Tiny car - how little stuff can I get away with taking?!

[DoingItForMyself]

Have just separated from H and previously we took 2 small cars camping, one for people, one for gear (and even then only just managed to squeeze it all in). I now only have my small hatchback & 3 DCs to fit in it, along with camping gear.

The site is 3 miles from a supermarket so I can buy food when I get there.

My thinking is that if I buy pre-cooked food or even a disposable bbq then I won't need pots & pans, I can get mates to make me a cuppa so don't need gas hob, don't need picnic table/chairs, we can just sit on rugs.

Can I get away with taking:

tent & tools
airbeds
sleeping bags
few clothes
picnic rugs
torch
toiletries
games
plates/cutlery & washing up bits

Am I missing anything vital here?! Has anyone tried camping in a minimal style and found it ok?

Could you buy disposable playes/ cups etc from the
Supermarket? You wouldn't need washing up stuff
Either then?

Fab idea ElliesMad. Maybe I should buy them for home to save washing up too?!

Lol! Might work out expensive but no washing up? Maybe :)

What tools are you taking with the tent? If you're traveling light, leave out the mallet and borrow one when you get there.

Rather than a picnic rug, take a ground sheet and fleece blanket, the ground sheet can be used on its own if it's wet or with the blanket and the blanket can be used as bedding. A sarong makes a good picnic blanket too and can also be used as a towel, sheet or emergency clothing, dries fast too.

Have you got good compression sacks for the sleeping bags? I just made one for one of my old lightweight sleeping bags and reduced it in size by about half.

Decant toiletries into the smallest bottles/containers that you can get away with. I bought a tiny travel sized toothpaste but sometimes save and almost empty tube for travelling light. Also put the washing up liquid into a tiny bottle.

What kind of games do you have? Uno or card games are good as are inflatable beach balls.

Consider compact microfibre towels, even the big beach towel sized ones fold up smaller than normal towels. If you can bear it, don't take pillows, just pillowcases to stuff clothes into or even more minimalist, use a t-shirt as a pillowcase.

I've been camping with one DC and no car and we're getting better at cutting down the size and weight of our kit each time.

Thanks for those ideas Fanny especially leaving tools at home.

Didn't take pillows last time and slept crappily on first night, but I did roll up my jumper and used that which helped. How do make a compression sack - just a tighter version of the bag it comes in?

I always try to convince DCs to take the smallest toys they can find, cards, pencils, mini figures etc. but DD always ends up taking at least 2 rucksacks full of shite toys and endless changes of clothes.

Will be going old-school on the clothing, wellies & shorts, to cover all eventualities. Forgot about towels, but we do have some thin beach ones, so I'll take them.

H was always a bit excessive, had to take every possible gadget, including gas hob toaster, carpet lining for the tent living area, fold-up unit for the hob to sit on (what's wrong with using the table?!) so I'm quite looking forward to the challenge of going back to basics.

We use inflatable travel pillows to save space.

have you thought about vacuum bags for clothes/sleeping bags? we got 2 from argos this yr and its made a massive difference to the amount of stuff we are going to take.... they are great for pillows and blankets. we will need to borrow an electric air pump thing like you use for airbeds for on the way home. Depending on how much you want to spend I hear microfibre towels are good ( off ebay or similar)
toys wise card games are good- top trumps or just plain cards. or a small bag of mixed lego if your children are into that.

Good ideas Severn & Crazy - I have one of those pumps that you use in the car socket to inflate the airbeds - presume it will have a reverse setting to vacuum the clothes/pillows? Don't want to buy much new/extra as I don't have much spare cash, but if I can shrink what I already have that will be great!

yep, you can with ours. you can use the inlet that sucks air in to the pump iyswim and attach that to the vacuum bag hole and then turn it on. it then sucks the air out!. DH worked this out not me!

Had a weekend in scotland in May, with 4 of us in 1 car, tent and toilet took up most of the room. Only took 1 deckchair, for me! Unpack sleeping bags and shove them into crevices in car once big stuff is in, or roll out on back seat before putting kids on top! 1 water carrier, collapsible, 1 towel to share! Don't scrimp on blanket and wooly hat to keep you warm at night. Have a good holiday!