Tag: #trailergirlsguidetohappycamping

Having Guests in your RV and our Adventure with Our Trailer at the Airport

Let me begin this blog post by saying I probably have no business writing it.  I am in a Facebook group for owners of our rig’s manufacturer.  I thought I knew what I was doing until I saw pictures of peoples’ beautiful spreads they put out at the national rally last month. Suffice it to say, I’m a low-key entertainer and I like it that way.  

When we purchased our current 5thwheel one of the things we shopped for was more visiting space.  Not more sleeping space.  We tested the pull-out bed in the sofa to make sure it was comfortable so that we could have over night guests.  If it wasn’t, it would have been a deal breaker.  It turns out, the pull-out bed is more comfortable than the bunks in our old trailer.  Go figure!  We wanted more visiting space because we end up camping in places where we’re visiting other people, or people come to visit us.  It’s fun!

If you’re still shopping and you think this might be your situation, you might consider something with an island in the kitchen and a living space near the kitchen.  It makes for great visiting, snacking, and fun. We purchased our rig in May. Since our purchase, we have camped 20 nights in it on four separate trips.  On only one of those trips were we without visitors.  Our “rear living” / island kitchen has served us very well! We love it!

Here are some things I keep in mind when entertaining in my rig:

  • K.I.S.S.– My geometry teacher in 10thgrade always used to remind us when solving proofs, “Keep It Simple…Stupid.”  (I seriously doubt he was calling anyone stupid!  I think he was trying to get teenagers attention after lunch).  Back when my kids were little and before we had a trailer, I tried to be my own version of Martha Stewart.  I pretty much failed at it because I turned into a crazed over thinking entertaining machine that my family dreaded.  Therefore, they dreaded any party I’d throw.  It was no fun for them!  Now that I’m older, and wiser (Ha! More like older and more tired!), I’ve realized that no one cares how fancy your party is.  They care that the company is fun.  These days, sometimes I even leave the chips in the bags! (Gasp!).  Really, make it fun for you!  Don’t go overboard!
  • Plan ahead –I really love to cook.  When I’m camping, my cooking is much simpler.  I marinate meat before the trip and freeze it, make simple salads, make things ahead when possible, etc.  That way, when I’m ready to have guests, I can pull things out and go.  No major prepping in the rig.  
  • Grill!– Everyone loves good grilled food!  You can grill anything.  I know someone who grills peaches and says they’re delicious.  I prefer steak, but whatever!  When you grill, it brings people outside, keeps your rig cooler, and makes less dishes to wash.
  • Easy clean-up is key –Most rigs don’t have dishwashers.  Mine doesn’t.  Easy clean-up is a big deal.  Use recipes and foods that are easy to clean up.
  • Whenever possible, invite people who help –So far, we’ve been super lucky this summer with company that helps.  On our first trip out in our rig, the people we camped with wanted to cook for us in our rig. It was awesome!  We just watched as they cooked.  Later, we washed the dishes while they watched.  When we camped with my brother and sister-in-law, they were super helpers.  My brother loves grilling and cleaning the grill, so he cooked all of our grilled meat. My sister in law likes drying dishes (or pretends to) and jumps up to help as soon as anyone is at the sink.  Having people like this over makes entertaining a lot more fun.
  • Order pizza!– In our favorite place to camp, we love the pizza place in town! We order pizza and bring it back to the trailer.  We’ll make salad, have wine and drinks ready, and have a fun, easy, and delicious dinner.
  • Pot-luck it– We have friends that we camp with regularly.  We eat together on the nights that we’re camping together. When we don’t order pizza or do something “organized,” we’ll have a BYOM (bring your own meat) pot-luck.  We share sides, salads, drinks, etc.  Then, for dessert we’ll have s’mores.  It’s fun!

Overnight guests

We are in a new phase of life.  We’re empty nesters.  For 15 years, we had bunkhouse trailers.  Our first rig had 4 bunks and we let our kids bring friends on our trips sometimes. Other times, we parked it in our driveway when we needed more sleeping space at the house and sent some kids out to sleep in the driveway.  My brother and his family would come up to visit, but there is no hotel in our town and no room in our house.  So, we parked our trailer in the RV park and they stayed in our “vacation condo.” This past summer, we realized that our kids hadn’t come on a long trip with us in years and that we were only using the bunkhouse for was storing my husband’s golf clubs.  We decided it was time to re-think the bunkhouse situation. We bought a 5thwheel with a comfortable pull out sofa-bed (Not a jack-knife sofa.  Jack Knife pull outs are only comfortable for kids!).  It turned out to be a good choice.

My brother and his family have a 23-foot travel trailer.   They rarely ever camp anywhere with hook-ups and sometimes tease us about how wimpy we are for going to RV parks.  They live in Southern California where he owns a landscape business.  Getting away for more than 7 or 8 days at a time is really hard for them.  As a result, it’s kept them camping mostly in California, Arizona, and Nevada.  We let them know we were planning a trip to Glacier National Park.  At the time, we had our bunkhouse trailer that they had used in the local RV park when they came up to visit us.  My brother said, “We’ll come!   We’ll fly up to Montana and we’ll camp with you and sleep in your bunk beds!” A plan was hatched!

