RE: Hints for quicker pack-up?

[my4cuties]

 
We ve been on one PopUp camping trip this season, and have 3 more planned before Fall.  However, on our first time out, it took THREE HOURS to totally re-pack everything and get the camper ready for our trip home.  This seems WAY TOO LONG!  We DO have four kids, which makes for more STUFF, but I never imagined we d use a whole morning just packing and getting ready to go home.  Our trips are all " long weekends" , so if we arrive Friday and it takes 3 hours Sunday to pack-up, we re " wasting"  a lot of time.
 
 Please offer any advice you can - what are we doing wrong?  May I be honest?  After that first camping trip, I started thinking we should have chosen a hybrid which could stay " packed"  all the time, and took less time to close, etc.  Please don t be disappointed  in me!  I DO have 4 kids who were getting antsy as we packed!
 
 Thanks so much to all of you.

[wynot]

 my4cuties
Well, it will get FASTER.  Probably around 1.5 hours total, judging from what people have said before when the topic has come up.
 
 I ll suggest a game plan (although we don t stick to it that well ourselves) -  
 
 Spend 15 minutes morning and night in housekeeping, picking up, folding, putting away.  If it helps, make lists of what goes where.  I even have a packing diagram in my storage trunk.  Clutter is a killer no matter where.  I try to stage a lot of stuff in the back of the Tahoe, which goes into the storage trunk or needs to be stowed later.  DW came up with an interesting separation on the bunkends, one bunkend goes to the car as it gets done, the other bunkend is stowed in the camper.  That way it is out of the floor.
 
 Biggest trick?  Get the dinette table folded and down as soon as possible on the popdown morning.  It tends to attract stuff.  Let it attract stuff with the dinette storage available.
 
 You probably encountered a fair amount of  circling , which tends to happen until you know the order of what needs to be done when.  That gets better, sorta...
 
 Some families split their tasks up, and each member does their task list.  DW and I have tasks that are usually our primary, but we both do each other s stuff if that is what is needed at that time.  Kids are either a benefit or nightmare - our DD can assist by picking up her nightmare, cranking stabilizers, and cranking down.  Unfortunately, she tends to disappear to visit other people when we need her around.
 
 You ve discovered the #1 problem in the Popdown world - that you can t do a lot of stuff ahead (can t fill storage trunks until the bunkend is in, can t stow this until that is dealt with, etc.).
 
 Keep the faith, keep a steady pace, relax, things actually move faster if you don t rush!

[Red neff Barchetta]

 my4cuties
Well, a few things I can quickly throw your way are;
 
 Unless, the bedding needs to be washed, leave the beds made.  There is no reason to pack/roll-up bedding, sleeping bags, etc.., (except pillows) unless they are dirty or you won t be using the PU again for quite some time.
 Without ruining the " camping experience" , the night before departure you could wash & put away all dishes, put away all of the dirty and clean clothes in the back of the TV except the next morning s, put away a lot of the things in and around the outside of the PU and on the picnic table too.
 Have cereal and fruit for breakfast with plastic spoons and bowls.
 We don t always do all of this, but other times if we want an early departure, we might even take down and fold-up the screen room (if used) and roll up the awning (DW on the stepper door and me on a cooler).  We actually get to have great converstaions while doing all of this before hanging out by the fire together.
 You could even put away a few of the folding chairs if they all won t be needed in the morning.
 This is actually the time that the 2 of us can pack-up together, as in the morning we are both watching and playing with the kids as well as each doing our own thing for departure.  I usually do outside stuff and she does inside stuff.

[Gatsmommy]

 my4cuties
What we usually do is DH will take DS for a walk or somewhere to get him out of my hair while I " pack  everything. When we re acutally popping down DS watches a video in the car (only time I allow TV when camping is when we re putting up or taking down).
 
 We pretty much leave everything in the camper except for things that would need to be unpacked. I don t cook in the camper or store food in it. The food goes either in a laundry basket, or in the cooler. We keep both these in the van, so they re ready to go at any time. The beds stay semi-made (we have sheets down,and then use sleeping bags over) I roll the bags, but leave the sheets. The dishes/silverware/clean towels etc. all stay where they are.  For clothes I usually just pack a duffle bag and we use a garbage bag for dirty clothes, so we just toss both in the van (I m re-working this system a little though LOL). I throw the dirty towles in with the dirty clothes, and try to repack them as soon as they re washed so they get put back in.
 
 I ve never timed how long it takes us to set down since I usually just slowly work at it all morning, but I think we could do it in 1/2 hour or so if needed. Of course we only have one kid LOL
 
 

[NCSunshine]

 my4cuties
We use the front storage trunk to keep our clothes in so we never have to unpack or repack the clothes.  Pack as much up the night before.  We eat breakfast on the road, so no dirty dishes, beds stay made up, most of the outdoor things go in the TV the night before.
 
