Clothes Storage Help

[GuzmanGang]

We're leaving in a few weeks on a month-long pup trip. Our pup is  a good size for a family of 4, but I'm a neat freak, and I'm really worried about the clutter from clothes, etc. We will be traveling through a variety of climates, so I know we won't be able to pack as lightly as I'd like. What are some ways you have successfully stored clothes? Has anybody taken a long trip and have some suggestions for me?

[fritz_monroe]

The only suggestion I have is to put the dirty clothes in one of the storage areas that is not easily accessible.  For instance, my Bayside has a sofa across the front of one bunk.  There is a drawer in the middle of that sofa, but to the curb side of the drawer is a fairly large storage space that I don't regularly use because it's not easily accessible.  On a long trip, we would store away some of the dirty clothes in there to get it out of the way.

I'll be watching this thread.  I'm up for some suggestions.

[Kelly]

Two words ~ Sterilite Drawers    

I have a counter that is out of the way and long enough to put 2 drawers next to each other ~ and another drawer on top of each of those.  I get a 42 qt one, ds and dd1 each get a 29 qt one and dd2 and dd3 share a 42 qt one.  We use these if we are going to be gone more than a weekend.  The drawers stack nicely in the aisle when popped down.

I have one of those collapsible laundry hampers as well as a drawstring fabric bag for dirty clothes.  I'm still looking for a better method to deal with the dirty stuff ~ they tend to get smelly after a few days!  I'm going to try consolidating things in the drawers and see if we can move the dirty stuff into an empty drawer after a few days.  Another option is a larger Rubbermaid Tote WITH a lid.

I'm also going to keep an eye on this thread![/FONT]

[J-Bird]

How about having a roof top carrier and keeping them in a breathable bag inside there  Be out of the way and not smell up the place....  :eyecrazy: even some of those soft side waterproff ones are good and not to $$$$$. Of course with 4 people you will prbably be doing the laundry often.  Good luck,  JBird

[pershingd]

This is what we've done for our long trips.

1. Make sure that you bring simple outfits to wear. The more accessories that you need to bring for the outfit to look right, the less room everyone will have for clothes (I hope that my kids understand this when they become teenagers!). Looking good doesn't have to be complicated.

2. Roll complete sets of clothes together and secure with a rubber band. Each bundle has shirt, pants, undies, socks, etc. Each of us had five bundles along with sleep clothes. We then stored the bundles under one of the dinette seats. The bundles store neatly and are easy to grab a complete set for everyone.

3. Dirty launry rode in the back of the truck in a large storage tote. When the tote's full - it's time to stop somewhere with laundry facilities. I know this tip won't help those who don't have a truck, but it what worked for us.

4. Realize that doing laundry at a campground will be a necessary evil. As I said above we only pack 5 days worth of clothing and often wind up doing laundry after day 3 or day 4. Waiting until day 5 will almost guarantee that you can't find facilities, there's a line, or they are out of order.

5. We pack any "what if ..." appearal (jackets, blankets, sweats, etc.) in a tote that rides in the truck out of our way.

Hope this helps. I plan on keeping an eye on this thread too. New ideas are always welcome.

David Pershing

[tlhdoc]

I have a popup hamper that we usually keep in the bathroom.  When it gets full I can usually move clothes from  smaller clothes bag into the bigger clothes bag.  Then we move the dirty clothes from the hamper into a plastic bag and put the plastic bag into the small clothes bag.  If we fill the hamper a second time we take the plastic bag out of the small bag, fill it with the dirty clothes.  Move the clean clothes from the large bag to the small bag and put the plastic bag with the dirty clothes into the large bag.  I have also put dirty clothes in the trunk of the camper when we needed more room.  We don't do laundry when camping unless we are out for more than a week.

[jpreiser]

We tried storing dirty clothes in plastic bags, but man they can really stink after a day or two especially when its hot. I found some drawstring laundry bags the kind with all the air holes, this works out great for dirty clothes, and remember nothing damp in the bags!! We keep it in the cap of the truck.

To store clean clothes we use a duffle bag and I put outfits together ahead of time. I keep the bag on the bed during the day and at night I put it on the dinette bench.

[Camping Coxes]

4. Realize that doing laundry at a campground will be a necessary evil. As I said above we only pack 5 days worth of clothing and often wind up doing laundry after day 3 or day 4. Waiting until day 5 will almost guarantee that you can't find facilities, there's a line, or they are out of order.
 

I hate using CG laundry because it takes forever (usually one washer/dryer).  We take a trip into town, combine it with grocery run or even a treat of going out to lunch, and find a laundromat so I can do all the loads at once.  Cuts down our total laundry time to two hours or so.  We go in, start the laundry, and either hang out or run a short errand.  Come back to put the laundry in the dryer, putting in enough $ for at least a 45 minute cycle.  Go to lunch.  Then head back where EVERYONE, including the kids, help fold and sort the laundry.  We also bring everyone's individual duffel bags in at the folding point so we can put the clean laundry right into the duffels.
 