After we hatched the plan, we traded in the bunkhouse and sweated a bit about whether or not having guests on the pull out sofa bed was going to be a good situation.  We did our best to make it as comfortable as possible. Here are some things we did:

  • Got a good mattress pad for the pull out– Even though the pull out is comfortable, it’s still not a mattress.  A quality mattress pad helps with that.
  • Got quality bedding – Nice sheets, comfortable pillows, and a nice quilt made the bed a lot more comfortable.
  • Found space for them to unpack their bags – Suitcases in a trailer would be a trip hazard! Our new rig has a cupboard that is “extra” for us.  We decided to keep it empty so that if we have guests, they can put their things in there.  They unpacked their suitcases into the cupboard and we stowed the suitcases in the basement storage of the trailer.  It worked great!
  • Made space in the medicine cabinet – Our medicine cabinet is HUGE for a trailer. We made one side of it empty so it could be just for them.  
  • Find places to hang towels – We live and camp in the Pacific Northwest.  It is imperative that we have places to hang wet things inside the trailer.  We put some hooks in the “hallway” of the trailer for this.  Our guests used them to hang their towels.  
  • Gave them space – We made it a point to go to bed at a decent time and let them have the living space to themselves.  We watched some TV in the bedroom.  It helped that we hiked almost every day.  Everyone was, as my sister in law would say, “knackered.”  We were all ready to flop fairly early.
My brother and his wife on our pull out sofa bed. They were great trailer guests!
Decor note: Our trailer isn’t this white inside. It’s much more “dirt – beige.” The ability to camouflage dirt was a big selling point. Don’t go thinking I’m some sort of person who can keep white furniture clean while camping!

You’re probably wondering where our airport adventure fits into this post.  Well, on this trip to Glacier, my brother and his wife flew into Kalispell, Montana.  We had a great plan.  We used Google Maps and found a Cabela’s with 40 Acres of parking and a Chick-fil-A in the parking lot.  The plan was for them to take an Uber to the Cabela’s parking lot.  We had a meeting time.  It was a great plan!

We were coming from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where we had spent a night on the way to Montana.  We stopped in St. Regis, Montana to buy a Huckleberry Pie (very important to the Montana experience), some jam, and use the restroom.  There’s a really great traveler’s stopping place there with a great store, restaurant, espresso, ice cream, etc.  We looked around a bit, but not terribly long.  When we got in the truck, we were shocked at the time!!  How was it possible that we had spent an hour and a half in that store?!  I checked my brother’s flight on my phone and it said it was late.  Perfect.

We started booking down the road when I got a text from my brother, “Just landed.”  I looked at the GPS and we were 80 miles out.  So, I texted back, “Crap!  We’re 80 miles out!  Take your time getting your bags and getting to Cabela’s.”  We continued on trying to figure out where the time went.  Later we got a text from my brother that said, “Uber says ‘No cars available.’  Now what?” We texted back and forth with things like, “Are you working the Uber app right?”  He sent a screen shot of the Uber app.   Looked right…  “How about Lyft?”  Finally, he calls.  “I’ve been walking around the airport and I think you can pick us up in the passenger pick up area.”  We’re thinking, “Obviously, he doesn’t know how tall we are!”  I explain how much clearance we needed and he assured me that since he’s had plenty of time, he’s walked the whole outside of the airport and it’s going to work.

We drove to the airport and picked them up in the passenger pick up area.  Of course, this irritated the people behind us and they insisted on honking.  So, we were throwing suitcases into the back of the truck trying to avoid the 5thwheel hitch and laughing because the scene was just crazy!  

We drove over to the Cabela’s and Chick-Fil-A and had lunch and did some “we forgot__.” shopping.  At one point in the store, I checked my watch and it was an hour earlier than I thought.  Then, I checked my phone to see the time.  Head slap!  We didn’t get the memo!  There was a time change between Idaho and Montana!  We lost an hour!  

The whole trip went really well and we decided that we’ll do it again sometime.  They stayed with us 7 nights and we had a great time.  They reported being comfortable and said they enjoyed their stay.  We might have to avoid the airport, but everything else worked out great!  We are proud to be able to say we picked up people from the airport with our trailer attached.  Not everyone can say that.

Entertaining in your rig is fun.  There are lots of ways to do it from tail-gaiting, to pot-lucks, to just having people over for s’mores.  I see people in RV parks camping with friends and sharing meals.  I never really considered when we bought our first rig how social it could be.  We have been happily surprised at how much fun we’ve had entertaining in our rig!

Enjoy your rig and entertaining at your own speed.  You don’t even have to entertain at all if you don’t want to!  It’s your rig!  It’s your vacation!  Enjoy it!

Feature Photo note: This photo was taken in our backyard at a barbecue with my grandparents. The kid with the big bow in her hair is me. That was our trailer when I was a little kid. My brother and I figured out that it had been about 45 years since we camped together in a trailer by the time of the Glacier trip in this blog. My parents sold it and we were tent campers after that … until we had kids of our own….

Next Trailer Girl blog post – Why I’m Banned from Barstow

My Favorite Things for Storage in an RV

Storage is a tricky thing in an RV.  Closets and cupboards are small, sometimes oddly shaped, and it’s hard to find a place for everything.  I am a neat freak.  I like having a place for everything and everything in its place.  I hate looking for things and I hate messy clutter – especially in my trailer!  I’m on vacation!  Don’t mess up my space!  In our 15 years of RVing and traveling with kids and dogs, we’ve learned a few tricks.

