More? Or less?

[CajunCamper]

When we primarily tent camped or especially when we backpacked, the less gear we could get away with the better. As kids came along the gear increased on a grand scale, and then when we bought our pop up, we seemed to have another increase in gear as we bought pop up stuff.

As the boys got older it seemed that we started cutting back on a lot of things and now that it's mostly my wife and I camping we have cut the amount of gear we carry way back.

We went camping last November with three other families and we were amazed at how much stuff they brought with them. We all arrived at the campsite on a Friday afternoon and began setting up camp about the same time. My wife and I were set up in 30 minutes and then we sat down and watched the show. One of our friends asked, "hey how did you get set up so quickly?" and I said, "less crap to deal with". It was the same story when we were all packing up to go home. The things I used to think I couldn't do without, I don't even miss.

I think over the years, my needs have become more basic and I carry a lot less baggage in all areas of my life. I find it to be very liberating.

What about you, for those of you that have been doing this for a while now, do you find that you are packing more stuff or less stuff for your camping trips.

Happy Camping

CajunCamper

[Gwenzilla]

We try to reduce the clutter, and continually reevaluate our list of stuff.  We still have a kid so there is always too many items to keep little spudzilla happy and occupied.
The biggest problem that we find is with our consumables... we always seem to pack up more than enough food to last the trip (WAY more than enough), and it seems no matter how much we try we end up coming home with so much food that we didn't eat.
Sometimes we bring stuff to a particular campout intending to use but the plan falls to the wayside because of changes, example: we carry our telescope to some places but weather or location do not pan out.

So for us its a never ending battle to minimize our list of stuff to take...

[GeneF]

Our basic rule is that if we haven't used it in a year, it comes out of the camper.

We have our stuff down to a comfortable amount so it doesn't take us all that long to get set up.

2 Lafuma chairs - kept in truck
2 small tables
1 tabletop gas grille
1 12 x 12 matt - kept in truck
1 2 burner stove for outside cooking
2 foldup guest chairs, taken out when needed
1 blue tote - kept in truck
1 green water jug - kept in truck

With the htt or tt, it is a lot easier to store food and clothing than in a popup but we did have our plastic tubs and dufflebags with the popups.

When the kids camped with us, rule was one duffel bag for your clothes and stuff.  Small back pack for your books and games.  Of course with the kids, the bikes had to be packed also.

On our longer trips, we find that we end up bringing too many clothes.  Try to plan for the different weather conditions.

Overall, I would say we camp with fewer items but not that many fewer.  We always tried to camp on the light side.

I would say the major items that we have added are a 15 inch tv and a laptop.  Never had either for the popups.  Not sure if laptops were invented when we started to camp.

[Kelly]

I think over the years, my needs have become more basic and I carry a lot less baggage in all areas of my life. I find it to be very liberating.

Couldn't agree more.  

I try to keep it to a minimum, too.  But, I am guilty of bringing way too much food on every trip.  My DD pointed that out one trip and I told her the reason I bring so much food is cuz she brings over so many hungry friends!

[ronerjones]

I am all for the less is better just wish I could convince the wife and 2 daughters this. It seemed that when we were tenting there was never enough room in the back of the truck to haul everything we wanted to bring. When we bought the PUP my thoughts were to get it set up so when we camp all we needed to pack was cloths and food.

The following is a list of items that seemed to sneek in on the last camp out:

Lap Top computer - Game Boy - iPod - TV

Isn't this why we go camping to get away from these item. The kids are going to be limitted to what they can fit in their camp bags on the next camp out.

[sewserious]

We do less (although we do bring electronics with us (no TV) such as the laptop (which doubles as a DVD player during a LONG stretch of bad weather and various other things from time to time) Game-Boys (I love Zelda!), Leapsters, and I REFUSE to leave home without my little boom-box and the weather radio. DH and I love to listen to music (and no, you won't hear our music if you are camping beside us either).

The laptop and the electronic games stay put away when we actually get to the campground.  We rarely bring them out, but we have them along if we choose to use them.

Other than that, we travel light.  I only have to pack clothes and food.  Everything else is either in the camper or packed in plastic totes to set in the back of the van.  Fill the coolers, pack a couple duffles, put the food in the food tote, load the van (takes about 30 minutes to do all this) and we are on the road!

I keep several "camping" menus with a list of the stuff I need for each menu (I don't store any food in the camper except salt and pepper, Pam cooking spray, coffee, and creamer).  I have menus for everything from overnight trips to a full week, including snacks.  This way, I just print a menu, double-check what I need to buy (if anything), and put it in the food box.  Each menu is also broken down with cold foods separate, they go in the frig in the garage to be packed in the cooler.  If I have to buy something, I put it in the frig or in the food box when I bring it home.  No hassles at the last minute, and I don't take too much or forget anything that way.

[tlhdoc]

I used to take a lot more on our camping trips.  Now I am camping with fewer people and I have cleared out some stuff.  If I take it camping, I like to have a place to keep it in the camper, so if something new comes along I get rid of something else.  When I camp alone I do a very minimal set up.  I don't even set up the dinette.

[dthurk]

If we want it, we take it.  Haven't run out of room yet.  I'm finding we're using less of what we're taking, so might be time to clean out some of our compartments.

[SherryandFamily]

When we first started camping in a popup we bought every cool gadget we could find.  DH was always saying "here, put this in the camper".  Of course we ended up with tons of junk we didn't need in there, and just had to keep moving it around to get to the stuff with did.

With each new popup as we cleaned out the old one to prepare for the new one we threw away anything we couldn't remember using for a while.  Gradually we have cleaned out a lot.

Of course, the kids (adults now, actually) don't go with us very often so that cut down a lot on what we need to take.

We actually pack very little for a trip.  Most of what we need is stored in the popup.  All we pack is chairs, food, clothes, a grill, the sewer and gray water stuff. Also beach stuff if that is our destination, which it usually is.

We are really in to cutting down on the time and effort to set up and take down these days.  I guess that comes with age!  On weekend trips we sometimes don't even put the awning out.

Sherry