Hood Housekeeping
Van-keeping, while a little different than traditional housekeeping is, dare I say it? Kind of fun. I like the challenge of fitting everything in place, puzzles are one of my things. I find great satisfaction in keeping my tiny home tidy. It is a constant process and very necessary because in a space this small, things become cluttered incredibly fast. Life is a learn as you go process and we are learning what works best for us for van living. In this blog I mention items that I have found useful for van-keeping, there are no sponsorships here. Although I am willing to talk. Hope you enjoy this glimpse into van-keeping and find some useful tips here.
Itty Bitty isn’t Pretty
The need for constant rearrangement of things is a big difference between van-keeping and housekeeping. Living in a van means you must always rotate items according to the most current need, the shoes, clothing, jackets, food items that are not needed immediately are sequestered to the more inconvenient storage areas in tubs under the bed or at the back of the cupboard. So, when you do need one of those items, you must move everything else out of the way to get to them. Since there’s only room for so much in the easily accessible areas, you must pick the thing that will go to the back in exchange for what’s coming up front. It’s a constant process of evaluating today’s needs and rearranging accordingly. Grocery day is a challenge, particularly for someone (me) who has grown used to once weekly big stock-up grocery trips. Sam’s Club is my go-to store and completely out of the question in my current circumstance. Shopping little is something I’m still adapting to and it’s more difficult than it seems because I have a hard time passing up a good sale. It’s a weakness I know. Bargain hunting is addictive, but also space consuming, so I’m still learning to “Just say no” to the great, but maybe not needed right now, bargain.
Tiny Tip
Food packaging takes up an enormous amount of space, if it’s all going to fit, the packaging must go. I like stackable airtight canisters for storing dry goods like chips, crackers, rice and pasta, they stay fresh and fit uniformly in the cabinet. Cereal boxes are too tall for our cabinet space, but a standard size box of cereal fits perfectly into a 64-ounce mason jar. I use a rechargeable mason jar sealer to seal the deal and keep cereal fresh.
The Finite Fridge
One of the most difficult adjustments with moving into the van full time has been getting used to the little fridge. Oh, the pain, you’ve no idea.
Now, by camper van standards, my fridge is luxuriously large and even has a separate freezer compartment -WHAT?!? Yes, I have the mac-daddy of van fridges, but it still only has a total volume of 4.3 cubic feet, while a standard sized refrigerator has an average volume of 20-25 cubic feet. Um, where do I put the celery? A carton of eggs takes up HALF of one of my fridge shelves. There is no way I’m going to thaw a turkey in this baby. So, I must think twice about what perishable goods I’m buying now. Sometimes that means going back to the store more than once a week. This is a common practice for folks in many parts of the world, but here in ‘Merica, we like our mega-stores and big once-a-week shopping trips. We are convenience oriented, it’s a hard habit to break. However, when your fridge and cabinet space is very limited, smaller and more frequent purchases, especially of perishables, are necessary. I’m also learning to rely more on canned goods that are easier to stack and store. As with dry goods, unpackaging perishable food items is essential. I rely a lot on zipper storage bags to repackage meats and veggies, dividing them into smaller portions that can be tucked (crammed) into little nooks. Managing the fridge space is a daily game of food Tetris, but it gets easier the longer you do it. I admit though, sometimes when we’re in the grocery store, I can’t help but take an extra pass by the big hams in the meat case and just…stare longingly.
Schlepping
While some chores are standard amongst all types of households, there are subtle differences in execution. Take trash disposal and laundry for example, in a house you might walk your kitchen trash to the bin in the garage a couple of times a week and then push the bin to the curb once a week. In a van, trash disposal can be tricky. In the best circumstance (which, as of this writing we are currently in) there is a dumpster handily placed at the end of the campground for you to schlep your trash to every day. When we are traveling, it can be less convenient to take out the trash. We might have to rely on trash bins in shopping centers, gas stations or public parks to get rid of the garbage. We try very hard to be unobtrusive about taking out the trash in these circumstances, but sometimes taking out the stink earns you a stink eye. So sorry…sorry…please excuse us, etc. When we make supply stops on the road, we try to take advantage of the trash cans in the store parking lot to dispose of as much packaging as we can before we put away the groceries and drive on. Trash disposal while boondocking is a challenge and will become more of one when we get into more remote areas on our upcoming travels. Adjustments will need to be made when dumpsters are scarce and critters more plentiful. I see a sealed bear proof trash bin in our future.
