Cute RV Storage Organizers

 I am all about the cute RV storage containers and organizers. Space is limited in our trailer so RV organization is a must or I frankly will not enjoy camping as much. You want to find everything quickly and know where your stuff is so good travel trailer hacks for cheap are my go to to keep camping fun.

Lightweight stick on baskets for RV

Our new travel trailer which I did a post about, has I would say average RV storage space, but the flat surfaces would always collect items like phones, leashes, dog walking items, sunglasses, so I went searching for something I could put by the door that was lightweight, cheap and something I could honestly secure and stick to the little side table top so I didn't have to keep moving it for travel.

You can find these cutest soft sided storage organizer baskets with dividers online by clicking the link. Of course I wanted some thing cute and they have so many patterns and colors and I went for a red plaid sort of cabin decor theme.

Next, I used a great RV hack and got large pre cut strips of velcro to adhere the basket to the table so it can live there without moving while the RV is in route but if needed we could just release it by pulling the top part off of the velcro fastener. These velcro strips are cheap on Amazon and really work.

I loved this basket so much that I bought one for my RV bathroom as well. I cut the handles off of the living area basket and probably will with the bathroom one. I love that they are lightweight and don't add much of any weight to the trailer.

Check out my post on RV organizing in our older trailer.

Tour Of Our New Trailer 2020 Grey Wolf 23MK

 Actually our trailer is almost a year old but I am giving you a first tour of it and boy do we love this trailer. It is a Forest River Grey Wolf 23mk and my mini review of how we love the layout of this trailer and how a couples trailer works great for family of three.

You can get the pillow here...

We had sold our old trailer and being life long campers plus the lock downs, we knew it was time to hit the road last year so we would travel and do it safely enjoying outdoor spots in the mountains and at the beach. We camped six times last year from May to October and it was so fun. A great way to do something fun and stay distanced.

We have it dialed in and this is a great couples camper because of a nice back bedroom but we take our daughter and we have a cozy spot all set up for her in the front of the trailer.

We decided it was time to go for parental comfort so we chose a large bathroom and a bedroom with a walk around queen sized bed.

We have on kiddo left at home and she sleeps on the table slide out we just keep as her cozy nook with curtains that slide shut at night. We like to eat and cook outside so the table never really gets used much so for ease we just leave it converted to her bed.

The kitchen is wonderful and more counter space that I have ever had in any of out trailers. I have space for my mini K cup brewer and a nice farmhouse sized sink. 

Mini K Cup Coffee Maker

My Camp Kitchen Box

I love an organized camp kitchen set up and my camp kitchen box it simple a two drawer stackable set up that has everything I need for camping cooking and more. I hope you will find some smart camping tips with a peek at my camp kitchen box.

Nothing fancy just a simple camp box set up that we keep stocked so we can pull the boxes and go camping at any time.

My Camp Kitchen Box

Contained in the two plastic drawer system is:

Pots and pans, cooking utensils

Foil and plastic wrap
Plastic bags and trash bags
Flash light and small lantern

Wash pan

Kitchen towels and scrubbie, pot holders

Dish soap and bar soap for hand washing

Splatterware coffee mugs (these are the best for coffee and cocktails while camping)

Plates and mugs

Paper bowls

My container of plastic and tableware
Egg carrier (this is where I store it)

We love our enamel camping cups. We each have one and they are used for coffee, cocoa, soup and cocktails in the evening. Everything just tastes so good in them and you can carry them around while eating and drinking. You can't beat the price at only $3.89 on Amazon.

Though when we are camping the eggs are in the ice chest but this carrier is great and keeps your eggs from getting crushed in the ice chest and also from the carton getting soggy.

See my entire camp kitchen set up and my foldable camp stove/kitchen organizer.
See all my camping posts here.

Tent Camping Tips To Make Camping Easy

We have been campers for over 30 years. Tents, trailers and now without a trailer, in a tent again this past weekend. I will share my tent camping tips to make camping easier that can be used while tenting it or camping in a RV.

Right now we are without our trailer, as we sold it in May, but I was really wanting a camping trip. We have everything to tent it so we pulled together our gear quickly and went to a back country campground you can;t pull a trailer to.

Tent Camping Tips To Make Camping Easy

1. Organize a camp kitchen box

Pull your kitchen gear into easy to access plastic drawers. My entire camping kitchen outside of the stove is contained in these two drawers. Pots. pans, cups, towels, wash pan and more all tucked into these drawers.

Here is some of what I keep in camping kitchen box: 

Pots and pans, cooking utensils

Foil and plastic wrap

Wash pan

Kitchen towels and scrubbie

Dish soap and bar soap for hand washing

Splatterware coffee mugs (these are the best for coffee and cocktails while camping)

Plates

Paper bowls

My container of plastic and tableware (see that great tip here)
Check out the post on my whole outdoor camp cook set up...
*A whole post on my camp kitchen set up is coming very soon.

