Organizing your pop up camper is tricky business. We totally get it. Space is at a premium. You’ve probably all seen the pictures of our pop up camper makeover by now. I’m pretty proud of our hard work, so I show them off a lot. 😉
But I get asked quite a bit if this is what our camper really looks like when we camp, and how in the world do we pack a family of five in a small trailer for a 3-week road trip. The answer is no, the camper definitely does not look like this when we camp. I loved dressing our little PUP up for her glamour shots, but using the camper like this isn’t practical for us. For one thing, we have three kids. I would spend my entire trip cleaning up after them if I wanted the camper to look nearly this nice. Having three kids means we need the dinette to be used as a bed more than a table, and we really need to utilize that counter space for storage. For those of you who wonder how we organize this little PUP for our road trips, this post is for you.
CLOTHING AND LAUNDRY STORAGE
This is how our camper actually looks 90% of the time. Not nearly as glamorous, I know, but it works well for us. Our two girls share the full bunkend and our son gets the dinette bed. Each person in the family has a plastic 3-drawer “dresser” to store their clothes. We bought Sterilite 4-drawer carts from Target (you can also get them on Amazon here), popped off the lid and removed one of the small drawers, then put the cart back together. These little dressers fit down on the floor between the long cabinet and dinette when we fold up the camper. The top drawer is for underwear and socks, the middle drawer holds shirts and jackets, and the bottom drawer holds pants, shorts, and pajamas. We pack enough clothes for five days, which means we have to visit a laundromat a couple times during our long trips.
When our clothes are dirty, we throw them into our pop-up hamper, which we store in the kitchen area (unless we are using the heater). The handles make it easy to cart along to the laundry facilities when it’s laundry day. It also has pockets to store laundry detergent and fabric softener. When the hamper is empty, it folds up for storage, which I love. Another thing I love is that it came with a smaller hamper, which we use for shoes.
We often keep our shoe hamper outside the camper, but we do allow shoes inside. I love the mesh sides, because I can give the hamper a good shake and most of the dirt and sand falls through. When the weather is bad, we move the shoe bin indoors, and it fits perfectly atop the dressers.
KITCHEN AND FOOD STORAGE
We have quite a bit of storage space in that long cabinet. If you’ve been following our blog for awhile, you’ll know that we enclosed the wheel well and built a shelf to make that part of the cabinet into usable space. I purchased cute plastic shoe box containers to hold our games, sunblock and bug spray, laundry supplies, and camper repair items. I also keep a tackle box first-aid kit in that cupboard. A few of these Command Hooks hold our cooking utensils in place inside the doors. I also store our hampers in here when they aren’t being used.
I’ve got two large drawers in this cabinet, too. The first one holds our pots, pans, collapsible bowls and strainers (I like the Squish brand), and other small cooking items. These collapsible bowls are great. They fold flat and give you so much room, but they are also pretty sturdy. We use them all the time. Lastly, I store this small waffle iron in there for when we are camping with hookups. I love this thing, because not only is it compact, but it works beautifully. It’s awesome for quick breakfasts in the morning, but we also like to cook hashbrowns, cinnamon rolls, and cornbread batter in it. Ever had cornbread waffles with chili? Yum! Such an easy camping meal… but that’s for another day. 🙂
The second drawer holds my pretty plates , cups, and bowls, my paper supplies, plastic storage containers, our roasting forks, and an electric hot water dispenser. I actually purchased this one from Target on clearance and only spent $5 on it! Score! It’s great for hot chocolate, tea, coffee, and soup–when we have hookups, of course. I’ve actually got quite a bit more space in this drawer, so I’ll have to work on filling it up.
We’ve also got a good deal of storage space under our dinette, and it is easily accessible now that we have built doors on the dinette benches. You can read all about that here. I store extra large pots, a basket of wash rags and hand towels, our lanterns, paper towels, our Thermocell lantern, our Trash-Ease hanger, tablecloths, and some other odds and ends in one end. In the other end (and I forgot to snap a picture), I keep a dishwashing tub full of our city water hookup items–the hose, filter, pressure regulator, etc.