First and Foremost – Choose Wisely!

If you’re still shopping for your rig, make sure you’re thinking about what you’ll want to bring and where you might put things inside. When we were shopping for our first bunkhouse trailer in 2004, we had trouble finding one that actually had room for clothes and food in the length we were looking for. The RV industry has changed quite a bit since then and they are using storage as selling points. So, they better have it already! If you’re already in your rig and trying to figure this all out, keep reading. I’ll find room for your stuff!

Secondly – don’t bring too much stuff!  

It’s not as easy as it sounds!  Especially when you’re traveling with kids!  The less stuff you have, the less you have to figure out where it goes.   We travel around the Pacific Northwest.  The weather is unpredictable.  I always pack way more clothes than I need for any given trip – you know, just in case the weather doesn’t turn out to be what it says on my iPhone!  

Here are our packing parameters.  We have folding crates that we keep in the trailer and use for packing.  We leave them in the living room at home while we’re gone. When our kids were little, we would give them a packing list and their crates, and they weren’t supposed to pack more than would fit in the crate.  That worked great most of the time.  There were a few trips where we had to make an emergency trip to Walmart for underwear, but for the most part, it taught them to be really good packers!  My husband and I use the same rule.  I have learned over the past 15 years how to pile over the top of the crate too.  When we packed for a 10-night trip, I got all of my stuff in one crate …. Piled pretty high! Once our crates are in the trailer, we un-pack it into our closets and leave the crates in the living room of our house.  (See my blog post about Weird RV Closets for more closet tips.)

We also use the crates for packing food but fill the crates up as many times as needed to pack for the trip.  The amount of food we bring varies with our destination.  For one of our favorite go-to get-a-ways, sometimes all we’ll pack is juice, coffee, and some breakfast food and figure out the rest when we get there. There’s a grocery store, a wine shop, and some restaurants that we like in town.   Figuring our meals out while we’re there is part of the fun.  For our 10-night trip, we packed like we weren’t going to see a grocery store outside of a camp store.  It served us well!

Containerize 

If you’ve read any of my blogs, you know that I hate jumbled messes.  So, as a neat freak, I am also a bit of a container freak.  I find stores like the Container Store inspiring.  I’m weird like that!   My love of containers has served us well while RVing.  They keep things from jumbling while we’re on the road.  Here are some of my favorites:

  • Clear Bins.  I have them all over the place in our trailer!  I love them!  I can see what’s in them and they keep everything upright and tidy.
Clear plastic bins are my favorite way to keep things from jumbling on the road.
  • Sterlite or Rubbermaid Containers with drawers.  These are great under sinks or in the bottom of a closet when you don’t have a drawer. Measure your space before you buy.
The drawer adds space to my storage under the sink.
  • Crushable Baskets– These squish into spaces as needed.  We use one for our dirty clothes under the bed.  After our trip, we bring in all the laundry.  Our trailer has to live in storage.  When the laundry is all done, we take the basket with clean laundry back to the trailer in storage.  
I use a crushable basket like this for my dirty laundry. I bring the laundry home, wash up everything, and use it to return any of the clean laundry that lives in the trailer.
I purchased this from the Container Store. Click here for shopping link.
  • Shower Caddies– Find one that works for your shower.  My new favorite is one with knobs that make the suction cups actually stick.  It’s worth the extra money.  Our stuff stays put on the road.  It’s no fun cleaning up shampoo goo out of the shower!  In our first trailer, there was no place to put a shower caddy, and we had a plastic basket with a handle. It was full of shampoo, body wash, etc. It lived in the shower when we were parked but was put away in the cupboard when we were on the road.  If you use this method, be sure to dry it out before you put it in the cupboard, or you could end up with a whole new mess. See photo below of my new favorite shower caddy from Bed Bath and Beyond.
  • Plastic baskets for cleaning supplies– Things like dish soap, Windex, etc. sometimes leak.  If they’re going to leak, they should leak in a container that’s easy for you to clean out. Also, they’re less likely to leak if they can stay upright while you are on the road.
  • Plastic bins for anything liquid– I have things like olive oil, vinegar, wine, etc. in clear bins.  This way, the contents of the bin stay upright and if there are any leaks, I can just clean the bin instead of my cupboard.
  • Nesting items – Put things inside of other things. Think nesting bowls, pots and pans, etc. I put my dry measuring cups inside my clear glass big measuring/mixing bowl. I can always see where they are.
  • Zippable Soft Containers – I’m sure they have a better name, but I like them because they’re squish-able. If I were to put whatever I have inside of my zipper container in a bin, there might be wasted space and there would be no flexibility for storing things around it. I use these for things like sheets. You could also put seasonal items such as hats and gloves in one so they’re not in your way in the middle of summer. I got mine from the Container Store.
Squish-able Zippered Storage keeps things together and tidy when they’re not in use. I use mine for extra sheets. It lives under the bed. Click here for shopping link

Make use of your nooks and crannies

If you’re like us, when you looked at your trailer at the dealer, you looked at the basement storage and thought, “Wow!  Look at all of that space!”  Then, you put your sewer hoses, water hose, chalks, a few chairs, and a grill in there and thought, “Dang!  We could use more space!”  Many trailers have hidden storage space.  Here’s where to look:

  • Under the bed– if you have a designated “master bed” (some trailers have Murphy Beds), most likely there is some storage underneath.  You might be able to lift the entire mattress and access all the space under your bed easily.  In our last trailer, we had storage under the bed, but it was too hard to lift the mattress.  So, we had drawers built into the bed.  It was a great modification that was worth every penny we spent on it!  Here’s what we keep under the bed:  Dirty clothes, laundry supplies, and a mop.  When we are on a trip where we’ll be doing some hiking, we’ll put our backpacks, trekking poles, and boots under the bed as well.  
  • Under the dinette – If you have a booth dinette, you most likely have storage under the seats.  In all 3 of our trailers, we’ve been able to lift up the cushions, to find a piece of plywood that lifts out to expose storage.  We keep things that we don’t use very often in our dinette storage such as beach towels, a beat-up pot for cooking things like clams, etc.  It’s also a great place to store things like board games.
  • Under the sofa – If you have a jack-knife sofa, you might be able to access storage under your sofa.  We were able to do this in our first trailer.  It was a little awkward to get at.  So, it was best to keep things like extra blankets under there.  
  • Add hooks – Our trailer has a funny little closet that is supposed to be a coat closet. They even went to the trouble of hanging a bar in it for hangers. Only one little problem. The closet is too small for hangers. So, my husband installed several hooks in there. Now we have a place for dog leashes, jackets, etc. We have also added hooks on one of our walls for hanging wet jackets and things.

Create your own storage

We are on a Facebook page for owners of our brand of trailer. It’s fun to see pictures of their modifications. Many trailers in our brand come with a table and chairs. People are building or buying benches with storage and replacing the chairs with these benches at their tables. I think it’s pretty smart! Our rig has a dinette with booth type seating. I love it. It’s comfortable and there’s storage underneath. Maybe there are other ways your can add storage to your rig.

No matter what size your RV is, you can pack it in a way that works for you.  Just remember, before you traveled in an RV you probably packed a suitcase when you traveled.  How did you fit a week in one suitcase?  Maybe you car camped and you shoved your tent, sleeping bags, coolers, and everything in a hatchback. You can do this!  You’ve got lots more space than your suitcase!  How are you going to make it so its functional and fun?  Remember, you’re on vacation!  Have fun!

Next Trailer Girl Blog Post – Entertaining in your RV and our Adventure with Our Trailer at the Airport 

Setting Up your RV Bedroom and Bathroom

Setting up your bathroom and bedroom efficiently and comfortably is one of the things that will help make your RV feel more like a vacation home.  When we bought our first trailer over 15 years ago, it was a big deal to both my husband and I that our trailer be very different from tent camping. That meant no sleeping bags, having things already in the trailer like linens so we didn’t have to pack them, and above all, it had to be comfortable.  Here are some tips.  Of course, everyone’s opinion on comfortable is different.  This is my Trailer Girl opinion!  Take what you like!

The bedroom:

The bedroom has to be comfortable!  Chances are good when you’re on an RV trip, you’re going to wear yourself out driving, hiking, or exploring.  A good night’s sleep can make a huge difference in how your day goes!

  • The mattress– Don’t let the mattress be a deal-breaker when buying your rig.  Odds are, the mattress that comes with your rig won’t be to your liking.  They almost never are!  Our first trailer had a foam mattress (it pre-dated memory foam so it was just plain foam that was covered nicely) and it was great!  We put a nice mattress pad on it and had zero problems!  When we bought our second trailer, it never occurred to us that the mattress might be garbage … and it was!  There was no making it work!  We bought a memory foam mattress from Camping World, put a nice mattress pad on it and slept great after that!  In our current trailer, our mattress seems to be nicely made, but is super firm.  I bought a memory foam mattress pad from Macy’s and guess what?  It’s just fine!  The mattress will be a trial an error thing.  You’ll feel a bit like Goldilocks until you get it … just… right!
  • Sheets– Get your favorite kind of sheets!  Don’t skimp on your rig!  You’re on vacation!  Your sleep is important!  For those of you with strange sized mattresses, like short queens, might I recommend jersey sheets?  I used them for 15 years on short queens and bought full sized sheets (not queen).  The bottom sheet stretched nice and tight over the mattress and everything else worked fine.  
  • Pillows – Don’t demote your old house pillows and put them in your trailer! Get comfortable pillows you love and put them in your trailer.  Again, your sleep is super important!
  • The pretty stuff – Sometimes RV’s come with a bedspread.  I have hated every RV bedspread I have ever met!  They make nice moving blankets and dog beds though! Put a comforter or quilt that you love on the bed.  Add throw pillows that you like.  Add a throw blanket to the foot of the bed and it’ll feel like a cozy B&B!  If you have room on the walls, hang a picture you like.  Our trailer has night stands on either side of the bed.  My side has a favorite picture of my kids.  Your bedroom should make you feel comfortable, cozy, and happy!
  • Your closest – See my earlier blog post on Weird RV Closets for more information on closets.  Some favorite things for closets – velvet hangers!  Not that I’m some princess that needs my clothes hung up fancy.  It’s more that I hate picking them up off of the bottom of the closet after they’ve fallen off the hangers in transit.  There’s lots more information about setting up your closet in my Weird RV Closet blog post.
  • If you’re lucky enough to have drawers – After 15 years of RVing, we finally have drawers in the bedroom!  I put clear dividing bins in the drawers so that things stay neat and don’t jumble on the road.  I also put them in my husband’s drawer.  Here’s what he had to say about that, “Ugh!  You and your bins!!!”  he proceeded to stack his bin under another bin and not use it.  I promptly re-possessed the bin and used it the pantry. If you snooze you lose … your bin! 
Clear bins help keep my drawer neat and un-jumbled.
  • If you don’t have drawers – You can make them by using Rubbermaid or Sterlite storage bins with drawers.  Be sure to measure before you buy.  We used these for years and they worked great!
  • What to keep in your closet/bedroom:  I keep 3 coats in my closet (we live in the Pacific Northwest, so we have various crazy weather); a windbreaker/raincoat, a fleece jacket, and a heavy coat.  I purchased my heavy coat for $27.99 from a souvenir shop. You can find cheap coats that are great for leaving in your trailer at a lot of towns you visit.  They make a great, useful souvenir!  I also keep an extra set of sheets in the storage under the bed.  That way, when I can change the sheets at the end of the trip and be ready for the next trip!  I know other people that have a trailer wardrobe.  We are mostly weekenders and have to keep our trailer in storage.  This would be way too much of a pain to wash everything and get it back to the trailer after a trip.  It’s much easier for us to pack clothes just before a trip. 