2. Get an air mattress

Though we have a small cheap tent, we slept wonderfully cause we crammed our air mattress into it. It was worth it. Everything is easier when you are rested.

I covered our air mattress with an old memory foam topper from our trailer and we slept like babies.

3. Keep camp cooking very simple

I make as much ahead as I can. I premake soup or chili and freeze it and we always grill kabobs premade and marinated and frozen in large ziplocs on their skewers. Keep it simple. I also premake our sandwiches on rolls with mayo and mustard, meat and cheese and wrapped in saran wrap and placed in a plastic tub on top of the ice chest. This keeps me from having to pack meat, cheese and condiments in our ice chest. We add pickles and lettuce later. This is a genius camping hack to keep the ice chest free for other items.

We always take our camping propane coffee maker. It makes the best coffee and a full pot that keeps warm. Just rinse out the pot after breakfast and you are done.

4. Make a camping list ahead of time

I make a list of all we need ahead of time and collect all the items in one area of our garage. Doing this ahead of time makes packing easier on the day we are leaving and when we return home we put it all back in this one spot so I can clean and put away at my leisure.

5. Store all your camping supplies together

We have a very inexpensive plastic cupboard in the garage most of our camping supplies fit in nicely. Our plastic bins sit next to it. Keeping everything in one place makes, organizing camping equipment makes it so much easier the next time you are ready for a camping trip.

These are a few of my camping tips for tent camping but we have tons of camping posts for RV camping too. You can find all our posts here.

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Sold Our Trailer, Now To Pick A New One

What will we choose as our next trailer? We sold our beloved trailer in May and our daughter married in June and now it is July and I really want to get our new trailer. Hubby is dragging his feet but I am of course obsessed with finding the right one.  That's half the fun is shopping for a new trailer.

We love the look of vintage trailers but we would never buy one. We just want a new one without the need or remodeling and restoration. And you know me I love a touch of red...

I have missed camping so much this summer we have thrown around the idea of going in our little tent but my arm and shoulder issues this summer will prevent that.

So here is a real contender. These are new trailers called Vintage Cruisers and they have a real vintage look and feel but with all the new amenities. A/C a bathroom and a bed that fits my 6'4" husband is a must and one we can walk around as our old trailer had a bed we had to climb up into and now in our 50's we are over that. So I will keep you posted on what we get and of course a tour will be involved and let me know if you have ever seen one of these trailers??

Top 5 Posts Of 2017

Happy New Year and a look at the top 5 posts of 2017. Camping and cooking were a popular topic. As always a BIG thank you to all of you who visit regularly. From our family to yours, Happy New Year!


1. Easy RV Step Replacement

2. How We Keep Our RV Trailer Organized

3. American Flag Cake Recipe

4. How To Get Rid Of Pantry Moths

5. Vanilla Shortage and Price Hike

Homemade Beer Batter Onion Rings

Whenever we go camping, we treat ourselves to some awesome homemade comfort food and a favorite is our homemade beer batter onion rings made with Bisquick. I rarely make fried foods but when we are camping and hiking, I feel like we can splurge.

How We Maintain Our RV Black Tank

There is no more common topic in the RV world, than how to deal with black tank odors and what to do to take care of your black tank. I will share how we maintain our RV trailer black tank. As seasoned campers, we have tried it all and this are the simple inexpensive tips to care for your black tank and to keep the black tank odors at bay

Maintaining Your RV Black Tank

What To Put In Your Tank To Keep Odors Away

1. Honestly, I am not sure you can totally keep black tank odors away as frankly poop and pee are dropping in a plastic holding tank. What you want, is to keep the smells at such a minimum that you don't smell the black tank contents and odors.

At first, like everyone else I bought the blue powder that you find in the RV sections of stores or you can order and there are liquids you can order and frankly some can be expensive. I still, with careful cleaning and an older trailer was finding we were getting some smell from the black tank when we flushed the toilet. Finally, I gave up on RV black water tank chemicals. I thought why not try some other methods and see if I can find a better and cheaper way to add our own cleaners to our black tank. I have read many warnings against putting bleach in the tank so I have not ever tried that.

2. Here is the easy black tank additives I make myself that have worked wonders to keep our tank from stinking. This is inexpensive and I literally just pour in and add water.

Homemade Black Tank Cleaner

1 cup of liquid Gain laundry detergent 

1 cup of liquid water softener (you can use the powder form but dilute one cup of the powder with one cup of hot water)

Pour in tank and add a generous amount of water. You DO NOT want your black tank to dry out. Think of what might be left in there along with some toilet paper and if it dries you will have a cement like mess down in there.