We camp in bear country a lot, so we don’t keep any food in the kitchen area. We also don’t cook inside unless the weather demands it. That means all of our food gets stored inside the back of the car. It actually works out really well for us, since we are constantly on the move when we camp. I don’t have a big camp kitchen to pack up, and if we are on the road, the food is easily accessible for lunch and snack breaks. (Want more info on camping in bear country? Be sure to check out this post.)
I use two large Sterilite plastic drawer systems to hold most of our dry goods. Smaller plastic baskets inside each drawer hold our loose items–like cooking oils, spices, syrup, peanut butter, etc. This also works well at containing any possible spills. We did once have a jar of honey tip and leak out all over the place. It was contained in one of those smaller plastic baskets, though, so it was a quick and easy clean up. All of our refrigerated items are stored in two ice chests just behind our dry good “pantry.” We can reach the ice chests easily from the back seat of the car, which again is a lifesaver on long trips. 😉
Inside the camper kitchen swing galley, we have a small drawer where we keep our flatware, measuring spoons, knives, kitchen scissors, a butane lighter, and other odds and ends. Yes, I have nice flatware in my camper, but in my defense, it was really, really cheap. Gotta love the clearance aisles at Target… If you are getting the feeling I spend way too much time at Target, Mr. TypeTwoFun would probably agree with you. 😉
We also have a bit of storage space under the sink. This little spot is perfect for my little dish drainer, drying mat, and soaps. I put them up on the stove when I am using them, and store them away out of sight when I’m not. I actually use a drainer really similar to this one (yup, you guessed it… Target!), but I am lusting after a collapsible one. I’m just too cheap to fork out $20 for it, so this one works just fine for now.
BATHROOM AND TOILETRY STORAGE
We built tension rod shelving (tutorial here) above the cassette toilet cabinet, which serves as our bathroom of sorts. I grabbed smaller Sterilite 3-drawer units for the bottom shelf, and each family member has his/her own drawer for toiletries. We have a shared drawer for toothpaste, floss, contact solution–things we all share. I was worried it would be too heavy, but it actually works out really well.
Little baskets from the dollar store hold things like toothbrushes and cotton swabs, so the drawers aren’t a complete mess. We use Steripods on the toothbrushes to keep everything sanitary.We keep all our shower stuff organized in these handy shower bags. You can read all about how we organize our shower supplies here. You might remember I made shower lanyards for each family member. We still use them on every trip, and they are awesome. Theu are great for keeping everything together, so we don’t have several big bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. to find spots for. That has helped corral the clutter quite a bit.
The bath towels are hung on our handy little towel bars under the bunkends (tutorial here). Wet shower lanyards also hang here until they are dry. I love these towel racks. They are so convenient. Obviously, if we are in bear country, scented items don’t get left out while we aren’t around. Once everything is dry, we move it to the bear box. 🙂
The last little space I utilize is the cabinet where the cassette potti is housed. I have a little 3M basket that attaches to the door to hold my sponges, toilet chemicals, and disinfecting wipes. Behind the toilet, I can stash our privacy curtain, toilet paper, and a few boxes of female supplies. (Sorry guys! 😛 ) There is actually quite a bit of room behind the cassette, so I stash as much as I can back there.
And there you have it! Most of this stuff (with the exception of the toiletries and clothes) stays in the camper year round. After a trip, we will wash all the bedding and either put it back on the beds or stash it in these big Ziploc comforter bags. It makes packing up for a trip easy.
I will do an occasional inventory check to make sure everything is stocked and in good condition, and of course, I will give the camper a good deep-cleaning twice a year as well. You can read all about that here and here. It really doesn’t take much work, and we are ready to head out camping at a moment’s notice. The biggest part of the trip preparation is meal planning… but we’ll save that for another day. 🙂
So how about all of you? Got any great tips for organizing your pop up camper you’d like to share? We’d love to hear them! Drop by our Facebook page or leave your best ideas in the comments section below.
Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. The Pop Up Princess is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This means that if you choose to purchase an item from a link in this post, The Pop Up Princess earns a small advertising fee to help pay for future projects and posts… so thank you! 🙂
Happy Camping!
Robin Luna says
Where do you store your food?
Larissa says
We don’t store food in the PUP, Robin. We frequently camp in bear country, and have had a grizzly wander through our camp before. Kinda scary! I’ll have to do a post on our meal storage and prep system sometime. We use plastic drawer systems in the back of the car to store our pantry items and ice chests for the cold stuff. Here’s a picture so you can get a rough idea of what I’m talking about. 🙂
Dominion Services LLC says
Please do a post on your trip prep – food, and all!
Teresa says
We have a 1996 Coleman Pop Up that has a very small bumper. I am trying to figure out how to make a bike rack for it that would hold 2-3 bikes? Any suggestions?
Larissa says
We are struggling with this as well, Teresa. Do you have the ABS roof on your Coleman?
Russell says
I removed my ABS and sprayed Rino bed liner over the foam looks great and works very well. UV protected and no cracks.
Liz Robinson says
I had a bumper made for my 96 Santa Fe that has a reciever for a bike rack. We welded it on so it is super strong. It hasn’t affected the tongue weight.
Jared Leiper says
I recommend a roof bike rack by Yakima. Not the cheapest, I know, but this isn’t an area I wanted to cut corners on.
Garth says
Those bumpers aren’t really meant to hold any weight at all, so a bike rack wouldn’t be a good idea. Like Jared said, you can get a roof rack for the PUP but they are very expensive. What we did was put a 3 bike carrier on our SUV, the kind that straps on to the tailgate. Much more cost effective for our situation than trying to carry them on the trailer itself.
Trevor Miller says
Problem with the roof rack is the fact that it creates some sort of drag. Getting it up there isn’t nearly as easy as it looks and when its even just slightly winding hooking it up is a pain!
Jane says
I do not recommend putting a roof rack on top of your pup. We just removed the Yakima that was installed by the RV sales. We have some interior ceiling damage because of it. I’m not sure if seals were damaged because of the weight of two bikes but be careful
Lloyd says
Only if your bumpers are metal you can go to a hardware store and get 3/4 or 1″ steel pipe hangers that can be screwed to floors or ceilings. They have threads in them that you screw the pipe into. I have used this method be for, to make a canoe rack on the top of my pup. You will need at least two of the hangers, eight self tapping metal screws, two T’s, two ninety degree couple-rs, two end caps and pre cut and threaded pieces of pipe. 36″ long pipe will work for bike racks 2 – 12″ pieces for the arms and 2 4″ pieces for the bike stops.
Jenn says
I’m looking at a Lippert Jack It, as recommended by a few different dealerships. It attaches to the tongue jack on the A frame.
Deb says
We have a trailer hitch/bike rack combo that holds our 4 bikes right on the hitch.
Christine says
We struggle with that too as we had a bike rack that fit into a 2″ receiver. You can buy a dual hitch extension. One for the trailer hitch and the other for the bike rack. It works great.
Denise Jacoby says
I agree.
Please do a tutorial on your food prep and your storage.
Would be interesting if we can share recipies with each other as well.
* Hubby and I are seriously looking at a pop up. so maybe after Thanksgiving I will be on the road again!*
Kimberly Surface says
Hey! I am curious if you ever did do a post on your food preparation and storage? Would LOVE to read that if you did
Kimberly Surface
Anne says
I noticed you don’t have a air conditioner. Do mind not having one? What do you do to keep the camper cool? Do you put anything on the “POPUp ” boys bed to make it MORE comfortable?
Thanks
Larissa says
We don’t have an A/C unit, Anne. I didn’t want one, actually. We usually camp in higher altitudes where the weather is cooler, so it hasn’t been a problem.
We have memory foam on the dinette bed for PopUpBoy (you can read all about that here). When I reupholstered the cushions, I also added a layer of polyester batting. His bed is actually the comfiest one in the camper. The girls beg to trade him frequently. 😉
Denise says
I really enjoyed all your great hints for storage! I seem to start out organized but somehow things always wind up in different spots than when we started! I’m definitely going to use your hints, thanks!
