How to Organize Your RV Before Your Next Camping Trip

Published on February 8th, 2023 by Carol Carimi Acutt

Our camping trips are some of the most treasured times my family has together. But preparing for a long weekend can be time consuming. Learning how to organize your RV is a science. There is always a long list of things to remember. Let me show you how to make that list shorter.

organize your RV closet
Organize your RV closet with author Carol Acutt

Learn How to Organize Your RV for Camping Trips with these 8 no-fail hacks

After years of camping with kids, I’ve developed some tricks to save myself time. Let me show you how to organize your RV and avoid stress when packing for a trip. 

Pre-Pack the Kitchen (Permanently!)

Moving items from the house to the RV the day before you leave for your trip is not only a drag, but it’s time consuming. And when you arrive back home, you have to reload the house kitchen with whatever you removed from it.

RV kitchen organization
Keep dedicated RV kitchenware inside. (Image: Carol Acutt)

Here’s a no-fail way to organize your RV kitchen

This will solve your RV kitchen packing challenges too. Just keep an entire set of the following RV kitchen essentials inside your camper:

  • pots & pans
  • cooking utensils
  • seasonings
  • oils & vinegars
  • kitchen towels
  • flatware
  • food storage containers
  • plates
  • glasses
  • wine tumblers (they double as coffee cups!)

Have a Spot for Everything

We are a family of four and have a 19 foot travel trailer, so space is limited. But everyone has a their own drawer inside the camper. We did that by purchasing a metal drawer set from the Container Store. Each person can remove a relatively large drawer and pack it with their own stuff.

Our camper also has a shoe cabinet. A good storage spot for any RV is underneath the fridge, or just use a small cabinet beneath the closet.

Designate a bag or a cabinet for dirty clothes and towels. This keeps the dirties out of site and removes the clutter of a pile of clothes while you are traveling.

RV closet organizer
RV closet organizer (Image: Carol Acutt)

Buy Towels and Sheets Just for the RV

Whether you designate old towels and sheets from the house or buy new ones, the RV should always have it’s own set of towels and linens. When you arrive home, you can wash the dirty linens and towels in one load. Then put them right back into RV, locked and loaded for the next trip.

Pack an Outdoor Tablecloth

There’s rarely an RV trip that doesn’t utilize a picnic table on the road. Do you even know what touched that picnic table? Yuck! Campground tables are usually dirty and unsanitary. A quick fix is to pack a waterproof outdoor tablecloth in your RV. Then your outdoor kitchen becomes instantly clean and stylish in seconds. 

Outdoor tablecloths cover grimy picnic table
Outdoor tablecloths cover grimy picnic tables.

Keep a Set of Cleaning Products and Tools in the Camper

Your RV should have its own set of your favorite cleaning products. Don’t forget cleaning rags, a broom, mop and perhaps a vacuum or hand vacuum. 

3 More Ways to Organize Your RV

Stock Fun Things to Do in a Cabinet or Drawer

Being off the grid is one of the best ways to decompress and playing games or coloring can do wonders for the mind. Keep your RV stocked with favorite card games, board games, markers, paints, paper, art and craft supplies, extra headphones, movies on DVD in case you don’t have WiFi, and books. 

reading paper maps at the campground
Paper maps are handy when you have no cell service on the road.

Stash Paper Maps and an Atlas in the RV

You never know when cellular service will disappear, or the GPS goes haywire. When you have a backup paper map, it’s nice to know that you can find your way if you get lost.

Got an RVing Pet? Store Pet Supplies Inside

If you have a pet, keep their bowls, leashes, beds, food and any other necessary supplies pre-packed in the RV. 

What RV Organization System Works for You?

Take time to learn how to organize your RV in a way that works best for you and your family. A little pre-packing and organization goes a long way to make your first RV trip that much more enjoyable. Happy RVing!


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5 thoughts on “How to Organize Your RV Before Your Next Camping Trip”

  1. Adding on to your “dirty picnic table” idea, I pack a throwaway, thin plastic painters sheet and a Twin-XL fitted sheet to go on top of the picnic tables. The gunky stuff is warded off by the thin plastic sheeting and the top sheet is usually some 50cent cute sheet from rummage sale. If the whole thing gets too messy to salvage, I just toss it.

      • Ah, recycling in general is a tough issue to address Debbie. There are so many places where recycling has been abandoned because of the lack of infrastructure and incentives to support it. The best thing you can do is to buy products that don’t come in single-use plastics.

    • I like your idea because a fitted sheet is less likely to blow off and a cheap sheet from a rummage sale is getting the last bit of use from an item that might have gone directly into landfill.

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