1. Wipe feet on mat before entering. Have additional mat in underneath storage to get out when stopped. (Do not leave behind!)
2. Take shoes off at door.
3. Have multiple rugs on floor. Shake often.
4. Limit opening fridge door while going down the road as items tend to fall out.
5. Stabilize all dishes after meals. Either wash, dry, and put away or pile in sink for later clean-up. Place water and coffee cups on grip mat on counter before putting into drive.
6. Line cabinets with grip mats.
7. Take paper goods or plastic-type dishes. Our (I thought indestructible) tin cups and Corelle bowls got grooves, scratches, and small chips from continuous vibration on bad roads.
8. Turn water pump on before washing hands and using toilet. Turn off when finished. A couple of times the faucet handle was left up, so when the pump was turned on, water gushed forth!
9. Conserve water. Turn it off when brushing teeth, sudsing up in the shower, or rinsing dishes. Wash dishes in a bowl or basin to dump outside. There's no use in hauling around more gray water in the tank than necessary (added weight)! Our 40 gallon fresh water lasted our family of 7 approximately 3 days. We usually needed to dump black &gray water before we actually ran out of fresh. Oh, and let husband deal with disposal of such things.
10. All females throw bathroom t.p. in trash can to alleviate plugging the black tank. I found myself doing this for the first day or so after we were home since it had become such a habit!
11. Buy quick to prepare groceries...white rice rather than brown (less cooking time), canned beans rather than dry (hard for this frugal mama, but so much simpler), cold cereal (gasp! I haven't bought it for years, but baking granola in an RV is not feasible), canned meat/hot dogs/sausages. I actually splurged on boneless, skinless chicken after we used up all the home-canned (another rare purchase). Our frequent meals were eggs & fried taters, pancakes, cereal, spaghetti, stir fry, taco salad, straw hats, ramen noodles with chicken & gravy (fast & filling. Ignore long list of unpronounceable, nonfood ingredients), chicken fajitas & rice, PBJs, meat & cheese wraps, BBQ sandwiches, snacks, snacks, and more snacks.
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| Invite friends in if you have the chance! |
12. Make bed each morning. Fold blankets and move pile to back bed so couch and buffet can be used during the day.
13. Turn on fan and vent bathroom when showering, overnight, and sometimes while driving to dry the towels. Our bath towels only needed washing once or twice in 7 weeks because they did not stay damp long.
14. Adults take showers every other night at the most. We're simply riding along. Since we traveled north the end of summer, it was rarely hot, sweaty weather. Children sponge bath regularly with a full-blown bath weekly.
15. If traveling with another rig, take walkie-talkies to communicate. Especially if you're in wilderness where no cell towers exist! Our phones had sketchy service a lot of the time and only one had Canadian calling. The radios were very important for warning of bad spots in the road, discussing meal plans, needing to stop for a stretch, sightings of wildlife on the roadside, and reading area history from the tour book.
"Got a copy Big Al?"
"10-4. Go ahead, Maverick."
16. Pack 5-7 outfits. Catch up on laundry every other week. Wear clothes more than 1 day if they don't stink or have spots.
17. Take grandparents along. There may be special perks and treats.