Denise
Larissa says
I have to make a conscious effort to put things in their places, Denise. I’m constantly reminded the kids as well. With five people in a small camper, clutter can build up quickly. 😛
ashley says
Hey, question-
when do you load the white cabinets with clothes and when you lower your camper, they all fit in there? wow. I use a rubber maid for my kitchen stuff and keep it mostly on the picnic table. so i can pack and stow at night or when we go out. the camper is gorgeous!
Larissa says
Thanks, Ashley. Yep, we can fit all five plastic drawer units in the camper with room to spare. Most of the time, I keep the drawers stocked with clean “camping clothes” for everyone, which means one less step when we prep for a trip. 🙂
Carmyn says
I wanted to try that but I’m not sure I have clearance. It seems like most of those drawer things are 25” and it seems like it can’t be more than 23 in our fleetwood Yuma. Maybe I’m measuring wrong? I wonder how different our campers are when it comes to things like that.
michelle wolff says
WOW is all I can say. We were just given a very old pop-up (for free!!) that needs a bit of repair work and A LOT of cleaning. I have always had older units and it never occurred to me that any of this could be done. I am even more excited to get to work on mine. I do have a couple questions…… your layout is almost exact to mine, how big is your trailer? Our bed cushions have to come off the beds and appear to have to be stored in the empty spaces on the floor. Do yours? Where do you store all the containers while traveling if that is the case? Thanks for the inspiration and great ideas!!
Larissa says
Thanks, Michelle! 😉
Our box is 10 feet long when closed and about 21 feet long when opened up. Our mattresses stay on our beds all the time. Are you sure yours need to be removed? Check out this post for info on the tissue box test. It will tell you if you have enough room to leave your mattresses on when you close up the camper. I’m excited to see your finished result. Make sure you are taking lots of pictures!
Tiffany says
When road tripping with the pop up do you leave the beds made when closing up to move to the next site? One of the biggest pains to me is unmaking and remaking the beds every time we use. I have found that its hard to keep the outside material off the beds when undoing the canvas surrounding the pull out beds (leaves,water,etc). Also squeezing all of our pillows down onto the floor between uses. Any tips or suggestions? How do you feel about this?
Larissa says
When we road trip, Tiffany, we leave the sheets on the bed, but take the big comforters off and store them either on the dinette bed or on the floor between our plastic drawers and the long cabinet. There is just enough room there. If the canvas is wet or dirty when we pack up, I have plastic mattress covers that I put on the beds before we pack up. I wouldn’t leave them on there long term, as they can trap moisture and inhibit air flow, but to protect the mattresses between stops, they work great. The pillows usually come in the car with us, because everyone wants to nap at some point. 😀
Megan says
Great question!! I was just wondering about that very thing!
Jen says
What brand of plastic mattress covers do you use? Seeing a lot of negative reviews for plastic covers.
Larissa says
I just grabbed some cheap ones at Walmart, Jen. They have already ripped in a couple of spots, but they still do the job.
Joan says
I used cheap fabric backed plastic table cloths which I tucked over the made up beds (pillows stowed elsewhere) for travell. Worked very well even for keeping fine red dust out.
Yvonne says
Do you have a picture of the beds with the mattress covers on. Are you talking about a fitted plastic cover (ie same principle as a fitted sheet) or a all enclosing plastic cover that covers bottom too?
Larissa says
Yup, Yvonne. Just like a plastic fitted sheet. It helps keep the beds dry when we have to pack up in the rain.
Shawnyne says
I keep an xtra large and large space saver bag in the trailer and place all of the comforters and blankets in those. Once they’re in the bags, I just lay on top of it to “zip” them closed. Don’t even need the vacuum to seal. Both bags fit perfectly under the dinette seat storage. Sheets and mattress pads stay on the beds.
