Efficient packing

Oh, and on the camping clothes - use color safe washer/dryer safe clothes and don't worry about sorting for the laundry. Just dump the bag in the washer. They're camping clothes - if they get faded, etc., who cares.

Do the same with towels, bedding, etc. Don't spend time sorting dirty camping gear - just put in whatever fits for a load and go.

campincandice wrote:
Perhaps contributing to the problem isn't the camper/camping per se, but the fact that she has just lost the weekend to get her chores done? I'd get home from camping and have to cram in housecleaning and laundry that I'd typically do on Saturday and Sunday. I never found a good solution to that short of living in a not-so-clean house. We did end up going seasonal, which helped a lot!

I hate feeling rushed to get things done, so I understand this.

For the house, I will do one chore each weeknight for a week that I would have done over the weekend. That doesn't overwhelm me, but means everything is done before I go camping. When I come home, I don't have to worry about the house chores until the following weekend.

One trick i've learned is to come home a day early. If i'm on vacation from Monday to Friday and will be going to work the following Monday, I come home on Saturday. That lets me veg out on Saturday night and sleep in on Sunday morning. Then I unload perishables, do camp clothing laundry, etc., on Sunday (house chores were done during the prior week). If the trip requires me stay til Sunday, I take Monday off. That day at home afterwards REALLY makes a difference to the overwhelmingness of vacation travel.

Packing cubes. Packing cubes. Packing cubes.

Seriously, get yourselves packing cubes.

What you're doing now:

Pull clean clothes out of drawers and closets, pack into boxes, then unpack from boxes and put in cupboards.

What you could be doing:
Pull clean clothes out of drawers and closers, pack into cubes, plop cubes in cupboards.

Color coordinate cubes for each family member. Even little ones can remember their stuff is in the pink cube. Cubes come in all sorts of sizes so you can fit most anything.

If you can, at the beginning of the season, pull a selection of "getting ready to retire" play clothes for each kid. Put those in the cubes and store them in the RV. Those become the season's camping clothes.

If you can't do that, then let the kids prepare their own clothes. Tell them to select 5 undies, 3 shorts, etc. (whatever they will need) and lay them on the bed. Then you come in and do a final check before they pack them in their cubes. The kids will enjoy helping, they'll get help with their numbers, and you don't have to do as much. If their packing is sloppy, who cares - you're camping.

Get yourself a hanging fabric clothes hamper. Each night when the kids change into their jammies, any clothes that can't be worn again go in the hamper. When you get home, just grab the hamper and dump it in the washing machine. You may need a couple of them for your family. I hang mine in the shower stall. You could hang them in the closet or even outside at the campsite - they're just old clothes.

Food: as others say, keep staples in the RV for the season. Canned soups, beans, etc., can all stay without issue. For boxed dry goods (pancake mix, cream of wheat, etc.), transfer the contents to tupperware containers and then cut out the instructions and duct tape them to the container. Use tupperware to hold snacks, etc. The tupperware will help prevent bugs/rodents.

Maintain soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoos, etc., in the RV. At the end of each trip, just check the levels and replace/refill if needed. When you're packing for a trip, no need to think about it.

For medications, have a small packing cube ready to go that will fit them. Just drop the bottles in and take it the the RV. When you get home, just bring the cube into the house.

Electronics, etc. - use a packing cube to store all the cords, plugs, earphones, etc. Easy to keep track of everything. Extra batteries - packing cube. Crayons, pens, etc. - packing cube. Use iron on transfers to identify contents - have each kid make a picture of the contents (e.g., a picture of a crayon) onto the transfer paper, then cut it out and iron it onto the cube.

In case you didn't figure it out - packing cubes. :) :) :)

NCMODELA wrote:
Has anyone tried having a separate set of camping clothes in the trailer? Advantages? Disadvantages?

Also. Leaving food in there. Has there been an issue with animals?

We have separate clothing for the camper, until the last camp of the year. My wife like to leave her clothing in the camper over the winter, I like to bring mine in. When the kids were little, we brought them in for the winter. By Spring, they outgrew almost everything anyway. But during the camping season, we had clothing dedicated for the camper, jackets to underware.

About food. At the end of every trip, we remove the most perishable items only, like Milk, fruits, and opened refrigerated items, or left overs in the refrigerator.

Depending upon when our next camp out is, we may leave frozen food (we park at home and keep the refrigerator going 24x7, even in the winter). So any unused frozen items stay in the camper.

Cereals and pastas, if opened, are sealed tight with clips, bread is always brought back in the house because it will usually start to mold quick. So we use it up once home. And pretty much, anything that has been opened will come in the house. But anything that has not been opened, or can stay frozen, we leave in the camper for the next trip. (Here again, it depends upon when the "next" trip is.) In the Summer, we are out almost every week-end.

