A Place for Everything and Everything in it's Place

 "A place for everything and everything in it's place", is apparently an essential idea for a small place and she who packed it knows where it is. So now it's labeled so everyone knows! On school days all the kids had their back packs and came on with them and off with them, so no storage needed. Family camping is really different. Lots of things need to live on the bus, so I am starting to feel like a storage unit. Or maybe a little tiny home!!! How cool is that!

Jill: This is a view under the kitchen counter. There we store the fridge, water, pots and pans and some food, table, and the potty too, but only when driving. The drawer holds kitchen utensils for cooking and pot holders, hooks that hang up wet things over the counter, and various other items to keep handy.
 The table is in the gray bag which is in front of the drawer unit. I will make fabric panels for this area once the fabric that matches the curtains is back in stock.

In the photo you can see the canvas bags under the bottom bunk. Each person has their own bag. Everything they want to take on the trip goes in there. Everything. They are pretty spacious and we could fit clothes in there for about a 5 day trip. The dirty laundry goes in a a pillow case in the bag. Keep your stuff contained. (Jigs is posing for the photo).





My dad has the coolest stuff! These white plastic coated wire racks were reclaimed out of another project and they are a perfect fit. Dave was able to screw them to the bus interior without any problem and use straps to hold them steady. We did learn that they do a fair bit of shaking on a washboard dirt road! But, no damage was done and all held tight. Whew!  I bought matching grey baskets at Big Lots and the wire ones were gifts at Christmas.



Baskets with permanent contents are labeled with tags cut from old flour sacks and tied with ribbon from the basement stash, bought on clearance at some time or another. I used the fun stitching on my sewing machine and wrote the words with fabric markers and sharpies.       

• Fire: matches, lighter sticks, citronella candle, etc.    
• Pets: Dog food, water container, leashes, bowls. 
• First-Aid and Fix-It: everything to fix minor things on people, and inside the bus. 
• Light: lanterns, flash lights, night lights, magnetic light, batteries. 
• Wash cloths and towels
• Toiletry: everyone's tooth brushes, soap, combs, etc. 
• Paper Goods: plates, napkins, cups, utensils, table cloth, trash bags, etc.   
• Snacks: camping makes you hungry and if you don't want all the groceries rummaged through you had better label a snack basket! 
• The remaining baskets are for the lighter weight food stuffs.   

 Over the sink is a hanging wire basket rack I found at Good will. Perfect for the things needed at the sink and cleaning items used daily.

 At the Goodwill I also found these pillow covers (below right). There are three. I was just making plans to sew up some like this to house the interior curtains and found these that match so well. A change of button and we are good to go. Below left you can see the door curtain inside the bag. So cool! When something can have a dual use that is even better, curtain storage doubles as extra lounge pillows.  I am always excited when I find just what I was looking for at the thrift store.
The shams in the photo on the right behind the pillow cover bags are also a thrift store find. Since everyone likes to lounge on the beds while driving we needed a few more pillows and I had used all the camping fabric. These are a great match.

 This brown, plastic set of drawers is under the kitchen counter. They house family sized pot, frying pan, kettle, griddle and cutting board. There is plenty of space to keep heavier food stuffs. When that is not enough the extra can go in a tub under one of the benches.
                        

We thought that the drawers may open during driving so I invented a way to keep them shut. More use of Christmas string light clips and para-cord. Those things are so very handy!


All in all, it works really well. Longer trips would require laundry and grocery stops, but that would be expected anyway.