Organizing Your RV Stuff. Our Personal Mega List of Helpful Items You Might Not Have Thought of.

Our ultimate list of the best RV storage ideas and RV space-saving ideas we could come up with. If you want to organize your RV, you need to check these out! After traveling 2 years on the road now, we’ve learned just exactly what we need and what we don’t.

Click Here to See Part 2 – Even More Ideas!

Click Here to see our Favorite Kitchen Gadgets!

Before launching full-time in our RV, I spent so many hours searching Pinterest, blogs, and Facebook groups to find the best way to maximize my space in our RV. You know what I had hoped for most? I wished for a blog with helpful information in one place. I’m going to give you some our favorite ideas all in one place. The things that worked and things that definitely did not! Please understand these are all our personal choices, and preferences. What worked (or didn’t) for us. It will, undoubtedly, be different for everyone. 

Do you travel full-time, or are you stationary? Do you have a home base where you store or “switch out” things from time to time? The answers to these questions make all the difference in our opinion. Yes, you still want your RV to be organized when you’re out on the road, but if you have a sticks and bricks house that you return to here and there, you may not need every inch of your RV maximized for optimal space. Either way, we hope you find our idea useful. 

Our advice is coming from the way we travel. We are full-time RV “travelers”. We have no sticks and bricks house. We only sit still for about a week to 3 weeks and then we’re off exploring again. Everything we have fits inside 39 feet, and that takes a lot of organizing and hoping that when you get to your new destination, you don’t have a mess to clean up. 

We bought our RV in October (2016) and left on our full-time journey the following March. I spent those 5 months running outside measuring cabinets, deciding what goes where, and finding out that not all things work for all RV’s. This wasn’t our first RV, but it was the first one we were going to live in. 

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Always have a First Aid Kit. 

Tension rods are your best friends!

I use these for everything!                                                                       

• They hold things from falling out in our refrigerator
• They hold our wine, and our wine glasses
• They keep our medicine cabinet organized and keep things from falling out
• Double Rods – These are supposed to be used for a refrigerator?! They were not wide enough for me, but I did find them very useful in some of my cabinets! 
• THESE tension rods are what I used the most of! These are small, and fit in most cabinets. Order more than one set! You’ll use these for so much!

Stackable can organizer

Adjustable chrome shelves in pantry – LIFE SAVER for storage! See picture below!  

bungee cords to hold food in place. See picture below! This keeps my stuff stored on top from coming out during traveling. 

LED Lights Stick on anywhere – It’s been a year of using these on the same batteries, and still working. We put these inside dark cabinets. They are convenient and can fit just about anywhere. 

Refrigerator deodorizer. No explanation needed. You will need this! Small spaces ya know! 

Lets talk RV mattress’ — Ok, so everyone complains about the RV mattress. In our sticks and bricks house we had a mattress that just over 15 years old. YES time to replace anyway. So when we first checked out our RV mattress we thought it was pretty nice! So we decided to keep it, and just do a few upgrades to it. After a year of sleeping on it with the below 2 upgrades, it’s one of the most comfortable beds I have ever had! We highly suggest if you are keeping your RV mattress, think about adding these two items. We love them! Click on links below to view and purchase.

Mattress Topper

Quilted Mattress Pad

Bed Band sheet holder – These have saved us so much money! RV mattresses are just a tad different in size, and our sheets kept coming off. I didn’t want to buy new sheets, as the ones I had bought were super high quality, which came with super high prices. I was happy to find something that works to keep them in place. And a year later, we still love them!

Lets talk vacuums! I have a Labrador. That should answer everything if you’ve ever owned one. Oh she’s cute alright! And she sheds only when she’s breathing. I sweep up “puppies” almost daily, and so I needed a vacuum that would really work well on dog hair, but also be real small and easy to store. I got on-line and researched, asked in groups of fellow RVers and I’m so happy to say this is seriously the best vacuum I’ve ever owned. Hands down! Even better than the one I had in my sticks and bricks house.    Shark Rocket Vacuum

Speaking of dogs, why do they have to take a bite of food and then look around? Letting it all drip on the floor! YUCK! The best thing for this dog of mine that I ever bought was the below mess proof dog feeding system!

