’t used an item in your last 3 outings – get rid of it.
Next, remove the “doubles” and “extras”. Do you really need six coffee cups for the two of you? Five bath towels? Two pairs of scissors?
Once you’ve gotten that task complete, now designate a specific place for everything. (and we mean EVERYTHING! That means no “junk drawers”.)
Once you’ve gotten the items into their “forever home”, set up a cleaning routine and stick to it. When you keep the clutter to a minimum you’ll begin to see how much easier it is to keep your RV really clean.
To keep clutter at bay, small spaces demand BIG storage ideas. Here are a few you might not have thought about:
Think FOLDABLE. There are all kinds of folding kitchen items: colanders, cooking pots – even tea kettles! Foldable trash cans are perfect for RVing!
Use wall mounted food dispensers for items like rice, cereal, pasta and coffee beans to free up your cupboard space. Or you can also use recycled lemonade or milk bottles to store these items airtight in the cupboard.
Use magnetic strips to store your knives. They’ll be secure and within reach. And while you’re at it, why not put a few magnets on your cutting board and store that under the cabinet.
Old Plastic and Metal Magazine racks can keep your cans corralled.
Keep information handy with small cork tiles; Velcro them on the inside of cabinet doors and you have a perfect place for your grocery list, names and numbers of people you meet, photos you want to carry with you, etc.
Put bins and separators in the cabinets. It helps keep things in place without the usual stacked messes. These work great in outside storage compartments, too. You can also use tension rods as dividers in and under cabinets.
Store your garbage bags on a paper towel holder.
Tack up boxes of sandwich bags to the inside of cabinet doors.
Recycle your grocery bags – they are great to have for wet items, trash, etc…and you can store them inside an old juice bottle or stuff them into an old bleach wipes container.
Think outside the garage – Peg board rules! They provide an easy way to store everything. They also work well in bedroom closets for belts, hats, etc. and in baths for everything from blow dryers to extra toilet paper.
Make lid holders out of inexpensive towel racks and keep the tops for your pots and pan tops neatly stored. Mount the racks and “hang” the lids between the wall and the rack. Or you could even discard the lids and choose to use tin foil or plates instead!
Suction Cup Hooks work wonders to hang stuff up without making nail holes. Command Strips and Velcro are also perfect for this task. Always looking for your remote? Velcro it in a designated place.
A NEST is BEST. Look for items that can easy “nest” inside other items. Joseph Joseph makes a set of mixing bowls/measuring cups and spoons that all fit together in one space-saving spot.
Stack dishes vertically. It takes less space and makes them easier to reach and keeps them safe. Check out “dish cradles” on shopping sites like Amazon.
Hanging baskets work great…and they’re not just for fruit anymore! (Think about using them in the bedroom AND bath, too!)
Get rid of the cookbooks. Recipes can be on your cell phone. Just take pictures of your favorite recipes before you leave home.
Add more storage to your shelves with wire, under shelf, hanging baskets. You’ll get 2 shelves where there once was one!
Fold down or magnetic spice racks keep your drawers open for other items.
Think under mounting to save even more space. Our favorite is a paper plate dispenser from Camping World for under $10. CLICK HERE to see what we mean. https://www.campingworld.com/pop-a-plate-dispenser—white14619.htmlgclid=EAIaIQobChMIkfiom6OG6AIVC9vACh34VAb7EAQYASABEgL0jfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Need to save money on your storage containers? Just attach lids of mason jars to the ceiling and you’ll have storage for all types of small items! This works great in the bathroom, too.
Want more ideas on storage hacks? Check out sites like RVshare.com and TheWanderingRV.com.
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