Critters? Never had any. But, we have a cat at home, we park the camper on asphalt, and it's partly under only 1 tree. No ants, bees, or anything like that, ever, inside the camper. Certain time of the year the outside of the camper will attract a mass of Lady Bugs, and then those small flies that look like miniature bees. We call them sweat bees, but they are actually flies. Never inside the camper though.

If you know you are going camping again soon after you return home, leave as much inside the camper as possible.

I suggest, even the kids toys, have 2 sets. The stuff they play with inside the home, and the stuff they can only play with when camping. The 2 sets of toys cannot be moved back and forth. This will eliminate a lot of frustration, and the kids will look forward to the next campout, because they know their toys are waiting for them. It will be like Christmas all over again.

Yes, you end up with 2 of everything. One for the house, one for the camper. But, it eliminates a LOT of work transporting stuff back and forth.

Perhaps contributing to the problem isn't the camper/camping per se, but the fact that she has just lost the weekend to get her chores done? I'd get home from camping and have to cram in housecleaning and laundry that I'd typically do on Saturday and Sunday. I never found a good solution to that short of living in a not-so-clean house. We did end up going seasonal, which helped a lot!

NCMODELA wrote:
Has anyone tried having a separate set of camping clothes in the trailer? Advantages? Disadvantages?

Also. Leaving food in there. Has there been an issue with animals?

yes on clothes. no on food other than perhaps salt/pepper, canned goods, etc.
bumpy

Has anyone tried having a separate set of camping clothes in the trailer? Advantages? Disadvantages?

Also. Leaving food in there. Has there been an issue with animals?

We had the same problem the OP did -- the whole prep and then the whole unpack was very time consuming. We developed several very elaborate checklists -- one for clothing, one for recreational equipment, one for medications and toiletries. One for prepping the trailer and the truck. One for food to buy. One for preparing the house for "hibernations" while we are gone (watering, mail, newspapers, etc.).

We then divided up the responsibilities for specific parts of each list.

We then prioritized the lists -- first, prep the trailer and the truck. Next, pack the non-perishables. All in a logical sequence.

When we come home, we have an unpacking sequence with corresponding lists -- first, the stuff that has to come in as soon as we get home (medications and books). Next, the food -- we put the contents of the fridge into empty baskets and carry them in.

We make organized piles of the boxes to be unpacked in the living room and then tackle them one at a time.

The lists are maintained on my computer -- we update and tweak each list as needed. We print the lists for each trip. I am sure this sounds ridiculous -- but we go on about ten major trips a year, so this whole process has to be systematized.

Not everyone would need such an elaborate series of lists, but some folks (like the OP) might find it helpful!

We have trailer only stuff. The only thing that goes in or out of the trailer between trips is laundry and perishable foods. Laundry is kept separate and goes back in and new perishables plus non perishable go back in. We stock up the trailer with non perishables before our first outing and just carry them with us. Next time just replenish. Very easy, not a lot of work.

We camped in a pop-up with 2 kids. They were about 10 and 11 (a little older than yours, maybe). But, from the time the kids were old enough to walk, we started teaching them to help with everything. Our kids were doing their own laundry by the time they were 5. They needed a watchful eye, but they did it. They learned how to add the soap, turn on the machine, and even sort the clothing out.

When they got older, the turned into slobs! I think that's just natural for kids, and we went through some challenges.

But, when camping, everyone jumped in and helped, packing and unpacking, and setting up camp and tearing down camp. It was a group effort. The time it took to teach the kids and discipline them paid off in the long run.

(something must have worked, my daughter now has 4 kids herself, all under 6 years old, now she REALLY understand why we did what we did back then).

The best thing you can do to make it easier is to plan it out a little smarter. Remember, some items can remain in the camper, you don't have to drag them back and forth. Kids don't need near as many clothes as you may think. Keep one set of clothes if you go somewhere nice. Keep a couple sets for them to play in. If they get dirty, let them wear them again anyway. This reduces laundry. The kids are not going to DIE because they were the same pants 2 days in a row!

Let the kids select their favorite toys. Let the kids carry their own toys back and forth loading and unloading. If they don't bring it, or fuss about packing it ... well ... don't go back and get it yourself. Don't take it if they don't load it! And things YOU think the kids need to play with are not necessarily the the things THEY really want to play with. Let them make their own choices. And there again, if they fail to do so, they take nothing, or only what they DO select. They'll learn real fast and next time they WILL take it!

When returning home, get things ready to unload before leaving the campground. Gather laundry in one or 2 bags, get your perishable food items in containers that are easy to transport back to the house ... AND I don't think you mentioned anything about your husband, BUT ... nothing says HE can't help too!

Bottom line, make it a family effort, and teach the kids (and the husband) EVERYONE has to help! Or simply stay home one time and protest! They'll get the idea REAL fast!