Camping - how to do it better next year (DIBNY)

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Before we even set off this year, DH and I were discussing how we could do it better next year, and it occurs to me that this is one of the great (and many) pleasures of camping.

So what will you do better? What’s your DIBNY?

Our first thought was that we would get a load of boxes that exactly fit the boot of the car and pack into those. And bring a bottle opener.

Boomtown? Wow! That’s ambitious! Isn’t there a big hill that stuff has to be lugged up? Our teeny tiny Festival tent took itself and 2 young people to Boomtown yesterday.

Dunno, my mate and her van have taken all the big stuff in advance, I've just got a rucksack full of vodka and age inappropriate clothing 😉

Back after a week and we have a long list for next year. Top of that list is to buy a new tent! Found out during storm Antoni that the tape on all the seams had disintegrated, a couple of holes in the groundsheet and a few tears here and there (it was lent out and stupidly didn't check when we got it back!). Used all our towels mopping up puddles the first night and very nearly lost the whole thing in the wind.

Things to do again - took a pop up laundry bin so all dirty stuff can just be dragged to the washing machine and all remaining clean clothes put away easily. Picnic rug outside to take shoes off then a rug inside to put slippers on. No grass inside.

Found out during storm Antoni that the tape on all the seams had disintegrated

We got caught in that too. In the middle of the night a huge gust of wind blew the side of the awning in and knocked our table flying. It had all the pots on it and a waiting to be cleaned in the morning Cobb BBQ, so the noise was incredible. As was the mess. BBQ ash all over the carpet.

Excellent camping energy 😂

Thanks to you all for such an uplifting and interesting read. Just returned from a few days camping and have been gleefully adding notes to my phone of little tweeks that we'll be doing next time.

Definitely talking about the little improvements for next time was such a fun part of the trip.

Used a lot of your tips & experience so thank you!

My children are quite shy so taking our swingball was a big hit as it meant they had something to share with the other children. Also! My husband's impulse buy of an inflatable sofa was brilliant...gave us more seating options and was so comfy!

Our little trip to Go Outdoors yesterday has resulted in the purchase of a heated camping chair.

We saw the heated chairs in the sale. My husband was a bit dubious as they were USB powered. How warm does it get?

We ended up buying a folding two seater to replace our awful inflatable sofa.

We always had two nice comfy chairs and two very basic chairs. This year I upgraded the basic ones to nice comfy ones. Big improvement. Now nobody gets the bad chair!

Does anyone know of a kitchen cupboard thing with adjustable legs? Ours is always sloping a bit and it would be nice to adjust. I wouldn’t trust putting just wedges under the feet as we’d be bound to knock it and set fire to everything.

Also we are still on lilos as the SIMs of sufficient thickness to look comfy are huge, and might push us over the edge space wise. Plus would cost a bomb to upgrade 4 people’s sleeping mats. None of us find lilos especially cold or uncomfortable, and whenever I’ve tried lying on a sim in the shop, it doesn’t seem that great. But I’m still tempted!! Anyone still just on lilos?

We use air beds when camping in a conventional tent or sleeping on friends’ or relatives’ floors. I always sleep really well on them… as long as we have two singles.

We have a doormat, but I also try and get a large piece of chunky cardboard if there's mud/rain. Just a packing box- sometimes you can get from a supermarket, or the recycling bins on the campsite. Flatten, and then put in front of the door. It will absorb drips and water from shoes, and a fair bit of mud too, and you can recycle when you're ready. I find it often works better than a doormat. An umbrella is easier for runs to the loo block in rain than a coat, you can also leave it outside.

Also, if the shower block has private cubicles with a basin in, when you finish your shower, wrap a towel around you, take your things and move to there. You will get and feel dry about 100 times faster, because you are not trying to get dressed where there's load of steam, and there's no danger of throwing your pants in a puddle on the floor. It also frees up the shower and queues move more quickly. There's a fair chance it will have a mirror in it too.

We took duvets this year instead of sleeping bags and liked them more- easier to pack too. We also had a much better fridge, which takes up a lot of room but made life so much easier. We keep eyeing up cadacs, but not sure we'd use it that much.

If you have a tent you can stand up in, why not take a towelling dressing gown? Perfectly decent... You wear this to and from the shower (if you are really worried you can wear undies both ways as well) and dress in the comfort of your tent. Personally I have a high air bed, which is invaluable for sitting on while you get dressed in things like sox, just like you (I) would do at home.

We got a new tent yesterday! So now we have a tent we can stand up in. We went for a Decathlon tent as all the reviews were good and it was a good price (do not all tell me about your terrible Decathlon tents now, I do not want to know 😂).

No idea when we are going to use it yet as life is very up in the air, FiL is very unwell and DH is taking a lot of responsibility on for keeping things going, bless him. But it feels like a promise for the future that we will go away again. I’m hoping for some jaunts to the Peak District in it as we all loved it, DS has become quite the little hiker and scrambler and it’s not too far away to make it a weekend trip with the tent. So excited 😊

just back from our latest trip, found a towel poncho to be a game changer, use for drying & just wear it back to the tent after showering. Can't stand getting dressed while i'm damp

Ooooh just had this delivered!! Very excited to look cool and keep some power!

Just been packing the car to go camping tomorrow.

One of the best things I have is a cube shaped picnic bag (can't even remember where I got it from) which is just about big enough to put in all the plates, bowls etc, a plastic box with cutlery, wooden spoon, spatula, a collapsable strainer, a bag with all the washing up stuff, some rags for wiping tent down if wet when packing, clothes line, pegs and probably a load of other things I've forgotton. I can pretty much pick it up and go as it is permanently packed.
I make sure anything used is replaced/cleaned and I put it away with a note in the top with contents to remind myself it's all ready next time.

I have a shoe box with all the lighting stuff and some other things, and loads of spare batteries. That's always ready so no running round looking for things.

I tried boxes in the car one year - I found it very inefficient and didn't use again. Better to use things you can squish in places in the car.

Hooks are really handy - I've got loads and hang them around the tent and use them for hanging coats, towels, lights etc.

We've just bought a OEX Heiro stove which is brill as it boils 2 cups of water in a couple of minutes. We will be ditching the kettle and using that this time for drinks.

A list is essential for checking you've not forgotton anything.

we are biker campers and over the years have minimised items but taking enough stuff to be comfy, tent we can stand up in (tunnell) that folds down to go on back of sissy bar folding mini chairs and fold up table fits in there too , Head barrel bag that fits in the air beds, sleeping bags, fleeces, these get strapped with canvas straps to sissy bar then one pannier has picnic plates, tent light cups, mini kettle bag of cutlery, gas burner that fits in a cube 3 inches gas canisters, coffee all in one sachets, wet wipes as we only go to weekend rallies, then other pannier has clothes hairbrushes tooth brushes etc ,

luckily our bike is a big cruiser its like playing jenga but its amazing how much we can get on it and how little you need rather than want on a camping weekend,

when we go in the car camping totally different ballgame duvets proper pillow bigger table and chairs and half the kitchen goes with us