Collapsible or net laundry bags are the best, IMHO.  You can always store it in the vehicle since you won't be in and out of there as often as you will the trailer and it's easier to move aside.

[Kelly]

5. We pack any "what if ..." appearal (jackets, blankets, sweats, etc.) in a tote that rides in the truck out of our way.

Whoops!  Forgot this one.  I do the same thing ... jackets and sweatshirts go in one tote stored under ds's bed (the dinette that we rarely use) and swimsuits and towels go in another tote stored in the van.  I always have a tote with extra blankets in it under one of the dinette seats.

2. Roll complete sets of clothes together and secure with a rubber band. Each bundle has shirt, pants, undies, socks, etc. Each of us had five bundles along with sleep clothes. We then stored the bundles under one of the dinette seats. The bundles store neatly and are easy to grab a complete set for everyone.

I also put outfits together for the kids ~ I just fold shorts/pants, undies and socks in the shirts.  But I like that bundle idea ~ I might have to try that.  I started doing that so the kids could just grab an 'outfit' and I didn't have to get them clothes every day.

I try to pack a week's worth of clothes.  I hate doing laundry!  LOL  We were gone for 11 days on our last 'big' trip and I only did laundry once.

[tlhdoc]

We tried storing dirty clothes in plastic bags, but man they can really stink after a day or two especially when its hot. I found some drawstring laundry bags the kind with all the air holes, this works out great for dirty clothes, and remember nothing damp in the bags!! We keep it in the cap of the truck.

I put the clothes in the plastic bag so that the smell doesn't go from one clothing bag to another.  By leaving it in the mesh hamper for a few days it doesn't get as stinky as if you put them in a plastic bag when you take them off.

[ilovecamping]

We actually took suitcases and duffle bags and kept them in the back of the van.  Everyone took in a clean outfit at night for the next day and dirty clothes were put in big black garbage bags and put in the back of the van.  We used this method last year for 5 adults and 1 child for 4 days and it worked pretty well.  I do like the idea of the Sterilite drawers but we didn't have any counter space in our pu to set them.

[GuzmanGang]

This is what we've done for our long trips.

Roll complete sets of clothes together and secure with a rubber band. Each bundle has shirt, pants, undies, socks, etc. Each of us had five bundles along with sleep clothes. We then stored the bundles under one of the dinette seats. The bundles store neatly and are easy to grab a complete set for everyone.
David Pershing

This is a GREAT idea and one I had never thought of. We will DEFINITELY be doing this! Thank you! I love this board. So many people with so many great ideas! Now I am less stressed about packing for the trip.

[wavery]

I'm not familiar with the layout in your PU. However, if you have some counter space, you may want to consider what we did (or some variation of it).

We purchased 2 large plastic drawers like these:
http://www.sterilite.com/Category.html?Section=Storage&ProductCategory=45

We keep the drawers at home, packed with the stuff that we take too and from the PU. When we are ready to go, we take them out to the TV and they are like our "Luggage". When we pop-up, we take them to the camper and put them in place. It's quick & easy and eliminates the need of duffel bags and suit case etc. It also ads valuable storage space to our PU while camping, keeping everything neat & tidy. it's made a world of difference for us. It also makes a much more usable counter space in our PU.

See my Webshots Photo Album link below and look at the "drawer mod" if you are interested.

[GuzmanGang]

We have a Fleetwood Utah, and there's not a lot of counter space. I think I've found spots for Sterilite drawers, though. We'll just have to stack them 2 high. I'm a little worried that the drawers might be too heavy to put on our cassette toilet cover, but we'll try it and see!

[altozwei]

We just returned from a three-week trip from Dallas up to Wyoming (Grand Teton, Yellowstone) and down through Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. We experienced a temperature range that went from 103 degrees down to 24. Consequently, packing was a bit tricky. We made good use of Space Bags for storing the bulky items like coats, fleece shirts, sweats etc. I bought the kind that don't require a vacuum, you just fill them up then roll or press the air out. These were also great for storing the bedding. The Space Bags allowed us to pack everything else in duffle bags, one per person. If we are staying more than one night in a location, the kids' duffles go on the foot of their bunks and my DH and I put ours on the gaucho. Otherwise, the duffles stay in the van and we just pull out what we need for the next day. On this trip, everyone packed two pairs of jeans, two long-sleeved shirts, and five days worth of t-shirts and shorts plus 7 days worth of underwear and socks. Everyone also had a coat and two fleece shirts.
There are five of us so I generally plan to wash every three to four days. I also try to get the family to (loosely) coordinate their clothing so the wash loads are easier to organize. For example, the cold weather clothes were all darker colors that were easy to wash together. It just helps minimize the loads. We have a pop-out laundry basket that we use to cart the clothes to and from the laundry but in between times, we put all dirty items in a plastic garbage bag, unless they are wet. We try never to store anything wet. We either dry it immediately or store it in a separate bag for ASAP laundry. The laundry bag rides in the back of the van when traveling.

Patti
Steve
Elspeth
Kestrel
Rowan
and Nike the Wonder Dog