You know how you can usually walk into anyones kitchen and just know where the cups are or where the garbage is? Well, its just not that way in an RV.

We recently met up with some fellow Full-Timers and bloggers and I was (obnoxiously?) eager to see where and how they kept all of their stuff.  I wanted to know if there were any really great storage or organizational secrets that I just had to have!  A tour of any RV is not a very long tour, but I wanted to go below the surface.  I wanted to root in cabinets and know where and how the toothbrushes are held.  Being the really sweet and very open folks that they are the Ourtakeonfreedom duo granted my first glimpse into anothers RV.  Storage was about the same as ours.  They have a “his” and “hers” closet area, they keep the kitchen stuff near the kitchen.  One thing that they do, that I think is a great idea, is that they place pots and pans in the oven (tightly) so that they don’t bang around while driving.  Yair also showed Matt how they have power for all of their needs.  Something that we will need to work on soon.

Fair is fair, so after they showed me theirs I showed mine.  I was proud to give a tour of our home.  We had several friends and family in our rig before we left, but they don’t know or care much about the organizational layout of everything.  Now I had an audience who this applies to.  I opened cupboards and drawers and explained my plastic bins.  I was happy that I was able to offer some ideas and solutions to our new friends.

Later that day Matt and I walked over to take a second tour.  We had met Diana from Lifeontheopenroad a couple days before.  She has been a Full-Timer for over a decade and is a wealth of knowledge and experience.  She walked us through her trailer showing us how she keeps every thing and how she powers her home.

A quick FYI: Trailers are towed behind a vehicle such as an SUV or truck.  5th Wheels are like a trailer, but are attached to a truckbed.  Rumor has it a 5th Wheel is easier to drive that an Trailer due to wind or what-have-yous.  An RV, like ours, is a home and vehicle all wrapped up in a perfect candy coating.  Like a Good and Plenty or Mike and Ike.  And contrary to the name, Mobile Homes are not actually mobile.  You park them, usually in a trailer park, and live there forever wearing camo, popping out babies and shootin’ varmints.

The exchanging of info that day prompted me to want to post this.  I have already posted some of our changes here, so sorry for being redundant.  I want to show all of our fellow RV’ers (and anyone else interested) where we keep what we keep.  I will start at the back (the left) and work my way toward the cab (the right).  Here is a diagram of our layout as a guide.  And, since this is a lengthy post I have put the different areas in bold below in case you want to skip to a specific area.

First thing you may notice is that we have really personalized our home.  I created all of our dividers, curtains, duvet cover, and basically everything that was “sage” or “sand” I covered in PURPLE VELVET or ZEBRA STRIPED.  Our home is definitely our home.  I also laid foam shelf liners in every cabinet and in our fridge.

Okay, let’s get started…

Bedroom:

Above our bed we have 3 cabinets.  Matt uses one and I use 2.  This is where we keep all of our clothes that are not jackets and do not require hanging.  To organize our smaller items we used plastic shoe bins.  Matt has 2: “Underoos” and “Socks”.  I have 3: “Dainties”, “Socks” and “Oohlala” (swimsuits and lovely items from my Bridal Shower).  At the foot of the bed there is a “Shirt Closet”.  We store all of our shoes in here as well as the remote for the Maxxair fan (BEST PURCHASE EVER!).

Next to the bath sink is our Wardrobe, another area we store some of our clothes in.  In this wardrobe we keep our coats, jackets, and a couple of my dresses.  This is also where we keep ALL of our dog stuff.  The dog food is kept in a Rubbermaid bin at the bottom of this “Wardrobe”. On top of that we keep their food bowls, vitamins (Glucosamine & Fish Oil) and all the meds we want to keep on hand for them (Benedryl, Heart Guard, Comfortis, etc.)  We keep a towel over all dog stuff so the bottom of our jackets do not get icky.

The very first action we took after assuming possession of Dolly was to go to Costco and get our beloved memory foam mattress topper.  We had to cut down the corner so it matched the bed.  The next item of business was to get our favorite sheets from Bed Bath and Beyond.    I sewed a duvet cover in our trademark purple and zebra, tossed on our favorite pillows and we were set.

Bathroom & Bathroom Vanity:

I think it may be pretty common among us RV’ers that our spaces have multiple purposes.  When not in use, we use our shower to hold our dirty clothes.

Moving forward to the bathroom sink.  Behind the mirror there are 3 shelves.  On the bottom shelf you can see that there is a white wire “basket”.  We have these “baskets” all over our home.  We love them!  The one in the bath cabinet holds all of our D.O. for the B.O., cologne, face creams, etc.  Below the bathroom sink is where we keep extra T.P., our water deodorizer/treatment thingys, extra’s such as razor heads and floss, and our dopkit that holds a “to-go” kit of all things needed to shower.

Kitchen:

Next to the wardrobe is the fridge, below the fridge is where I keep all of our pots and pans, baking dishes, strainer, veg steamer and cutting board.

Across from our Wardrobe is our oven/microwave area.  We have our paper towels hanging above the microwave so they are totally out of the way.  We also keep our knives on an Ikea magnetic knife rack.  It is VERY strong and secure.  It keeps them out of the way and easily accessible.

Next to our oven is our kitchen sink.  The cabinets above keep all or our daily use dishes: plates, bowls, cups, and Nalgene’s.  We also keep all of our spices up here for cooking.  We have more wire “baskets” on the inside of both of these cabinet doors.

Above the dinette (which had been cut down to a 2 person dinette prior to us purchasing Dolly) is where I keep all of our food items.  On the left are the items we use a lot.  Cereal, cereal accouterments, nuts, granola, snacks.  On the right are the non-perishables.  What must be mentioned here are the OXO Good Grips.  These are airtight containers that not only keep all of our goodies fresh, but also keep them organized!  Below our dinette chairs we have more storage.  I used 5 more shoe bins and labeled them “laundry”, “office”, “electronics”, “sewing”, and “misc”.

Presidential Suite:

As mentioned, we use the Presidential Suite for storage mostly.  Though we did have our first guest recently (post coming).  We wanted our “guest wing” to be comfortable as well as useful for us.  Along the sides we purchased window boxes from Home Depot, 2 of these fit perfectly along one side.  In the window boxes we store books and misc.  Also, when we have guests they can have a place to organize any clothing or personal items they would like to keep out.

Oh, and of course, Henery goes on the welcome mat and Cali goes in her bed (or in the bathroom if she’s scared).  :)

So that is where we keep what we keep.  If you happen to live in a home on wheels, be it a trailer, an RV, or a mobile home, I hope this gives you some ideas.

I would totally love to know if you have any great storage ideas for us!  Thanks for checking in and we’ll catch you on the flip side.

xoxo

Breezy in Vegas (Take 2)