The bathroom:

When we bought our first trailer, we thought we should stock the medicine cabinet with all kinds of things we might need like cold medicine, Tylenol, cough syrup, etc.  It turns out, we’re rarely ever so far from a pharmacy or a grocery store that that is really necessary.  Everytime I’ve moved out of a rig, I’ve emptied out 3 years past expired medicine.  So, now we only buy as needed and buy the smallest size.  One thing we always keep on hand, Tylenol PM because sometimes you wear yourself out hiking or exploring and you need to sleep great so you can get up and do some more the next day!  

  • The medicine cabinet– We keep things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and other toiletries in the medicine cabinet so we don’t have to pack them each time.  I like Clinique skin care products.  I save my purchases for when they have a free gift (they almost always have one somewhere!) and use all of the samples in the trailer.  Pack your medicine cabinet with things you use every trip (or almost every trip).  
  • Earthquake hits the medicine cabinet! – This is what happens to your medicine cabinet when you’re on the road.  Everything is on its side, slid over to one side, etc. It’s a mess!  I am known as the “Straightening Up Fairy” and fix it.  I recently purchased some long skinny clear bins that help hold things up.  The Straightening Up Fairy has been much less busy straightening up.
  • Towels and where to put them – If you ever want a dry towel, don’t buy nice luxurious thick towels!  Get the fast-drying kind.  RV bathrooms usually come with a towel bar challenge – as in, where the heck are you going to put a towel bar?   For 15 years, we had one hanging over the door and hung everyone’s towels on it.  For the first time, we actually have a spot for a normal towel bar.  We keep an extra set of towels in the trailer so that we can put out fresh ones for the next trip at the end of a trip.  
Over the door towel bars can be a good towel rack solution for RVs
  • Toilet paper and where to put it – RV toilet paper is a strange subject.  We use one-ply from the normal grocery store and have no problems with our tanks and sensors.  You don’t have to buy the fancy, expensive stuff from the RV supply. Our first two rigs had no place to put a toilet paper holder.  Like most RV bathrooms, our first two were tiny and you could reach the inside of the cupboard from the toilet.  That’s where the toilet paper lived.  (Aren’t you glad you read this?  These are the things nobody ever tells you!).  We were pretty excited when we bought our current trailer because we found a place to hang a toilet paper holder.  It’s the little things….
  • Shower Caddies – I could write a whole blog post about shower caddies!  I found one I love at Bed Bath and Beyond that has knobs that make the suction cups actually stick to the shower wall.  We just traveled over 1,000 miles and everything stayed put!  
  • Blowdryers, curling irons, etc – Let’s face it, we need our stuff!  I keep one of each hair tool that I use at home in the trailer.  Be careful when using them in your trailer.  I’ve had to re-set the GFI because I tried to use the blow-dryer when the air-conditioner was on and messed up the power to the trailer.  Also, beware of weird RV park electrical issues.  I’ve blown out a hair dryer motor and melted a curling iron.  Someone who knows things about electrical things could probably tell you why.  This might be a time not to put your best stuff in your trailer – just in case.  

The most important things when setting up your trailer bedroom and bathroom are to make it your own, make it comfortable, and make it work efficiently for you.  You also want to avoid packing things every trip like toiletries, towels, etc. so that getting ready for a trip isn’t exhausting. Always remember, you’re on vacation!  It shouldn’t be a bunch of extra work!  Enjoy your set up and your time in your own little portable B&B!

Next Trailer Girl Blog Post – Favorite Things for Storage

Setting up your RV Kitchen – Maximizing Space and Efficiency

Setting up your RV Kitchen – Maximizing Space and Efficiency

Eating together on vacation is fun! Sitting around the dinner table talking about the day’s adventures is a great way to connect as a family. In the feature picture for this blog post, are my parents who got us into RVing, my kids, and my husband getting ready to have a little brownie party in our first trailer (notice the awful upholstery that I wrote about in my last blog about decor.) Our first trailer had a galley type kitchen with very limited space, but we made it work.  Our second trailer had quite a bit more space for the kitchen, an island, a real pantry, etc.  Our new 5thwheel has a kitchen that has more space than my first apartment!  I’ve learned some things along the way that have helped us have an efficient kitchen and more fun cooking.  I’ve also learned, I can probably never go back after having actual counter space!