 But some mornings things are not going to go right regardless, just grin and bear it and say to yourself " It will be better next time" []

[AustinBoston]

 my4cuties
Great suggestions so far.  Here are more:
 
 * Do not cook breakfast.  Have something quick & easy, like pop-tarts.
 * Do not use dishes requiring washing.  Throw away is faster.
 * If you rise before the little ones, that can be the best time to quietly get most things packed up.
 * Split up inside & outside tasks.  I tend to do outside stuff, and know when to turn off & pack hoses, electric wires, propane, dump grey water, etc.  I know PJay does a lot of stuff inside, but don t know what.  I m sure if we traded places, there would be trouble.  That way, we re not going in & out.
 * The night before, pull out the kid s (and you & DH s) clothes for the next day, and pack the suitcases.  In the morning, throw pajamas in the laundry.  This can be done in that time when kids are in bed but mom & dad are still up.
 * Depending on how helpful and competent the children (age dependent), it may be most helpful to plant them somewhere out of the way.  Older ones can help younger ones with breakfast & getting dressed.
 
 The best takedown time we ever got was about 20 minutes, but that was in pouring rain, so we were motivated. [&:]  We had also set up for just an overnight, so things like awnings, water connections, and grey water tank had not been set up.  Oh, and DDs and DS (17, 15, and 11 at the time) watched from the car.
 
 Austin

[hbfc6]

 my4cuties
Plastic see thru storage bins. I keep all my lanterns in one,all my cooking hardware in another. I have about six bins which I keep my most of my camping supplies. I keep them under the benches. When it s time to back up I just pick the bins up and put them under the bench seats. When I take the whole family I put a car top carrier on the mini van and put all the clothes on top. All I keep in the pop up is the bins, sleeping bags, grill to go,folding chairs and porta pottie.
  John

[Gamecock Camper]

 my4cuties
I agree that if it is too much of a hassle that something needs to change.   We decided to have items that are dedicated to the camper.  The only thing we really need to pack when going camping include the food and clothing.  Everything else has a place in the camper, camper trunk, or Rubbermaid storage bins that have only camping gear in them and stay in the garage.  We pack heavily too, but when setting-up and when packing up everyone has their tasks.  I saw that your oldest is around 10 and your second oldest is around 5 or 6 (on your signature line)..... They may not be able to help with some of the bigger tasks, but they can help with getting bikes together, bringing things to mom and dad to help....... or maybe they can help watch your twins while you and the dw pack up.  I can tell you that we are much more efficient when packing up now compared to when we started camping in the PU.  It originally took us about 3 to 4 hours, but now we can pack up in around 2 hours.  That includes the PU awning, an AAR, a separate camp kitchen with a dining canopy, bikes, etc.....  We really do take it all and still can pack up pretty well in a small amount of time.  
 
 Good luck.  You ll get better with it as you become more experienced.

[tlhdoc]

 my4cuties
Some of the things I do to help make packing up in the morning quicker are to put the table down and then put everyone s packed bag on it, I have the kids sleep in their clothes.  The only thing they need to pack in the morning is their toothbrushes and that is only for kids that are guest.  The awning and AAR get packed and put away.  I keep outside things in the front storage trunk, grey water tanks, fresh water tanks, chairs, hoses, lantern, beach umbrella, outside stove, awning pole bases, etc.  That way when I have the inside packed it is easy to put the outside stuff away.  Everything lives in the PU except the food and clothes.   We have a no cook snack and then get breakfast on the road if we need to get an early start.  I drain the fresh water tank and water heater as we leave the CG.  At the first stop I close the valves.  One of the things that slows me down is that I have to wait until everyone is up before I pack the cassette potty area.  I clean it first and then put things in that area.

[6Quigs]

 my4cuties
We also have 4 kids, a 10, 7, 4 and 2 year old, so can sympatize with the 4 kids needing attention.
 We bring a TV, but it stays in the tow vehicle, so as we are packing up, we pop in a video, strap the two younger ones in their car seat, and it keeps them occupied.
 
 Follow what most of the other replies have said,
 and I ve watched people beside us in hybrids, TT, and RV s take just as much time as us to pack up, the popup only adds 10 more minutes to the task.

[Gone-Camping]

 my4cuties
As a few others have stated, that time will decrease with a little practice. Once your more familiar with what has to be done, where everything goes, and when to place it there it ll go a lot smoother and quicker.
 
