Organizing a Small RV - Clutter is Your Enemy!

My hubby, 2 teens and 2 pets lived in a small RV (24' including driving cab) for 6 months while we built a house to save money.  You can check out our story here

So we had to be organized or I feared the family unit would be stressed!  We have done this twice and gone RV camping on the road before so here are the most important tips that worked for me.

Tip 1 - Totally utilize your local dollar store - Dishes, cutlery, paper plates, you name it they have it.  Storage Racks to create height in the cabinets, everything.  You can get great deals at your local dollar store.  Failing that, online is the next best thing.  You can order all you think you will need for good prices and have it delivered to your door.  Usually free delivery too!

Tip 2 - Organize the kitchen to utilize every square inch - RV style lifestyle needs to be simple, this is not the time for 7 course meals, but you do need to eat healthy.

     2A - Secure your dishes.  If you are driving this RV, you will be amazed at just how much movement goes on in the cabinets.  Even though they have clips to lock the doors, you don't want to open them and be hit with plates (been there done that!).  You can do this will simple gadgets such as this one below from Amazon.

Dish Racks for RV Cabinet

These will secure your dishes vertically. Remember don't bring too many, just a few dinner plates and sandwich plates and cups. This is basically a very downsized kitchen.

Cabinet Bars Spring Loaded Bars

2B - Secure Your Food Supplies! - They too will be bounced around while you are driving.  You don't want an avalanche when you open the cabinets.  These bars install quickly as they are spring loaded, and would also work well in your refrigerator.

The picture to the left gives you the idea of how these work.  These will help keep everything in their place.

The trick is to keep the cabinets full as this will stop too much movement.  You can also get little portable racks from the dollar store that can fit inside your cabinets to utilize the vertical space and store even more.

You don't get much width in RV cabinets, so get creative and stack your things in such a way they are easily accessible and you don't have to empty it to find the things you need.  Remember basic supplies.


3A - Paper Plate Holder - As much as I am into watching the environment and our carbon footprint, sometimes paper plates are the answer, especially if you water supply is limited for doing dishes.

Paper Plate Holder

By using this holder, this will get that bag of plates out of your storage. The more things you can hang on the walls or sides of cabinets the better.

Tip 3 - Under Cabinet Coffee Pot - If you are able to plug in your RV, or at least use a generator, you can save a ton of room by using "Under Cabinet Appliances"  If you are a coffee lover, then at least you can get this off your very limited counter top.

Black and Decker Under Cabinet Coffee Pot

This space maker doesn't make massive pots of coffee, but everything needs to be downsized when RV camping. But it does work and takes up no counter space.

So as long as you have even one upper cabinet and a power source, this works in an RV or very tiny house kitchen.

NOTE:  Additional Tip with Coffee Pot - You can run clear water through the coffee pot to get hot water quickly for doing a few dishes instead of lighting your RV water heater.

In our RV it was a pain to go outside and light the propane heater, so we reserved that for showers only, when it came to dishes, I simply ran some water through the coffee pot and used a smaller container in the sink so I didn't need to fill the sink entirely.

Yes you have to get creative and YES the water was very hot!

Back of Seat Storage

TIP 4 - Use the Back of the Driving Seats for More Storage - By investing in Backseat storage you can get even more things off the floor or counters.  These can hold a ton of things.  In my case we used them for all the paperwork I needed for building the house.  We tried at all times to keep the surfaces clear, and this keeps things safe while driving.

(Living on our building site pictured!)

TIP 5 - Use Heavy Duty Tin Foil as Cooking Dishes to Cook a Meal - If you can use a barbecue for cooking, you can cook potatoes, veggies, even main course stir frys in heavy duty tin foil.

Cook at least a couple of meals so that you can refrigerate one for the next day to be eaten cold.  Once finished the tin foil can be tossed into recycling receptacles or garbage.  This saves on dishes for side dishes when cooking meats etc.  Now you only have to wash a few utensils and plates and not hard to scrub pans.

Tip 6 - Use Wall Space for Velcro To Secure Flashlights and Random Things - You can add a piece of velcro to the flashlight and to the wall near the door so you can always find it and keep it out of the drawer space.

This works for anything near the sleeping areas too.  Use as much wall space as possible in a secure way.  I found VELCRO to work best.

You can get industrial strength online for a good price.  This will really organize things you need by the door too.

Organizing a Small Camper or RV

Hopefully this post has got you inspired to go through the RV or camper and see if there is a way to streamline your daily living whether away for a few weeks or traveling around the country.

 (Even our Cat Enjoyed it..pictured!!)

Enjoy the journey, and don't get bogged down in the details of living in the RV.  As always thing safety with food preparations, but also thing simple.  You don't have to buy packaged food, you can still eat healthy fresh food, and shop as you go.

Don't overfill the little refrigerator with things that will not be eaten in the next couple of days.  Think fresh and it can be fun checking out local markets where ever you go.

As long as there is a space for everything, the inside of your RV will run smoothly.

Hanging Baskets will Get Fruits and Veggies off Counter

If you want everyone to eat healthy then you need to keep fresh veggies and fruit where they can be seen. This can hang and house a lot of produce.

The main trick is that everything needs to work double time, and don't pack too much.  Shop as you go.  Cook 2 meals when you do cook, and most important.  HAVE FUN!