Adjusting Standards to Match Reality
I was accustomed to washing the sheets every week back when I had a real bedroom and laundry room, but the van bed is incredibly difficult to make, so my sheet washing standards have slipped somewhat. Putting the fitted sheet onto the mattress in the back of the van is really a 2-person job. Completing this job is like wrestling a walrus into a wetsuit while trapped inside a coat closet that is exactly the width of the walrus. As a result, the sheet washing schedule now waits on when a day with fair weather when we are both available for the chore, or when Butch Catsidy barfs on the bedding. In between those rare occasions, I will wash the top sheet and pillowcases, vacuum the fitted sheet and spritz it all over with Febreze. Not great, but fresh enough for me and the guys I sleep with, those being Greg and Butch Catsidy, neither of whom have filed any complaints yet. I mean they are sleeping with me, how high could their standards be?
Schlepping a heavy laundry hamper is much easier if you can pull it along on wheels instead of carrying it. A wagon would be great, but space is so limited that it is out of the question. So, viola! The foldable luggage cart has become the laundry schlepping medium of choice for us. Easy to store, easy to fold out, easy to attach the hamper to, makes it MUCH easier to schlep the hamper to the laundry facility.
Toilet Training
Toilets have to be cleaned in both houses and RV’s, but typically, you do not have to remove your own sewage from your house. Once you flush, you’re done with whatever went down the pipe, not so in OurRamblinVan. We opted for the convenience of a Thetford cassette toilet. It is a 5-gallon removable tank that snaps into place below the toilet bowl. You access it through a door in the side of the van, snap it out and pop up the handle that folds in along the back of the tank. There are two wheels on the bottom of the tank, and you pull it, just like a carry-on bag, to the nearest toilet to dump the contents out and flush them down. It works like a charm, but the chore is less than charming if you catch my drift and holy hand grenades, the drift is nasty. The convenient part is that we do not have to rely on finding a dump station to empty the black tank. And…that’s about it as far as convenience goes.
Important tips for this type of toilet: When the tank reaches full capacity, there is a little green indicator on the base of the toilet that turns from GREEN to RED, we refer to this indicator as the “Red Light of Impending Doom.” As soon as you see the RED starting to show, dump the pooper ASAP! Secondly, if there are others that travel with you, make sure you let them know when you are dumping the tank, and if someone else is currently dumping the tank, DO NOT FORGET THE TANK IS GONE AND TINKLE IN THE TANKLESS TOITY! You maybe want to write that one down.
You must be careful about what type of cleaners you use on a camper toilet because if any bleach or disinfectants get into the tank, they can interfere with the chemicals you add to break down waste. I use Lysol (or generic brand) cleaning wipes to wipe down the toilet inside and out, then follow up by wiping down the inside of the bowl with a dry paper towel to remove any cleaner residue. That way nothing that shouldn’t be in the tank gets in the tank. Hand wiping a toilet bowl is different than using a brush. It’s icky, not going to lie. Be brave, wear disposable gloves and don’t talk about it at dinner parties, especially if you are the host.
Don’t be a stinker
OurRamblinVan was made for boondocking, and we love that. Getting out there and getting away from it all is why we chose this type of escape pod. Boondocking does pose some challenges though, one being water use. Now, if you are out there in the wild all by your lonesome (could be a reason for that), then you don’t have to worry too much about bathing. But if you live in close quarters with another human, and would like to continue doing so, bathing is necessary. Freshening up a bit not only makes you feel better, but it also improves the whole olfactory essence of your tiny living space.
Medical grade waterless shampoo caps and bath wipes work great when water is scarce, but the stank gets real. You can order the same type of personal cleaning items that hospitals use for their patients through online suppliers like www.bettymills.com. They are not expensive and don’t take a lot of room for the level of groom.
Happy homemaking!