Neater Feeder      

Dog/Cat food storage containers – No mice! No ants! And in bear country, no bears! Even if you stay in RV parks 100% of the time, you’ll eventually get a mouse. It’s not fun! But these containers mean that mice and critters will not be able to get in your pet food. Ants are not something I’ve had to deal with (yet) but I see it all over our RV groups. These will save your life! Ha Ha! You can certainly buy cheaper, non-air tight containers, but you’ll regret it the first time you get ants or a mouse in there. 

Padded car seat cover for pets. Did I mention our dog sheds? This really helps keep the hair off the seat. 

Command Strips (please click link below) Pretty sure I need to own stock in this company. I use these for everything. Here is a sampling of what I have used. We all know about Command Strips so get a bunch! You’ll need them!

• Picture hangers
• Toilet paper holder
• Kitchen towel holder  
• Broom and Mop Holder – These are great!! I bought 2 and they hang behind my bedroom door.      
• Hooks – I use these in my bathroom both in my shower for hanging wet things, and also outside my shower to hold our towels.              

Collapsible Dish Drainer – Lets talk about this for a moment. I have seen those super cool little drying pads out there. Small, and easy to fold or roll up and put away! Right? Well, the first time I used one, my coffee pot (which I balanced on a spoon) rolled off and completely shattered on the ground. So unless you have amazing Tetris skills, get this awesome collapsible dish drainer! It has been very convenient and I put it right between my back couch and the wall. 

Coffee filter dispenser – Works like a charm! I love it! I did not attach it to anything. I just keep it in my cabinet. 

Coffee Cup holder – (Holds only 4 – you might need 2 if you have more than 4 cups) It works great!

Silicone Cup Lids – Who would have thought? I love these things. When we were in Montana I couldn’t sit outside without flies or mosquitos hovering. These saved my drinks 100 times if not more from bugs in my drinks. 

Onion Keeper – This does much better than I even expected. Not only does it keep the smell in, but it keeps the cut onion fresh for a very long time. 

Cutting Mats – When we left on our full-time journey I had cutting boards. I wasn’t going to spend the money on something new. I quickly learned how valuable these cutting mats are, and how much more efficient and easy to store and use they are. 

Collapsible salad spinner – We just didn’t have the storage for our salad spinner we had in our house. When I found this, I was more excited than anything! I had planned to just eat wet salad all the time!  

Collapsible laundry basket – Aside from the obvious of it being a laundry basket, I also use this for washing hand wash items. It holds water very well, and I really liked the square one vs. the oval one. The oval one is hard to store in a square closet. Yes, I use every inch of storage.  

Dinner plate holder – We are lucky enough to have a small section in our trailer that is made for storing dishes separately. But they only gave us enough separators for 3 plates. Strange … I know. And believe me, I tried to buy more from the maker. I ended up getting this, and it also holds all my paper plats as well. 

Magazine holder for foil, plastic wrap, baggies etc. I have 4-5 of these that I use for storage of these types of items. 

Shelf liner – I struggled with this stuff until Justin came up with a genius idea! So these shelf liners are great, but they do not stay put like you would think. We would drive, and I’d come in and open a cabinet and everything that was on the shelf was not in place. Usually slid forward, and we’d have the liner all bunched up in the front. So I got frustrated because the reason I bought this stuff was the keep everything in place. Justin mentioned putting velcro dots on each corner. It worked!!! We use velcro dots often. They also hold our remote to the bedroom wall! 

Here are my before and after of my liners with and without the velcro dots. And we tested it … travel day was great! Nothing moved! 

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Ice Genie  – Have you seen these great things? PERFECT for the RVer!

Silicone Ice Tray  I have 2 of these and they do exactly as they say! I can turn them any which way and water does not leak out. 

Luci Lights  & Luci Lights in Color  –  These are so perfect for the RVer! If you’ve never heard of Luci Lights, you’re really missing out! They are on the pricy side, and even though I’m a very thrifty person, I found these lights really worth the money and the space-saving is wonderful! 

USB Charging Ports – These are SUPER easy to install! Let us know if you need some advice and help, and we can certainly help answer questions. Justin put these in 3 places in our bedroom to charge our devices. Super helpful! I don’t think RV’s come with enough of these.   

