I'm a camping geek. Let's share our tips.

[the4moores]

I'm a total geek when it comes to camping and I love finding out new ways to make our campsite more functional. Do you have tips.
Things that we do to make things easier is to :
1)Use a bungee cord through a paper towel roll and hang on the inside roof of our dining tent or you can hang it from table cloth hooks on the picnic table. That way you always know where it is.
2)Use a four drawer plastic storage for cutlery, plates, cups, and dish towels. Keeps all of this organized and easy to reach plus it keeps them off of the picnic table.

Any other ideas? What do you do with your shower stuff? Do you set up a wash area around the water at your campsite? What do you set up in your tent to keep clothes organized?

 

[Andrew_Lubow]

I keep our sleeping bags inside garbage bags to keep moisture & insects out. Organize as much as you can in ziplock bags for the same reason. Keep ponchos handy in case there's rain. Have a whiskbroom and small dust shovel handy to sweep out sand from the tent. Remember the sand pad you'll be camping on has been compacted by many types of equipment so bring nail tent pins or someting similar and a mallet to pitch your tent. Xmas lights are a nice touch to decorate your site and give a soft ambient lighting that's handy for late night movement around your area. Don't forget a laundry bag to do your wash!

 

[the4moores]

Christmas lights...I'm so excited that's a great idea. I can see my husband rolling his eyes when I tell him but I don't care these things make me happy.

 

[shep]

I think I'm gonna hang christmas lights on our awning of our camper our first time...DW will probaly kill me...

 

[jenny2]

Great idea! I was going to buy those specialty awning lights that Camper's World sells, but they're so darned expensive. But I have tons of Christmas lights around.

Thanks for the idea

 

[Whosemom]

Hi, we're newbies at the whole camping thing, but LOL on the Christmas lights. We have been camping a whole four times, and my Griswold-ish DH had the lights up the second time. Silly man. But I'll be checking here for all the help we can get.

Does anyone have an easy to erect screened awning (dining tent?) the one we bought about ruined our weekend before it really started. Ugh. I'd get to the last piece of post, and it would collapse on the other end. Someone told me the one at Target was pretty easy...

Micki

 

[tiggereyore]

Micki
My M&D have a great one from LL Bean. It's huge very easy set up (my dad can do it. He can drive a 40' RV but took him 2 yrs to figure out 2 poles. It's probably 5 yrs old and still looks new. Don't know if they still have it I''ll go check.......
Hi they still have it 13'X13' 7'3" center height weighs 16 lbs. only comes in tan and it $249 LLBean stock #TA22658.

We got it cause we went through 3 in 3 yrs at $40 each. Seemed worth it at the time ($199). $50 increased in 5 yrs isn't to bad. Plus llbean backs up their stuff. Good luck I think we're going to be investing in another.

 

[Whosemom]

Thanks! Tiggereyore

out of my price range for now. I hoping to not top, say..., $125. I know its better in the long run to buy a nicer one, but that darn electric company!

Micki

 

[DisneyLove]

About the X-mas lights, I bought an outdoor light timer that works great with them. Its nice to not have to worry about pluging the lights in every night. Its also very nice after a long day in the parks to came back to your campsite and the lights already be on.

 

[spottydog1]

DisneyLove: Thanks for the outdoor timer reminder, I would have forgotten it! We always use it at home for our Christmas lights, but have never packed it camping. I'm going out to buy another for the RV.

 

[BluOrchid2]

For all you guys that love outdoor lights, check out www.cheesylights.com - they've got TONS of great, fun lights!

 

[Plan Man]

I have so many camping gadgets I can't keep track of them all. I am always trying to make my life easier.

Bungees - I have hundreds
Tarps - probably 20
Tons of other stuff - flashlights for every need, battery operated everything.

We keep opur shower stuff in backpacks - just grab the pack and off you go. They hang up nice in almost every shower stall and the clothes and other stuff doesn't fall out.