Kimberly Beam says
Hey Tiffany, I was reading your post one thing that we do is use an air pump which also can be used to to suck air out. We Vaccum seal our pillows and bedding while storing the camper. We also leave bed and bedding on in between moving. Hope this helps.
Kimberly.
darlene says
I am so glad you did this post with all the pictures!…I am so looking forward to your post on meal planning, meal prep, food storage, and also hopefully the nuts and bolts of actually cooking in camp and or at rest stops when traveling. The cooking meals is the difficult part of camping for me so on road trips when camping then we have just always eaten out which is expensive….Can’t wait for your tips and method. Thanks so much for all your inspiration and I love your road trip posts.
Carrie says
Wondering what you do for garbage both inside and outside the camper? I can see some sort of contraption in the picture outside, but not sure what it is. I found myself using a ziploc inside and it wasn’t very convenient or large enough. TIA!
Larissa says
We have a small plastic trash can inside, Carrie. We don’t put scented items in it when we are in bear country, though. For outside, we bought a Trash-Ease, which I love. It is super convenient. You can find them on Amazon or at Camping World. 🙂
Carrie says
Thank you!
Karen says
Love your ideas! Storage is always an issue as my pup has odd sized drawers and very small storage cabinets (almost non-existent). I’ve already added towel bars under the exterior beds…they are fabulous. Discovered a nice DYI for food storage over the oven and sink – but don’t know how to add photos. Keep posting!
Larissa says
You can always e-mail pictures to me at larissa@thepopupprincess.com, Karen! 🙂
Misty says
I love all of your ideas! I am curious as to how you keep your blankets, pillows and sheets smelling fresh (not musty) when you pack for the winter? We live in WI and pack our camper up at the end of the year or from trip to trip but leave bedding ect in camper in plastic storage bags but they tend to get musty smelling. Any suggestions on how to prevent that?
Thank you!
Misty
Larissa says
I use boxes of dryer sheets (Downy is my favorite) when I store the bedding. We don’t have a problem with humidity, so nothing smells musty in the camper, but I love the way fresh sheets smell. Packing the bedding away with a few dryer sheets helps keep everything smelling fresh. 🙂
Ernette Prueter says
We also use dryer sheets on the made up beds. Also, when the pop up is stored, we place an opened 5 gallon bucket of baking soda iinside the door We live in Florida.
Jeff & Marge Leavitt says
I got some great ideas from your site. Thank you
Debra Loomis says
We are new to camping. Just got a 1998 Jayco 10UD and I’m interested in ways to be organized and have a sense of control so I can relax and enjoy the camping experience with the rest of the family. We are taking a 2 week road trip from WI to the Grand Canyon next summer. Wish us luck!
Larissa says
How fun, Debra! Are you camping at the North Rim or the South?
Patt says
I created a list of all of the supplies that I normally keep in the camper, and a list of the usual food staples that I keep in my totes. I laminated the lists and use a wet erase marker to mark what I need to replace when we pack up to come home. It has worked like a charm for us!
Larissa says
Great idea, Patt! 😀
Buffy says
I am devouring all your ideas and upgrades! I am a lifelong tent camper and this past fall my husband and I bought a popup as our 10th wedding anniversary gift to each other and our 4 yr. old. It needed all 4 lead wires replaced so we’ve done that and now need to start getting it ready for our first trip in about 7 weeks. I love setting up camping and having a place for everything so I am looking forward to starting that process for the popup. First up is recovering the cushions and maybe replacing the foam. I am a quilter so i can sew and have a good machine but this will be a new project for me. Nervous!! 🙂
Jules says
Hi Buffy! if you’re a quilter then you’re a much better sewer than I am! When we bought our used pup, it needed new cushions and drapes badly. I figured out how to make box slipcovers for the cushions and closed them with Velcro. Super simple for a non-sewer like me so you should do great! With the curtains, the sliders for ours were broken and we couldn’t find the correct replacements so we just mounted inexpensive slide rods below the roof and I modified some old curtains I already had. Add some curtain rings and you’re done once you slide the curtains on. Worked great! The curtain rods stay in place when the pup is folded up and we store the curtains in zip bags. Have a blast with your camper!