Do you boondock? If so, I found this very helpful! It sits in my bathroom and in the middle of the night, I can have a nice soft light! And the colors are fun for kids too. Easy for them to use to see! Dimmable LED Nightlight  

Water Bladder  – If you boondock, this will be such a convenience for you! Who doesn’t always need a little more water?

Plastic bins – I would highly recommend getting sets of these all in the same size. We use these for all of the below items.  I used these labels to also write on each bin even though they were see-thru (you can call me an organization freak … I’m ok with that Ha Ha) Measure … measure …. measure. Get the most of your space with the sizes you can. 

• Games
• Pet supplies/medicines
• Batteries
• Household items (like glue, tape, command strips, velcro)
• Cords
• Nuts/Bolts/fuses – These are stored in our under storage area. Well worth the money! Very good quality and helps keeps you really organized. 

Magma nesting pot set – Ok RVers … these right here will change you! We had the hardest time making this purchase because of the price, and after over a year on the road, I couldn’t be happier with these pans. My only complaint is they didn’t somehow incorporate a pancake pan. Ha Ha Keep in mind, there are two kinds of these pans. The ones we got were the exact link I sent. They are the non-stick ones. I do not have an induction cooktop but they do make these compatible with an induction cooktop if that’s what you have. Make sure you buy the ones that best suit you. You will not regret this purchase. Best pans we’ve ever owned, and take up such a small amount of space. 

De-humidifier – I never would have thought I needed this! Never! Our goals were to spend our time in 70* year round. Well, the first time it rained for 5 days straight, our pictures were falling off the wall and we had so much moisture on the inside of our windows, it was literally dripping. Of everything we bought for our RV, this was one of the top things I have enjoyed having. It really makes living in a small space more comfortable when it’s humid outside. This is the one we bought. It works very well, and has been very easy to store when we aren’t using it. 

Foldable step stool – I’m short! I always need an extra 11 inches! 

Plastic container for dry goods #1 and Containers #2 – You know when you order a set of storage containers, and they send you one normal size one, and 10 that you might be able to fit a grape into? Well, after our mice fiasco, I put most of our food in plastic containers, and was determined to find some that real food could fit in. I was not disappointed with either of these purchases! 

Something that did NOT work for me — the spice racks everyone seem to use. I did buy them. I did not like them. First off, we are spice hoarders. Ha Ha So taking up the room for 6 or 12 spices wasn’t going to work. They did not stay on the wood finish I have. I tried the alcohol wipes, gorilla 2 sided sticky tabs, velcro, everything I could think of. 15 minutes and they were falling off. I threw them away. If they work for you, great! I have my spices just in my cabinet by the microwave. We do ok with them just like that. 

Peppermint essential oil – I do diffuse oil as well. But I defuse the high quality, brand named oils. I do not diffuse this brand of peppermint oil. Did you know Peppermint oil is a natural disinfectant? Mice/critter repentant? It is! And after having an issue with 5 little field mice, and lots of food of mine they thought they deserved to rummage through, I now am a firm believer in Peppermint Oil. I use it for many things.

• In a spray bottle mix two tsp of peppermint oil with 2 drops of liquid dish soap, and fill the rest with water. Spray under your trailer all around. It’s natural, so you can do this in a National Park or National Forest. I recommend once a week or so. This will also keep spiders and ants away as well. And everyone around will wonder where the nice Xmas smell is coming from. 
• Peppermint wicking pots can be made really easy. I bought a package of the wicks for tiki torches and cut them to about 4 inches (depends on the container you’re using. I used an old potato salad container). Cut a X in the top of your container. Insert the wick touching the bottom, and mix 2 tbs of peppermint oil with about half a cup of water. You can also add a drop of soap and stir. The soap keeps the oil and water from separating. Put these wicking pots in your food cabinets. Or under your bathroom/kitchen sink. 

Wheww! Did you take all that in? If you aren’t too tired – check out part 2 of this list here. We hope it was helpful. I know there are so many more things out there, and so many more things for us to add to this list. There will have to be a part 2 at some point, because as I’m typing this, I’m thinking of many more things that can help keep you organized. Stay tuned for more helpful tips, but if you have any questions in the meantime, let us know! Thank you again for your support and we appreciate you using our links. 

Remember to always Live Simply, Give More and Expect Less!