This post is sponsored by Organize-It.
We are really excited to share about our RV renovation in the next few weeks, but this week we are focused on organizing our RV – so today I thought I’d share a little bit about how we’ve been doing that. Living in a 312 square foot space on wheels has been super fun so far, but we’ve realized how important it is to maximize our space as much as possible and to stay organized. So here are some RV organization tips we’ve learned in just a few weeks on the road!
RV Organization Tips
1. Start with organizing the kitchen.
Our kitchen was the most difficult – and also most important – area to organize. If we would have conquered it first, it would have made the other areas easy!
Some of my favorite organizing tools are ones that can collapse – like this collapsible sink colander – and ones that serve dual purposes, like this lettuce keeper, where you can also store fruits and veggies.
For items that can’t collapse, I use an array of OXO pop food storage containers to hold our baking essentials, rice, snacks, etc. It is so nice to have everything in nice little matching containers of similar sizes, and at eye level so they are easy to grab. I also love drawer organizers, but will share more on those in a later post!
2. Create a “mudroom.”
We both tend to just set things wherever we feel. We walk into our RV, dump our shoes on the floor, and throw our jackets on the couch. But by setting aside cabinets that are close to the door to place these items, it has helped us keep things clean.
We put larger shoes in the top cabinet, hang jackets in the dresser we custom installed (it actually was a $10 entertainment center off Craigslist! We painted it and swapped the hardware.), and put smaller miscellaneous items in two of these over the cabinet door baskets.
3. Maximize your under bed storage.
Funny story: when we bought our RV, we noticed there was a sign in the under bed storage compartment that said “this is not a storage area.” So, although we were a bit disappointed, we decided to not store anything there. A few weeks later, my uncle – who also owns an RV – was looking under that compartment at the engine and realized that the sign was referring to the engine compartment beneath the main under bed area, and that we could actually store stuff there! We were so excited when he told us that because it has been the perfect spot to store our jackets and bedding for colder weather. We’ve used these under bed storage containers to separate everything and keep it smelling fresh.
4. You can never have too many plastic containers.
One of many essential RV organization tips is to making sure your stuff doesn’t slide while you’re on the road. Our two solutions for this are industrial strength velcro and plastic containers. We use plastic containers for just about everything, but one of the things we have found this most useful for is our “basement” storage.
From tools to games to camping essentials, we had a lot of things piled in those storage compartments until we discovered that we could use these under bed storage containers to keep everything tidy.
For the things that can’t fit into plastic containers, we use a shelf liner to help the items in cabinets and drawers stay in place while we’re on the road.
5. Everything should have a place.
Even nail polish. But seriously…RVing means you have to downsize and bring only the essentials. ;) And if those essentials don’t have a rightful place in your RV, then they might not be essentials after all. One of the RV organization tips someone gave us is to think through every item we wanted to takes on our trip and ask ourselves if we have used it in the past couple months and if we are confident we’ll use it again in the next couple months. If it didn’t meet the test, then we didn’t bring it (or at least tried not to…there are a few things that don’t meet the criteria that still made it on. ;) This has been a true key in helping us stay organized.
One of the websites I have found most helpful for our RV organization is Organize-It. They are based in Michigan and have an incredible website that provides inspiration for RV organization tips as you browse! They even have an entire page dedicated to RV accessories. Whether for your motorhome or your home, if you need organizational products, Organize-It has a very wide array of options that are sure to make the type A-ers (like me) proud. Check out their site and feel free to let me know if you have any other RV organization tips for us – we’d love to hear them!
