Organizing The RV On a Budget
Updated for 2023!! Many more bonus items were added!
I can’t count the number of times someone has walked into my RV and said, “Oh my gosh, I need that; where did you get it?”. I put together a large list in our first blog but realized there were so many more things I forgot. We’re in our 6th year of full-time travel, and we’ve learned a lot about what works and doesn’t.
We try to do all our organizing on a small budget. I hope you find the following items useful. Please reach out if you have any questions or need further ideas on organizing your RV.
Check out our other organizing blogs:
- The Best Tips for Organizing Your RV Stuff
- RV Accessories for the Bathroom
- The Most Unique (and Useful) RV Products You’ll Love
- RV Accessories for the Kitchen
- Our Top RV Kitchen Gadgets
- Solutions For Your RV Spice Storage
- How to Store Board Games in an RV, Tiny Home or Small Space
Keyholder – Organizing your keys! We have this hanging just inside the RV door so we could always have our keys easily accessible.
Drawer Dividers – I love these in my kitchen drawers. I know it takes up just a bit more space in such a small drawer, but they really work! They keep everything on it’s own side, and because they are adjustable, they will fit in any drawer. I put them in one of my plastic bins to divide stuff and use them in my clothes drawers. You won’t be sorry! They have really come in handy.
Storage Baskets – These are the best I’ve ever had! Very sturdy and fit perfectly in my closet. I actually have 9 of them stretched across the back of my closet shelves. Three on each shelf. I keep overflow bathroom items inside (ace bandages, hiking items, cleaning supplies I don’t often use, water filters for the trailer, vacuum accessories, winter hats, gloves, and scarfs. There are so many uses for these, and I’ve had these baskets since before we started living full-time in our RV. They are still in perfect shape.
Locker Shelf – As funny as this might sound, this is a perfect fit in most RV cabinets. So many people complain about needing something to add more shelf space inside the cabinet. These work great!!
Picnic Caddy – We eat together with friends a lot! This makes it so easy to gather everything we need to meet our friends outside.
Security Safe – Don’t forget just because you’re not in a sticks-and-bricks house doesn’t mean you don’t need to secure your items. We love our safe! Hint: Make sure you secure it permanently to the floor somewhere convenient.
Speaking of securing your item, check out these fire-safe bags! Small! Compact! And you can always get a few of them and store your important documents inside.
An Organizing Video for You!
We recently made a video using some amazing spice cabinet organizing tools. I will link them below the video!
These are the spice trays used in the above video.
Accessorizing An RV On a Budget
Drinking water hose – Please don’t forget you need a special hose for filling your drinking water.
Weather Radio – If you’re living in your RV full-time, this is not an option. As much as it might seem like a frivolous purchase, it’s not. We know we can rely on the internet for most weather, but when you’re sound asleep during a storm, you aren’t going to be able to rely on the internet. This is a super useful tool. Like a fire alarm, you should have this.
RV Sewer Hose Support – No one likes to talk about the sewer, but this is a really handy item to have.
2023 Update
I love these wall-mounted dry food dispensers!! I don’t travel with kids, but I imagine these would be so handy traveling with kids. Getting two sets of these is highly recommended. Even if you mount these inside your storage cabinet or pantry vs. on a wall outside, you’ll find some great things to use this for. Cereal, rice, pasta, coffee beans, candy, oatmeal, snacks, trail mix, and much more!
Ok, these Twist & Lock shower caddies have worked really well! No drilling is needed, and they really do stay put! There are so many options! Here are a few we love!
Metal Folding Table – You won’t realize just how much you will love these until you get them. They are perfect for sitting outside. Easy to store. And they don’t melt when you put hot stuff on them.
Water Bandit – Ever heard of one? Me either! Not until we got to a water spigot that didn’t have threads to fill our tank with our traditional hose. That’s when my talented husband said, “I spent $10 on this really cool thing just for this purpose”. And pulled this out of our toolbox. We’ve used it many times and helped friends many times with it.
Screen Door Handle – This has been one of my top favorite items we installed in our RV. Between this door handle and the screen door protector you can find here, it’s made our life much easier. Did I mention we have a dog who has put her head through the screen door a few times?
Garmin RV GPS – 1090 – Everyone always asks us about our GPS. We love our Garmin RV edition. Our two favorite things are the voice command (though when you say anything close to “voice command” while talking to your significant other, the GPS will chime in and yell at you in a most demanding voice, “SAY A COMMAND”. Ha!) The other favorite thing about it we enjoy is that we have put the height and length of our RV into the settings, and the GPS will not take us on any roads that we can’t fit down or bridges that are too low. We have had zero problems with our GPS, other than the occasional new road that was added. We do have free lifetime map updates.
Meat Chopper – This sounds like a funny thing to add to my list, but I actually listed this on a group list I was on as my #1 favorite kitchen tool. Ha!
Shower Squeegee – This has really helped keep the humidity down when needed and also helped keep the water spots off the shower doors. We’ve used it for a year now. No problems and it’s never fallen off the shower wall.
Don’t laugh! It’ll happen to you! Day of the Week Clock. I used to think it was crazy not to know what day of the week it is. I’m so there!! When you don’t have a regular job, it’s hard to keep track of the days.
Bug Zapper – You are going to absolutely LOVE me! 🙂 We’ve actually had more fun with these than we should have. But in reality, these work amazing!!
Brita Water Pitcher – We do have a whole RV filter, but we still filter the drinking water and water for making coffee, which goes through yet another filter. Guess I’m a little neurotic about my water.
Collapsible Colander with Funnel – Another great item for the small RV.
Portable Washing Machine – I elected not to have a washer and dryer installed in my RV. I already had a dishwasher I didn’t want. I prefer to go to the laundromat and just get all my laundry done in an hour, a couple of times a month. This is a good alternative for those in-between times or when you have a “hand wash” item you just need to do yourself. It’s easily stored, small, and you can use it outside even.
Clothes Line – You’ll use this more than you think!
Wash All – You will love this waterless cleaner. Super easy and the best product I have ever used to wash/wax your RV. Go ahead, read the reviews, and ask around.
Bose Bluetooth Speaker – This is the most epic sound in a small speaker we have ever heard. We love sitting outside, and this little speaker is perfect for streaming music.
So – You’re shopping on Amazon? I mean, who doesn’t, right? Please consider using our link. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and it gives us a few extra pennies. Click below to use our link and then just shop like normal. Don’t forget ~ check out within 24 hours, so we get credit! Thank you!! It really means a lot to us!
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FYI your clothesline link, links to another product
Ohhhh Thank you for letting me know. I will fix that. Have a wonderful day!
Thank you again! 🙂 All fixed!
I read part one and two as well. Good list. It’s amazing the things you need and how much space what you need takes up. We are about to wrap up our second year of full time and it never ceases to amaze me what we carry with us. We’ve adopted a “one thing comes in” and “one thing goes out” policy in our RV. We all have things we don’t use often and those tend to be the “things that go out.” Thanks for posting this.
Thank you! We really are so minimal that if we don’t use it we definitely just give it away. We have a 20/20 rule. If we haven’t used it but we just aren’t sure if we might in the future, we decide to let it go if we can get it within 20 miles and it’s $20 or less. If it doesn’t fit in those categories, we usually keep it for a bit longer. LOL