3. Once you have dumped your tank and flushed it, if you have the chance, add the black tank cleaner from above and a good amount of water. The trailer is ready for the next time you head out. Nothing more needs to be done.

4. At the end of the season especially and after each camping trip if I can, I will do a black tank flush to really try and get things off the side of the tank and as much residual waste out of the tank as I can. We have an older trailer so I do not have an automatic black tank flush so I use a wand I ordered that screws on the end of the hose. Do not use your water hose. I know we all know this but I want to cover all bases of safety.

**Here is a tip...do not turn the water on until you have that black tank wand down in the tank. It has a little lever to turn water on and off. You will get some water and maybe yucky stuff sprayed around. I just pull the toilet lever, put the wand down in the tank and turn and blast while my husband checks to see when the contents look like they are pretty much gone.

Afterwords, add the above cleaner recipe and some water and you are done. I do take some of my homemade bleach cleaner on some paper towels and spray the inside of the toilet bowl and wipe down that area and the whole toilet gets a good bleach wipe down.

Always wear rubber gloves while dealing with your tank sewage. We keep a box in the trailer side compartment.

I know some that don't put any toilet paper in their tanks. That is up to you if you are comfortable not putting RV toilet paper in the tank and what you will do with it. I will leave that up to each RV owner.

Many black tank sensors, including mine, get stuck. I have noticed the water softener helps to keep the contents from stick on the side of the tank and has helped to unstick our black tank monitor though it seems to stick again from time to time.

Black Tank Valve Cover Reminders:

Always keep the black, and as well the grey tank valves closed except when dumping. You do not want the odors and gases from sewer hook ups coming back up into your RV as well as keeping any critters out of crawling back up that drain hose.

Make sure to check out all of our RV/Camping tips here and you can subscribe to our posts delivered to your email right here. Email sign up

How We Do Laundry While Camping Right In Our Trailer

Camping means dirty clothes and camping for a week I need to do laundry so I am sharing my how I do laundry while camping right in our trailer. You all know I love camping gadgets but my favorite this year is a way to do some small loads of laundry while RV camping,

How We Do Laundry While Camping:

Easy RV Step Replacement

If you ever have your RV steps break and you need a quick or cheap and super easy RV step replacement or repair, I have a tip for you because that very thing happened to us. Right before a trip, our step snapped off on one side and we had to fix a broken RV step in like two hours.

How We Keep Our Trailer Organized While Camping

I thought there was no better time, than in the middle of a camping trip, to share how we keep our trailer organized while camping. I filmed a little video that will show you where and how I keep things and is also an updated tour of our Forest River Trailer we have had for 11 years.

Trailer Organization Ideas:

1. Daily, preferably in the morning, do a thorough pick up and wipe down. A clean trailer is a happy trailer. In such a small space everything needs to have a place.

2. Don't over pack. That is hard, trust me, I know, but take what you need an always keep thining your supplies out. Like in a home, if you haven't used it in a year or two, you might not need that as far as the interior items are concerned. Of course tools and trailer maintenance stuff should always be kept in good supply.

3. Use vertical and over the door space as much as you can. Command hooks are my key to keeping camping supplies up off the floor and organized in their place.

4. Find a place for dirty laundry. I use a pop up hamper and if we are at the beach and things are wet and sandy, I keep it outside next to the door. No wet or sandy things in the trailer and when you get home, all your laundry can be carried to the washer in one container.

5. Keep things together in one common place. We keep a large shoe basket that holds all of our shoes in one place. Clothes are kept in closets or drawers for hubby and I. Each child brings their own duffel for their clothes that stays on their bunk.

A few steps can help to keep your RV organized and make for a much easier and more enjoyable trip.

And when you are all done at the end of the day how cute are these camper pj's??

Below are links to my favorite RV organizing must haves.

Expandable cabinet organizer: http://amzn.to/2sG41wu
Over the door hook: http://amzn.to/2s8cJ9V
Happy camper calendar: http://amzn.to/2rUVeu3
Command Hooks: http://amzn.to/2rUJnfw
Hanging tier wire basket: http://amzn.to/2sGdIe6
Hanging wire basket: http://amzn.to/2s84FWC
Nina Soft Spin Dryer: http://www.laundry-alternative.com/ou...

Visit all of our camping tips for more outdoor advice.
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Five On Friday - Camping News

We are back after a wonderful week of camping in the mountains in our little home away from home. Yes, you heard me. We did not sell our trailer. I am so happy to tell you all that. Camping is my favorite hobby/family activity. When our truck was totaled by another driver last year, I thought we would not be able to replace it but we decided to not give up our love of camping in our trailer. With the help of Colley Ford, and an awesome set of rebates and a great deal, we are set to camp again for a very long time.

