Good morning! Good morning! I’m so excited- it’s finally time to spring clean and pack the camper for the season! I’m also excited to share a free, printable list of items we leave inside the camper for the whole season. I use this list every year to make sure the camper is packed and ready to go.
Usually in March, I spring clean the camper. Then, we can go camping a few times in the early spring. But this year Iowa has been so windy and cold, that we waited.
In late March, the husband did un-winterize the camper. He checked that the furnace, water heater, water pump, refrigerator and stove all worked. He also checked the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Of course, the next 2 weekends had low temperatures, in the upper 20’s, so the husband opened the cupboards to expose the pipes and ran the furnace on low to prevent the pipes from freezing.
While the husband gets the mechanical and outside of the camper ready for camping, I get the inside ready. I don’t mind spring cleaning the camper- it is way smaller than the house!
When spring cleaning the camper, I wash or vacuum everything: floors, walls, inside cupboard, blinds, chairs, the sofa…. I used to even wash the ceiling, but the 5th wheel is taller than our other campers, so the husband just washes the spots that he needs to.
My main goal is to sort, pack and get the camper loaded for the season.
When the camper is all ready, it’s easy for me to just check a short list, pack food and go camping!
Years ago, we camped in a tent with little kids, but it was lots of packing, hauling and unpacking. Since we have the camper ready to go, it is much easier and we go camping more often. To help me be ready to camp, I have 3 lists that I use: a food/menu list, a take every time from home list and the leave in the camper list. I even have a frugal tent list for those ‘not so little anymore’ kids, who are thinking about starting to camp.
My lists have changed over the years. The ‘take every time from home’ list used to be very long. But it took a lot of time to repack and unpack the camper, so we started collecting extras of things to leave in the camper all the time.
(Click above for the Printable Download)
Many things were garage sale items, auction item, hand-me-downs or Christmas presents, so it wasn’t expensive to stock the camper. It did take a few years to find everything frugally, but adding a ‘to buy/find’ section onto the ‘take every time from home’ list helped me remember what to watch for.
Some things for the camper we did buy new. These practical luxuries for the camper aren’t necessary, and many have frugal options, but they have proven worth the money. Of course, they also stay in the camper so we don’t have to haul them out when it is time to go camping.
Eventually, the ‘leave in the camper’ list grew while the ‘take every time from home’ list became shorter. Our time to pack and unpack the camper also became much shorter! Now, I have a just small list (like medicine) that I check before we go camping. Then, we can toss in food and go!
I’m so excited to finish spring cleaning the camper, hopefully we will be able to go camping soon. With the ‘keep inside the camper’ list we will be able to go camping on short notice, without all the packing, hauling and unpacking of supplies!
Hopefully, this list will help you get your camper ready for the season and be able to easily and quickly go camping!
Happy Camping (or washing and vacuuming!)
Frugal Campasaurus