We go camping with freinds and family a lot - tent trailer. I love to have them stump me - come up with a need I can't solve.

However I don't have any Christmas lights - I bet I will have them when we go in October.

My current favorite mostly camping toy is an electric scooter - I use it to round up my four kids for dinner or whatever.

 

[the4moores]

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THOSE BUNGEE CORDS?

 

[Plan Man]

I have all kinds of sizes and different kinds of ends. (some really small ones. Almost rubber band size. Rubber or cloth type bungees. Different colors.

I use them to hang things or hold things. For example - I almost alway hang one from the awning (tent trailer) near the door and hang my shower bag on it. It always seems that hanging things at eye level or lower is more conveneint - flash lights - lanterns - things you want handy but don't want on the ground or in your trailer. Lots of times I use them to hold rain covering tarps to cover more area. they are so versatile.

All right I am a geek too?????

 

[MontanaCowgirl]

We have a truck camper & we never leave home without our trusty drawstring bag FULL of various sized bungee cords! The main reason I use them seems to be to attach the electrical cord & water hose to the strut to keep the wind from banging it against the side of my pickup! Saves the paint job! Also we use them to attach things to the ladder on the back of the camper..like my rolling bag lady cart...hehehe. I use it for laundry!

Another thing we never leave home without is our bug zapper light! We have one that works for a 1/4 acre. That helps out our neighbors on both sides too! It gets mounted on a pole about 15 feet from the back door of the camper & we never get skeeters & such in the camper. Makes for nicer outdoor dining too!

Another thing I have a separate one just for the camper is a craft/tool kit. It has everything you need in one carrying case from scizzors to glue gun to measuring tape to every type of screw driver you would ever need, plus a hammer! Great for those tent stakes! You can get them at Wal Mart for about $10!

I love the idea of the timer for the lights! I always left the back light on...glad I don't have to anymore! That cheesylights site has some really cute lights! Of course being ranchers we got the cows & horses! hahaha

This is great...sharing suggestions like this!



time is going by waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to slow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rams408]

We don't really cook much at our camper when we are at Disney (Too much else to do). But when we cook while camping our favorite item is our little ice chest. See, our big cooking problem was keeping food hot, while other items finished. Not anymore. We just wrap finished food item in foil and place in chest. That food is still too hot to touch when we remove it!!!!

Other good camping tip is an indoor/outdoor carpet thing in front of door.

 

[blewits]

anyone looking for christmas lights needs to check this site out.


www.cheesylights.com

it's awesome! some of the tackiest lights i've ever seen. i love em!

wendy

 

[daughtersrus]

We don't have Christmas lights but our Rope Lights have been a big hit! Every time we use them, someone comes up and asks where we got them. I hate to tell them that I only paid a few dollars on clearance at Target!

When we went to FW in July, my dh brought along an extra set of Malibu lights (also on clearance but this time at Wal-mart ~less than $10 for the whole set!). He set them up along our "driveway and canopy area. He set the timer to go on at dusk and stay on for 4 hours. It was easy to find our site after a long day at the parks.

A man and his gadgets!


I guess that we're on a light theme because our next favorite thing is the light the I got him for our grill. Our trailer came with a gas grill that clamps on to the outside. The only problem is that it's towards the back of the trailer~out of the light by the door. So....for Father's Day, I got him a grill light. You replace the handle on the grill with this new handle/flashlight. It's great! He can actually see what he's cooking. I also got him a second one for our Weber at home!

Are we the only ones that eat so late while camping?! Too much to do during the day I guess!

 

[MontanaCowgirl]

Living on a working ranch we often eat late...all summer we rarely eat before 9pm...winter we eat by 8pm...that's what happens when your life is ruled by cows!

So we are all ready used to the late dining hours when we camp...to us it's normal! And yes I do believe it has a lot to do to just being busy until a late hour...camping or otherwise!

 

[Magickndm]

Are we the only ones that eat so late while camping?!

So we're not the only one's grilling hamburgers at 10:30 at night?