Shopping List for first Camping Trip #1: Home Stuff

Now that we have our list made – see our earlier post on Preparing for Camping – Making Lists – we have to decide what to load the RV with.  Yes, it’s time to shop for first camping trip.

Of course we want a comfortable home on the road with our RV.  Now go back to the list and decide what you need to buy and what you already have.

Choice 1 – move things between the house and the RV

As long as you are not full-timing (yet) like us, you will move some things to the RV before you head out each trip.  Such things would definitely include perishable items such as fruits and vegetables.  Other items may include pots and pans, clothing, towels and so on.  You may even want these items on a separate list, if you are a list-maker like me.  For us these include ‘big-ticket’ items such as:

• Vitamix for our smoothies & soup
• Cuisinart for just about everything else
• Soda Stream
• Personal electronics like phones, kindles, iPads, etc.
• Chargers for those electronics (may want to buy some specifically for the RV)
• Diesel Shoes (shoes I wear when walking around truck stops and keep handy on the RV)
• Pots and Pans
• Games
• Selection of DVDs for grand kids and rainy days
• Food
• Seasonal clothes

Choice 2 – buy things for the RV

Now we come to the fun part… shopping.  Our RV has a king size bed, so our queen size sheets in our house simply won’t fit no matter how hard I try.  We purchased a mattress cover and 2 sets of sheets.  Since we are planning on full-timing we decided to buy things for the long-term, not just for weekend trips.  They included:

• Batteries for the remotes, flashlights and weather station
• Corelle Dishes (4-set that is enough for the two of us plus for serving or a guest that didn’t bring their own)
• Storage – 2 sets of Snapware that we purchased at Costco and has a lifetime warranty – some for the kitchen, others that will be used in other areas.  We also purchased a set of shoe-box sized plastic containers that fit in the small storage cabinets in the living area. If you want a great perspective on storage options on RVs see Gone with the Wynns article and video – RV Organizing, Don’t be a Hot Mess.
• Phone cradle since we use Google maps for our navigation and don’t want to move the cradle from car to RV
• Sheets, mattress cover & pillows
• Bath towels
• Kitchen towels
• Garbage/recycle bins for under the sink
• Spice containers – we have plenty of spices so we opted to buy more glass containers and split the spices we most often use.
• Consumables
  • RV Toilet paper
  • Holding tank chemicals
• Vacuum – after our first camping trip thinking we could have 3 large dogs and just sweep things out while camping, we realized that does not work for us.  The house vacuüm is too large to use and store on the RV.  After watching many reviews and based on our own experience with Dyson we ended up finding a sale on the Dyson DC59 Digital Slim Cordless Animal Vacuum with a 20 minute vacuüm time and a quick recharge at Target.  We have yet to try it out camping – so as they say in TV Land – stay tuned!

Choice 3 – use things you have

If you have already been a camper you may already have a few things that can simply be moved to the RV.  For us they included:

• Coleman stove & propane bottles
• Extra toothbrushes & personal hygiene items
• Snuggle blankets
• Extra electronics chargers
• Spices
• Silverware & utensils
• Sponges, sprayers, dish soap
• Broom

If you made your list, it is pretty easy to decide what to

• Move to the RV before each trip
• What to buy and store permanently in the RV
• What you already have and can keep in the RV

Next up ->  I’ll stay on the inside, but cover the front cab area.  Let our paths cross soon!

Jengle