Efficient packing

We also treat ours as a second home. Food , clothes, bikes are about the only things that get loaded/unloaded. I even have a second C-PAP machine in it.
I always try to take an extra day off too. We store ours at home and I use the day for a clean up and restocking canned or dry goods. If all goes well the laundry is done and back in it before I park it out back.

We do very little packing and unpacking. We have items specifically for the trailer. Clothes, towels, toiletries, food, cookware, diapers, tools, first aid kit, you name it. It saves a lot of time. With two little kids, a dog, and a cat it takes less than 30 minutes to unload the trailer for storage. The only thing that comes out are dirty clothes and towels, perishable foods and items, and some gear like bikes.

Every few weeks between trips I'm checking on the trailer or doing some maintenance, so I use that as an opportunity to restock clothes, towels, etc for the next trip. The night before I switch the fridge on and load up what I can like drinks. On departure day most of everything fits in a couple of 27 gal totes.

It also helps if you prepare for storage before you leave camp. Everything that's going to come out of the trailer goes in our bedroom before we leave camp. Everything else is locked up and stowed away before leaving camp. We pull up to our spot in the storage yard, unhitch, pull everything out of the bedroom, clear out the last items in the fridge, kill the power, and off we go.

We do not pack and unpack. We pack what we need and replace what we consume.

Cloths, food, and other items stay in the TT until the end of the season. In the old day that included toys.

Very interesting topic. My Wife and I and now teenagers been RV since
2000, tenting before that. We first started out with a tent trailer and moved up to 31ft travel trailers.

We find that we end up bring way toooo much junk. We finally one weekend unloaded EVERYTHING stored in the trailer and figure out what
we really used. Then with our customs totes we have for all the storage
areas and figure out what we really need.

We now have a travel trailer stuff and home stuff. So when we
travel we only bring 3 sets of items.

1. clothes
2. Food
3. Bikes

So when we load and unload only these 3 items need to come on or off.
Some expectations in our cold freezing winters of items we must remove
before the trailer is put to bed for the winter.

We found it was such a big deal to go on and off vacation.

Spent 61 days in ours on one trip. Make a list and only take that. When we got home trailer was unloaded in 30 minutes. But we have stocked the trailer with its on stuff, pot and pans, dishes, basic food etc. If we are using it next trip it belongs I the trailer. Bring in all the clothes, but bedding can be done the middle of the week.

GaryWT wrote:
As I read through I am surprised at everyone that empties the trailer. We leave our trailer in the yard so that helps. We fill it at the beginning of the year, clothes, food and toiletries. On Thursday before the trip we shop for additional food and bring it right in the trailer. After the trip we bring in the laundry and once washed, it goes right back out to the trailer. We have a list to shop again and that is all we do, always ready to roll with limited time. Leave the extra food and leave the fridge on. As a bonus, if you run out of something in the house, grab it out of the trailer and add it to the Thursday night shopping.

I think with a lot of folks, it's about how you use the RV.

For me, I camp in my RV, try to go out every month, and the RV stays in my driveway. So, I keep all my gear and clothes in the RV and simply add perishables, camera gear, and the critters.

For someone else, they are storing the RV at a lot, or only using it two weeks a year, or are going sightseeing and doing things that require "nice clothes". In those situations, pre-packing the RV might not make as much sense.

As I read through I am surprised at everyone that empties the trailer. We leave our trailer in the yard so that helps. We fill it at the beginning of the year, clothes, food and toiletries. On Thursday before the trip we shop for additional food and bring it right in the trailer. After the trip we bring in the laundry and once washed, it goes right back out to the trailer. We have a list to shop again and that is all we do, always ready to roll with limited time. Leave the extra food and leave the fridge on. As a bonus, if you run out of something in the house, grab it out of the trailer and add it to the Thursday night shopping.

The only things I remove from the TT are dirty laundry and perciables.I keep a list while camping of expendables to replace.I use a large laundry basket to move items.

The only thing that doesn't stay in the camper permanently for us is the food and some of the non perishables do stay all the time. I have a complete set of clothes in the TT and so does she, but she brings another complete set as well. Some things never change. We have a complete set of linen and dishes in the camper and use as much disposable as possible. I load all the stuff in the truck and help her load the food and her 2nd set of clothing. We either grill something to eat or just go somewhere local and get something. If you take all of the fun and relaxation out of it you won't be camping very long. There will always be a lot of laundry afterward that has to be done and put back.

We look at our 5er as a stand alone house. It has its own clothes, phone chargers, cords, movies, kitchen accessories and food. The only food we take out when it isn't winterized is the milk, some meat, and eggs. When we winterize, we leave anything that won't get hurt freezing. We leave our fridge on all summer once we start it, so that food stays also. If you can't leave your trailer plugged in, just take a cooler to carry that stuff.

Make it as easy on yourself as possible. We live in forest fire country, so we can hook up and leave if necessary. It is a nice feeling knowing that if something happened to our house, we can still live a normal life. A little off topic, but if you do this, there is minimal loading and unloading to be done.