Being organised whilst camping

[ProudCoralBear]

I feel like I’m quite an experienced camper and we’ve cut down on what we take but finding anything whilst we are away is always chaos, no matter how well we think we’ve packed from the moment we arrive everything is everywhere what are your best camping organisation tips, hacks anything that you do that helps?

Shoes off and next to the door every time, if possible we have a bag for life allocated for that. We have bags for life that are freestanding and unpack into them, they are diff colours so the kids can find stuff. Eg board games in the blue bag, outside toys in the green bag, all swimming stuff stays in the car after drying outside, beach stuff in the yellow bag. In our tent we have one area for sleeping and one living room, all bags go around the edge of this with any extra/unneeded stuff in bags in the boot of the car eg dirty clothing bag. One fluorescent zip bag for all keys/ phones and one for all torches

Packing cubes!

We use a small fold away holdall for each persons clothes and toiletries. Stuff mostly stays in the holdall and then we use one of those pop up shoe stores and slot the holdalls in there with some bits out on the spare shelves (like nappies, wipes, a jumper each).

Kitchen wise we have four small plastic crates which fit inside each other so don't take up space when packed but means we can have seperate tubs for eg coffee/tea/squash, washing liquid/sponge/tea towel/bin bags, little snacks.

Mostly here for more tips though cause I like order and it's hard to find in a tent!

Also to mention, I've scrawled our names on the sides and tops of the holdalls so I can see who's is who's straight away. We have a pop up wash basket for dirty then at the end I allocate one or two holdalls for dirty so straight to the washer when home then the others for things that need put away when we get home.

This!

Also: if you have a car, keep everything in it. At night, Tent has next days clothes (in a packing cube!) wellies and waterproofs (no point them being in the car if it starts raining!) and any morning toys or snacks you need

I use a couple of folding car boot organisers - one has clothes, wash bag, hair brush etc in it. The other has pots and pans, plates, cutlery and any food that doesn’t need to be kept cold. A couple of pop up laundry bags for dirty clothes and to store shoes. Some clear plastic wallets for car keys, phone, kindle and power bank.

Thanks these are all helpful

If we're camping without a car nearby, but not backpacking so don't have to think about weight, we take an extra little 1-2 man tent to store the kit (pushchair, table, chairs, umbrellas, holdall etc)

This tent is referred to as "the car" for the duration of the trip (as in, "have you seen my waterproofs?" "Yeah, they're in the car") which can get strange looks from other campers

I should point out that DH, while he has many excellent qualities, is the untidiest person in the whole world and moving the stuff out of his sight is the only way it stays clean and dry

I think this os
probably what we need to do. We try and stay organised by keeping things in the car but then that causes issues if we need to drive somewhere and that’s when everything gets everywhere

Packing cubes are great for shorter trips, but don't work as well for us (from an organisational POV) if the trip is a week+.
We have 2 Ikea Drona boxes, one for shoes and one for coats that are kept by the entrance and stop you breaking you neck on a random shoe in the middle of the night.
We have a camping cupboard in the awning with different cubby holes for each person, which feels extravagant when I often CBA to use a wardrobe at home, but it keeps everyone's clothes in one place that is zipped up and off the ground, as well as providing an extra table top surface. We also have a cheapo Ikea fold-out laundry basket for dirty clothes, so nothing is ever scattered about.
Sticking with the Ikea theme, we have a cheap airer to dry stuff as when we moved to a trailer tent from a traditional tent, we lost most of the guy lines we used to peg the wet stuff to. It's smaller than we sometimes need, but definitely looks tidier and we can move it to follow the sun.
We have another smaller camping cupboard for food (which we keep inside the trailer rather than the awning to stop wildlife munching on it!), which gives vertical storage.

Our awning has steel poles, so we are able to use the hanging cylindrical mesh storage things which are marketed for cuddly toys in there. We use those for stuff like toiletries.

When DCs were smaller, particularly if camping with other families, we pitched a pup tent as a playroom with all the toys inside. It kept all the toys together and stopped DCs tramping mud and stickiness into our sleeping areas with all their friends to play (as well as stopping them doing the same to our friends!).

Oh, and we recently discovered velcro cable ties, which are fantastic for attaching things to poles etc. I keep a large bunch permanently in the trailer now.

We have a camp kitchen with cupboards. In it stays the kitchen stuff and food items that can be stored at air temp. W ehave. Bucket for dish washing and then a little peg bucket that cot aints all the dish soap and stuff.

We have a collapsible laundry basket.

Inside the tent there is a folding table which we set up as a shelf so kids stuff underneath, adults stuff on top(in packing cubes)

A bath mat in the internal door so no dirty/wet shoes on the floor.

Two room tent. First room is the gear. Second room is for sleeping and only sleeping. Do not go in there during the day. Only sleeping.

I found I had to rigidly enforce rules in the early days. No shoes in the tent. Something to sit on in the doorway and somewhere to store the shoes once off. Factor in the time it takes to get shoes on when going out and shoes off when coming home.

Tent needs to stay tidy and you don’t want to do it all yourself. Be rigid about everyone getting dressed where their clothes are and putting pj’s away in the morning and clothes away at night.

Make the beds every morning. Everything is so much neater. Everyone sits to eat and their plates go into the bucket once finished. It sounds horrendous but it becomes part of the routine.

When dd was small/short, I had a https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/klipsk-bed-tray-white-10289086/ that lived over her feet. I happen to have a small picnic basket that fitted oh so neatly under it so that was her play space. We got reading books, miniature My Little Pony stuff, a few Barbies (cos Barbies always need friends to talk to) with some changes of clothes, a cuddly toy, colouring book and pencils etc. if it didn’t fit in the basket and on the table, it didn’t go. Her toys were only in her little space and it had to be tidy before we did anything. She loved her little space.

On YouTube there are some incredible camping videos - mainly Japanese - on people constructing tents, and the gear they put in them to make everything organised and tidy!!
Not sure how I found them but they’re fascinating !

Collapsible plastic crates.

Plastic trugs of all different sizes. We use them for shoes, washing up, toys, beach stuff, BBQ gear ..... They all stack and squish for travel but are great to separate everything out once there.

Shoes are placed by the door on an outdoor mat, with a dustpan and brush nearby in case mud or dirt gets tracked in.

We use a 6-person tent, with one area set up as the living room.
To stay organised, we keep items in clear plastic storage bags so everyone can easily see the contents:

• one for outdoor toys and sporting equipment
• one for beach items
• one for board games
• one for extra blankets

Storage bags: www.amazon.co.uk/ClearSpace-Oversized-Moving-Bags-Storage/dp/B0CGXTQVG9/ref=sr_1_40_sspa?crid=QOUE7YO87T7B&th=1

For clothes and shoes, we use packing cubes to keep everyone’s things separate and tidy.

Packing cubes: www.awaytravel.com/en-gb/products/packing-cubes-four-jet-black

We also use clear plastic wallets to store essentials like keys, phones, and wallets.

Clear plastic wallets: www.ryman.co.uk/ryman-zip-bag-heavy-duty-a4-pack-of-5-1

For kitchen supplies, we pack everything into collapsible plastic crates and use a camp kitchen storage unit with cupboards to keep dishes, utensils, pots, pans, and food neatly organised.

Camp kitchen storage unit: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09B231YJJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title