Two key things to keep in mind when you’re setting up your kitchen:

  1. You are on vacation!  This is your vacation home!  Don’t take all of your beat-up hand me downs out of your home kitchen and put them in your trailer.  Fill it with dishes you like (that won’t chip or break), quality cookware, and utensils that work for you.
  2. Keeping other people out of your way will make cooking in an RV kitchen lots more fun.  In our first trailer, the kitchen was a pass-through area between the door and the living/dining area.  We called that kitchen a one-butt kitchen in that only one butt could be in the kitchen at a time (unless, of course, the other butt was drying the dishes!).  So, we put the silverware drawer under the coat closet and the dishes in the drawer under the dinette.  That way, when it was time for anyone to help, they were out of my way while I was cooking.  Now, we have an island.  The silverware drawer is at the end of the island that’s furthest from the stove.  The dishes are in the cupboard at the end of the island.  This works for getting help setting the table and it also works beautifully for washing dishes and putting them away.  They go from one side of the sink dirty, to the other side dried and put away.  Think through your kitchen and how you’ll use it. Then, put things away in a way that works for you and your family.  If you’re already in your RV and are bumping into each other, fix it!
My son, Ben at the age of 5, in our first trailer standing on the dinette, helping cook. Notice my husband in the background working on setting the table – totally out of the way. (Ben is now 19 and serving in the US Marine Corps. He helps cook when he comes home!)

Other tips for kitchen set up:

  • Non-slip shelf liners are your best friends– This keeps your dishes and things from sliding all over the place while you’re on the road.  Line anything where you put things that you don’t want slipping around.   Here’s a link to it on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Grip-Original-Non-Adhesive-Cabinets/dp/B07773PQG7/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1Y6QH5E4THPOT&keywords=no+slip+shelf+liners&qid=1561341434&s=gateway&sprefix=no+slip+shelf+%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-3
  • Corelle dishes – These are almost unbreakable.  When they do break, they explode!  We’ve had the same set for 15 years of RVing and have only lost two plates when we set up a cupboard poorly and the cupboard door popped open while we were on the road.  Luckily, it was a set of 8 place-settings, and we could never fit that many people in our rig anyway!  These dishes also stack very compactly.  They’re a great choice for RVing.  I like to add little free-standng shelves in my cupboards.  When I set the dishes up poorly that one time, I set the plates on the top shelf.  They’re too slippery for that!  Bowls that next are a better idea.  They don’t slide around.
My Corelle dishes minus two plates. Don’t put the plates on the top shelf! They turn into projectiles! Notice the no-slip liner under everything.
  • When it comes to the kitchen, think space-saving – Think things like nesting mixing bowls and measuring cups.  You can also find things like a collapsible colander to save space.  Try not to buy things that only serve one purpose unless you really can’t live without it.  For instance, I can’t live without my Pampered Chef avocado tool. So, I have one in my utensil drawer. Very important! 
  • Find ways to avoid jumbled messes – I am in love with these clear plastic bins that you can put in drawers and in cupboards, refrigerators, and pantries. They not only keep things organized, but they keep taller things like bottles of olive oil or wine from toppling over.  They also keep little leaks out of your cupboards.  I have them all over my rig!   They are in the kitchen drawers, in the bedroom drawers, etc.  I love shopping for these at the Container Store because they have every size imaginable. Amazon also has a bunch.  I have also seen them at Home Goods, Bed Bath and Beyond, and a few other places.   Here’s an Amazon link some for the pantry https://www.amazon.com/interDesign-Kitchen-Organizer-Refrigerator-Freezer/dp/B00CS8DT00/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=pantry+binz&qid=1561341129&s=gateway&sr=8-5
I love pantry bins! The clear ones are my favorites!
  • Sort your kitchen utensils by size and then, category – If your kitchen utensils are in a drawer, sort them by size.  They stay less jumbled that way.  I sort by size first and then, by category.  Use the little sorting bins mentioned above.   For instance, I have my knives on the long side of the drawer where aren’t any little bins.   Little utensils for working on vegetables like my avocado tool and tomato corer are in the same bin.  If You’ll have a much easier time finding things and spend less time digging through your drawer.  You’re on vacation!  Looking for things isn’t fun!
  • Utensil holders – If you have room on your counter, a utensil holder is great. I have one and put it in the cupboard when we travel so it doesn’t slide.  In our last trailer, I was able to wedge it between the coffee maker and the wood valance thing and it didn’t move.  I love to cook.  Having my most used utensils handy is important to me! 
  • I love a mug drawer!  – We had our first trailer for 10 years and kept our mugs in a drawer lined with no-slip liner.  We never had a single chip.  We got a new rig and put them in the cupboard and got all kinds of chips!  I have designated a mug drawer in our new 5thwheel.  I’m pretty excited about it!
I love my mug drawer!
  • Get good non-stick cookware– You can buy decent non-stick cookware and the prices are all over the map!  Check out places like Home Goods, TJ Max, and even Target for nicer pots and pans. Remember, you won’t have a garbage disposal and probably won’t have a dishwasher.  The last thing you want to do on a vacation is to work hard at  scraping things out of your pots and pans into the trash and then, scrubbing them.  No fun!
  • Measure your oven! – RV ovens are weird and aren’t universal in size.  Each of our trailers have had a different sized oven. I once bought a cookie sheet for the trailer without measuring.  It would have fit had it not had little handles. My husband bent it up to make it fit. This time, I measured!  I have a really nice, new cookie sheet that’s going to actually fit!  If you’re using something like a Dutch Oven, you’ll want to measure the height to make sure it’s going to fit.  (See my blog entitled, “Don’t burn your biscuits – Dealing With Weird RV Ovens” for tips on getting your oven set up to cook better).
  • Under the dinette storage – If you have a booth dinette, you most likely have extra storage.  That’s where I put things that I don’t use as often – like my beat-up pot that I cook clams in.  If you have a drawer in your dinette bench – lucky you!  That’s where we put our dishes in our first trailer.   In all of our trailers, we have also store beach towels in the dinette.  Funny thing, we live in the Pacific Northwest and do most of our trailer trips to places without warm beaches.  When I moved the beach towels into our new rig, we still had Little Mermaid and Power Rangers towels.  My kids are now 23 and 19.  It’s been a while since they were used!
  • If you have a shallow, wide drawer – this is a great place to put things like cookie sheets, cutting boards, a flat cheese grater, etc.  
  • Counter space maximization – Many RVs are short on counter space.  If yours didn’t come with the extra pieces of counter that you put over the sink, I recommend having some cut.  Have two cut – each ½ of your sink’s size.    This way you can have half or all of your sink covered.  This will add some space onto your counter.  Your stove probably has a cover.  We use the cover on the stove for extra counter space when needed for things like pizza boxes (because sometimes, ordering pizza is a life-saver!)
  • Non-slip bookends– I have recently discovered a new use for non-slip bookends. These are very inexpensive and a great way to keep things like boxes of foil and Ziploc bags from sliding around in the cupboard.  I’m also planning to use them to hold up boxed food like cereal.  They come in a package of two for about $4.
Bookends keep things like ziplock bags, foil and saran wrap from flopping over while you travel.