So there she is. Our 11 year old Surveyor trailer is my favorite little place to be. She got all dolled up with a new awning just before we left for a week in our local mountains. We did something different where my hubby commuted down the hill to his office at the base of the mountains for several of the days. My youngest and I hit lots of sights and took a hike and had just the best time and in the evening, dad would pull in and we would have dinner and a campfire or watch a movie. So much fun.

I love my little trailer kitchen and found the cutest vintage towels to add to her. I am working on some upcoming RV TIPS posts for all of you. The are some of my most viewed posts on this blog. I will link to them below.

Hiking and doing some antiquing at a shop very near the campground is something we always do each trip. We have two more weeks scheduled up at our favorite mountain spot this summer so you will see more.

View all our camping and RV hacks and tips here: Camping tips.

New Accessories For Our Travel Trailer

Good news, we are keeping our trailer because we now have a new tow vehicle. Each year as camping season approaches, I pick up new accessories for our travel trailer.

I look at the trailer as my play house, my RV is a my home away from home so I like to deck it out with cute touches but also practical things that keep our trailer organized.

The bathroom got some new colorful towels. Trailers are always a bland brown beige color theme and I like to add pops of color. I keep a woodland theme and these cute towels were from Walmart. The hanging metal basket organizer is not new but I use it to keep my makeup back and hair brushes. The counter gets cluttered and this keeps my stuff up off the trailer bathroom counter and organized in one handy place.
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Watch my video of all my new accessories for the trailer and follow me on youtube for video content that doesn't always get posted here on the blog.


And one more new video of a gift for the trailer from my daughter. Something I have been wanting for a long while.

Review of Coleman Propane Coffee Maker

Good coffee while camping is a MUST! Here's a review of the Coleman Quikpot Propane Coffee Maker, my new purchase of the best camping gear for this year. 

Hubby and I love our pot of coffee every morning when we are camping. We have tried all ways of making camp coffee from a press to percolator and pour over coffee but we were never happy with either how little was made, how long it took and could we keep it hot.

Finally, I found the solution. I love the new coffee maker I bought. The Coleman Quick pot coffee maker runs off of the small propane bottles. With a quick little click of the automatic starter, your pot will start perking and in about the same time as our coffee maker at home we had a nice, hot pot of delicious coffee for our camping breakfast.

The Pros:

Easy to set up

Easy dial for one click starting and then for and several keep hot settings

Durable

Easy to clean

Makes great coffee

The Cons:

A bit more bulky than other options

You do have to add the water in the holding area twice for a full pot but it is very simple

Care should be taken with glass carafe though a metal option is available and I may get one eventually

Moderately priced

My Conclusions on the Coleman Quikpot propane coffee maker:

Was it worth the $60 - $70 price? YES! I loved how I could set the coffee maker up and for the week we were camping it only used the one small bottle of propane. It made great coffee and then you can switch it to a warm setting keeping the coffee hot which was important to me.

I did go ahead and order the coleman propane coffee maker carrying case to protect my investment. This might seem expensive to some to make coffee but we camp a lot and I also consider this a great addition to our emergency prep supplies as in the case of power outages, I could easily set this up on our patio and make great hot coffee at home. We keep a supply of propane bottles on hand for emergency cooking on our propane stove.

I did set this up on a folding card table and was worried about the heat of it on the bottom but it did not affect the table at all.

The Coleman Coffee maker makes great coffee that would go perfectly with my easy campfire donut recipe.

Read all our camping and RV tips here.

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Easy Homemade Donuts / Campfire Donuts

If you want an easy way to make homemade donuts  or like me, a way to make campfire donuts, this is it!

When we are camping, it is all about the food and these campfire donuts quickly became a tradition as the we all just loved them.

made with larger biscuts

Campfire Donuts

You need:

Sturdy frying pan. I use a cast iron skillet

Oil

Refrigerator biscuits in the tube. (Don't buy the flaky kind)

Cinnamon and sugar mixture. I mix about a cup and a half of sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon

Small bowl of melted butter

Instructions:

Cut the wholes in the center of the biscuits with a sharp bottle cap or a knife. Save those holes for homemade donut holes.

Get about a half inch of oil good and hot. Fry the donuts about a minute or so on each side until they are a deep golden brown.

Dip each side in the melted butter and then dredge in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Prepare to be popular for making these.

We have made these homemade campfire donuts on our camp stove and at home. Use either the big donuts or the regular size just not the flaky donuts as they absorb too much oil

made with smaller biscuits

Read all our camping and RV tips here.