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.

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??

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.

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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.
Affiliate links in this post.

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.

Why You Should Change Your RV Lights To LED - RV & Camper LED Lighting

I have wanted to share an inexpensive mod you can make to your RV, trailer or camper that will help you use one tenth of your previous battery usage. RV camper LED lighting is a change you should make if you have the old halogen bulbs in your RV.

We always dry camp and though we have a generator, we still would run our batteries down in the evening between the pump and the kids coming in and turning on the lights in our trailer. I changed almost all over our bulbs from halogen to LED in our trailer and I was amazed at how little battery drain we had now turning the lights on at night as compared to before. Our batteries were still almost fully charged the next morning.

RV Storage Organization Hacks

When camping, whether in a motor home or trailer, RV storage hacks are a must for organized camping. You cannot enjoy camping if you can't find your camping gear or are tripping over all or your supplies so we're sharing a few of our camping trailer set up ideas cause the best RV hacks are worth reading about.

Tour of Our Little Trailer

Okay, I am going to show you way more than you ever wanted to see of the interior of a little trailer but indulge me as I just adore my little home away from home. Here is a tour of our 25 foot travel trailer. My my happy place.

Like me you may be wondering how do I make my travel trailer cozy? The interior of ours is brown so I worked with that to add some homey touches.

A pillow from Target on our little sofa.

This afghan was made by my mom in the early 80s so it is nice to have a place to display and use it.

A basket of goodies and new marshmallow sticks for making our smores.

The quarters are snug but we spend a lot of time outside. I like to eat outside and do lots of walking followed up by a break in the lounge chair with a cold drink.

More bears.

This is the reason we bought this trailer, the bunk room. There are four beds in here and the kids can sleep in and are out of the way for those of us who like to get up early. I found the cute fleece spreads on clearance and the are perfect in here.

A basket of games and fun items await the kids. I always pick things up to make the trip fun. I am all ready to go. Wish we were leaving tomorrow.

And my latest little find for the trailer is this enamelware red tea kettle for heating water in the morning for cocoa and tea. 

It goes cute with my Happy Camper towel.

Visit more of our camping posts and tips here.

**UPDATE** See a new video tour of how I keep things organized in our RV while on a week long camping trip.