If you’re still shopping for your RV, make sure you don’t get wooed by the rest of it and settle for a kitchen that you have to make work for you.  When we were shopping, I’d check out the kitchen first.  If I didn’t like the kitchen, I didn’t bother to look at the rest of the rig.  The kitchen is that important to me.  My husband went along with this crazy method because he likes it when I like to cook while we’re camping (fake camping). 

I hope you’ve found at least a little take-away that you can use in your trailer or maybe your kitchen at home.  Happy kitchen set up!

Next Trailer Girl Blog Post – Setting up your Bedroom and Bathroom 

Setting Up Your Trailer – Making It Yours While Maximizing Comfort and Space

Decor

You buy an RV because you want to be comfortable when you camp, or as we like to call it, fake-camp. You’ve probably spent your fair share of time in a tent sleeping in a sleeping bag.  That’s all fun, but you’re ready to be comfortable!   You’re also on vacation.  You don’t want to spend a bunch of time after you arrived setting up and straightening up.  

We recently purchased a new fifth wheel.  I have been having a lot of fun getting to make it ours and organizing cupboards and drawers.  This is now the third rig I’ve set up and personalized.  I have gotten way too many ideas of what to put into this blog post. So, I’ve decided to break it down into 4 posts: Décor, Kitchen, Bedroom and Bath, and Favorite Things for Storage.

Let’s start with décor since many of you may already have everything set up efficiently enough for you. We purchased our first trailer in 2004. RVing was nowhere near as popular as it is now, and décor was stuck in the early ‘90s.  Trailers came in dusty blue or mauve.  Bleh!  Our sofa had mauve and burgundy flowers with green leaves.  I hated it, but there was no good reason to pay big bucks to re-cover it. So, I had to work with it.  I did everything I could to pull out the burgundy parts of the flowers and the green on the leaves.  I used green and burgundy throw pillows and then, tried really hard not to look at the pink flowers for the 10 years we traveled in that trailer. Thankfully, the RV industry has gone more neutral in their design and it’s much easier to add décor touches that are actually yours – not the mauve version of you!

 I’ve recently joined the Facebook group for our trailer manufacturer and have seen some over the top re-decorating including re-wallpapering, re-upholstery, painting, etc.  I like to save that effort for my house and work with what I’ve been given in the trailer (since I had so much practice with the mauve and number).  Keeping it simple will also save you money so you have more to spend on actually going places.

There are a few things to keep in mind when you’re decorating:

  • You’re preparing for an earthquake – OK so not a real earthquake, but when you hit the road, whatever you’re towing has an earthquake every time you hit the road. Don’t put anything in your RV that you are worried about getting broken.  
  • Décor can add a chore to your set up if you let it – I try to avoid too much nick-knack type items that have to be taken out to set up when we arrive and put away when we get ready to go.  I’m on vacation already!  I don’t want extra chores!  I save this chore for very special items, like a favorite photo of my kids.
  • You should love it – This is your vacation home!  Only decorate with things you love.  I love being in my trailer!  It’s been a thing for all three of them!  I love looking around at my “vacation home” and enjoying my surroundings. Of course, it helped to be sitting on the ugly mauve sofa so I couldn’t see it when we were in our first rig.  If you can’t sit with your morning coffee and enjoy your surroundings, fix it!  Find something you love and put it in your RV! For the record, in the featured photo of our sofa. My husband loves the “dead animal” pillow and I love the Pottery Barn pillow. I love the “dead animal pillow’s” colors and how it represents so much of our travels around the Western US. They’re sort of pulled together by the red leather pillows. We decided we didn’t care if it wouldn’t be approved by Martha Stewart. We love it – even if it might be breaking some interior design rules!