 One of the things that I ve learned to do was mentioned by a couple people above. Use storage containers for much of your stuff. this helps reduce the time spent looking for a place for things to go. I keep a total of three Rubbermaid 18 gallon tote s in the front trunk, one contains Coleman Fuel, small Propane canisters, Charcoal Lighter Fluid, Coleman Stove, and the propane extension hose s that I use when attaching to the big bottles.
 
 The second one is used to store one large bag of charcoal briquets, the small charcoal grill, and the grill accessories. The third is used to hold all of my fresh and gray water hoses, electrical cords, TV Cable (some campgrounds offer cable tv hook-up s), various plumbing and electrical odds-n-ends. These 3 bins take up about 80% of the space available in the trunk, and make loading and unloading a snap, 3 items and it s nearly done!!!
 
 Inside, well... Everything has it s place, and pre-storing much of it the night before departure helps a lot too...

[cb]

 my4cuties
Lots of good ideas in above posts.  With experience, you will decide what consistently stays in the PU.  Then, you will probably find it most helpful to store the same thing in the same place EVERY time.  Saves trying to figure out where stuff will fit, and being tempted to move it around while packing up.  We also do the " divide and conquer" , taking turns " disappearing"  with a kid or two.  We can pack up in a little over an hour, without kids or major cleaning.  It usually takes closer to 2 w/kids and/or cleaning.  I think that s comparable to the Dark-Siders!  We don t pop up at home.  (Once, when camped in a very remote area, with a brush fire bearing down on us, we did it in 20 Minutes......always did work better with a knfe in my back!  Now when I want to hurry up, I pretend there s a fire)  Hope this helps.

[PI]

 my4cuties
I agree with the others to keep things you need in the camper all the time. We pack food and clothes. Everything else stays there. We use a walmart popup hamper for dirty clothes and put it at the door when we close up so we don t have to open the camper, just the door when we get home. All our cooking utensils are kept in a toolbox and are clean and that whole set stays in the camper. I pack up the inside and Dh takes care of the outside stuff. We start putting things we are all finished with away the night before. We use a cosmetic case for all our meds and toiletries so I just close it up and put in the TV to have access to meds if we need them. In the camper it just stays open. We do not have kids that come with us. They are grown but in the beginning it still took us a long time to figure things out. As you camp you will fall into a routine and the kids will know what their jobs are. Happy Campin.

[Camping Coxes]

 my4cuties
As has been said, practice make it much quicker.   I assume you AND your husband are sharing in the duties.  I usually work on the inside stuff and DH starts on the outside (lanterns, gray water tank, unhooking any hook-ups, folding up chairs).  The stuff to go into the Suburban get stacked at the picnic table.
 
 As has been said, have your cooking things stay in the trailer at all times.  If you re taking from your house, you re going to forget something you need.  I keep the dishes cleaned and put away so there s not that job.  We eat  a cooked breakfast Saturday, but Sunday is cereal for quick clean-up.  Food goes in boxes and stays in boxes during the campout so I m not unpacking it on arrival and repacking it on leaving.  Dirty clothes are in a laundry bag at the end of the day so we can take it in once at home. Don t worry about rolling the sleeping bags.  We used to fight to roll them up, but now we ve found it s easier to just fold them onto the dinette table.  Our clothes stay in the duffle bags in our Suburban and I get out clothes as we need them.  That makes more room in the trailer and also it s already packed when we re ready to leave.
 
 Get your kids involved!  They can gather dirty clothes and towels and put them in the laundry bag.  They can line up bikes to be packed.  They can fold up chairs.  The camping fairy doesn t do this stuff, and they need to know that!
 
 Don t give up so easily.  It always seems to take longer to break camp than make it, because you re tired and because it s just not as fun as setting up is.  Soon you ll be a seasoned pro advising other newbies how to do it![]

[gsm x2]

 my4cuties
You have received a huge number of suggestions and with six people, I fully understand that what my wife and I do won t have much relevance to you.  But here are a couple of observations from watching others.
 
 1.  Those with small kids pack faster and smoother when the kids are confined to the car during pack-up.
 2.  Many who take FOREVER to pack up do so because they have a HUGE amount of stuff to pack. Can things like the tacky lights, the grill to do, and the much of the cooking stuff be packed up the evening before?  Probably.
 3. Do stock your popup so that the only thing you need to pack in the car are clothes and food.  And again, most of that can be packed the night before.
 4.  Do not under any circumstance COOK breakfast the day of the get away.  Even with the two of us, we found that cooking breakfast adds one hour to the get away.
 5.  I agree with the observation that the POP-UP part only adds a few minutes to set up or take down.  In fact, if we pull into a space about the same time as other types of RV.s, we will generally be set up before they are.
 
 Good luck...it will speed up as you get better at it.
 
 gsm x2