The biggest bang for your buck in décor are things like throw pillows, rugs, towels in a color you like, or a throw blanket on your bed or over the back of your couch.  All of these things can be easily changed out if you get tired of them too. My mom was a super decorator.  She would put new curtains in everything she touched, including my first trailer!   It was a good thing!  The first set of curtains faded quickly.  She made some really nice ones with linings.  Now, I’m seeing less curtains and more shades in trailers.  There are often curtain type valances that are easily replaced with a little sewing know how.  Don’t let curtains or fabric valances be deal-breakers when choosing your trailer.

In our new rig, we used mostly things we loved from the décor we put in our old trailer such as throw pillows, the quilt on the bed, pictures from the walls, etc.  We are National Parks geeks and we’ve been collecting greeting card versions of the posters.  I frame them and we hang them on the walls.  It’s a cheap way to decorate!  It’s also fun to decorate with souvenirs from our travels.

Hanging things on the walls is a bit of a conundrum.  Trailer walls aren’t like the walls at home.  For wood frames, we drill all the way through the frame and screw it onto the wall with 4 attractive screws.  We’ve never had a problem with a picture coming off the wall.  The rub is, when you go to sell your rig, you either have to leave the pictures or holes in the wall.  What we did was, took the frames down, pulled the pictures out, and screwed the frames back up.  So, the new owners of our trailer will have frames to fill with their favorite pictures.

4 attractive screws are holding up my picture. This is a framed greeting card version of a National Parks poster that I framed myself.

For our new trailer, I bought a metal sign that I absolutely love.  It didn’t have a good way to hang it from a screw without compromising the design.  I used command picture hanging tape and it’s working great.  I’d be leery of using it with picture frames with glass.  Trailers get exposed to such big temperature extremes. I just don’t trust the tape for something breakable.  I’ve heard from others that they’ve had no problems.  

I thought the screw might compromised the great design. So, I hung it up with Command Picture Hanging Tape. Ghostly looking person in the window is me!

Kids and general activity can cause a disturbance in the décor.  There are wallets, cell phones, cell phone chargers, sunglasses, brochures for things to do, the pamphlet that the RV park gives you with all the rules, the paper with the code to the “big potty,” etc.  All of that can clutter things up and drive you nuts (or not – I am a bit of an OCD neat-freak so these things drive me nuts).  Here’s how we keep it under control.

  • Baskets are a big help– Our first trailer had open shelving.  I didn’t want to see everything on the shelves.  So, we put things in baskets.  It looked great and our stuff stayed put.   We also have a little basket for the keys and wallet so we can always find them.  In our new trailer, I found a spot for a flat-ish basket.  Our plan is to keep all of our brochures and RV park papers in it. 
  • Magazine Rack – A magazine rack that can be attached to a wall is a great way to corral all of the miscellaneous paperwork, magazines, maps, and such that come with your travel.  Just remember to clean it out every so often.  When we were moving out of our trailer, I found things that were 5 years old. We probably didn’t need to save them.
  • Cute recycle basket – We had an issue where we had empty water bottles floating all over the trailer.  We would also pile recycling into the corner of the counter and it looked awful and was also in the way.  So, I bought a cute, small, narrow basket that fits by the door of the trailer.  It fills up at least once a day, and we empty it (or when we had a kid along, we’d send him to the recycling.  We kind of miss his recycling services.)  It really helps to keep the recycling clutter down.
  • Trash can with a lid – One of the best splurge-ish things we ever bought for the trailer was a butterfly lid Simple Human trash can.  We mostly bought it because at the time, we had a dog that liked to get into the trash and it was Daisy-proof!  The beautiful thing about this trash can is, you can’t see the trash, it’s nice looking (as trash cans go), and it’s easily accessible for us to use. We also spend the extra money on the Simple Human trash bags because you also can’t see them!  We really love our trash can! Weird, but true!

If you’re refurbishing a vintage trailer, or fixing up an older used trailer, you’ve got a much bigger project and might need to do things like sew new curtains, re-upholster, re-wallpaper, etc.  That could be a fun project!   I love this show called “Flipping RV’s.”  Check it out!  They refurbish old, sad trailers and do some great décor.    You might find some inspiration.  Even if you’re not into vintage trailers, it’s a fun show to watch.

If you’re still shopping for your trailer, when you step inside a rig you like, sit somewhere in it.  Imagine yourself with your morning cup of coffee and decide it it’s worthy of becoming your vacation home.  Think of what you might be putting into it that you love.  Will it get along with the décor the rig comes with?  Remember, it’s your vacation home!  You don’t want to feel like you’re renting someone else’s vacation home.

Whatever you’re doing, I hope you love it and that it makes your trailer into your vacation home! Happy setting up!

Next Trailer Girl Blog Post:  Setting up your RV Kitchen – Maximizing Space and Efficiency