Jodi says
How do you attach the towel bars under the end bunks? If they are screwed in, do you just unscrew when you pack up? I love the ideas. We have been camping for awhile in a pop-up, but love the new storage ideas. Thanks!
Larissa says
You can find the tutorial for the towel racks at this link here, Jodi. You can even see how we pack them up for storage. 😉
Bianca says
Hello Larissa,
that´s very nice! Small area, big ideas.
I´ve found ist on pinterest.
I wish you a good trip all of time!
Greating from Germany
Bianca
SUSAN, TN says
DO U HAVE THE PINTEREST LINK? I WOULD LOVE TO CHECK OUT THOSE TIPS & IDEAS. THX
Larissa says
Here’s a link to our Pinterest page, Susan. Lots of good stuff on there! 🙂
THE POP UP PRINCESS – PINTEREST
Beth says
I am so glad i found this! How old are your 3 kids? I have my eye on a used pop up (we currently camp in a two room tent) we have 3 teenage boys and i was wondering how doable it would be and how to have some privacy for hubby and I.
Larissa says
My kids are 13, 15, and 17… Wow! I feel old saying that. 😉 I feel like we got started camping a bit later than we really should have. We really seriously started tent camping three years ago, and my biggest regret is that we didn’t start sooner.
I’m not going to lie to you… There are some privacy issues in our pop up camper. We’ve worked out a schedule of getting dressed, etc. that works for us and gives everyone a little privacy, but it isn’t The Ritz-Carlton. I prefer it over tent camping, though, and I feel like we sleep apart and do our own things so much throughout our normal lives, that I don’t mind a little crowding a few times out of the year. Good luck on your camper search!
Cyndi says
Hi Larissa! You have sooo many great ideas! 🙂 I love the pull-out drawers for keeping the clothes organized. This is something I have struggled with for years! Can you tell me the dimensions of yours? The specific Sterilite 4-drawer cart you have referenced is no longer sold on Amazon or Target (seems it may have been discontinued), so I am trying to find a very similar one. Thanks! Cyndi
Larissa says
We actually bought ours at Walmart, so check there, Cyndi. The dimensions of our altered drawer units are 14″ wide x 13″ deep x 20″ tall. I’m not sure the original dimensions, since we removed one drawer to make it work for us.
Tammy Kahn says
I just bought a pop up and need to install a toilet. could you please provide some of your amazing tips for a toilet and how you did a privacy screen etc…
Im so addicted to your site now that I have discovered it!
Thank you
Tammy Kahn
Larissa says
Tammy, our camper came with a cassette toilet. Lots of people have made their own potty cabinets and used a portable potty. If you need ideas, be sure to check out Shannon’s Pop Up Camper remodel. 🙂
Liza says
Great site! My husband and I just ‘inherited’ our first pop-up. It’s older, but in good condition and just needs some TLC…and rewiring…and maybe a bit more TLC 🙂 I’ll be giving it a good scrub in the upcoming weeks and use it for the first time 4th of July weekend…very excited! If we survive her ‘maiden’ voyage, hopefully I’ll be able to start my own makeover in the fall! What types of things should we make sure we have for repairs and such? We’re primarily tent campers, so this is all new to us. Thanks!
Larissa says
Congrats on the new-to-you camper, Liza! I’ll keep an eye out for your makeover. 😉
We keep a toolbox in the PUP that has a grease gun for bearings (which you can read about here), vinyl and canvas patch kits, various sizes of wrenches and screwdrivers, lengths of rope, a small hammer, just a bunch of items that we have found useful (or wished we’d had) at some point. Of course, you’ll need to have some sort of leveling system for your new PUP–something that isn’t required for tent camping. You can read all about that on the blog. Here’s that link!
How We Level Our Pop Up Camper
Happy Camping! 🙂
Dennis Oconnell says
Absolutely wonderful tips and suggestions. I love it all. Wife and I just bought ours yesterday and I’m already planning on doing 3 of your projects before we leave for the 4th of July weekend. I also have purchased several items on amazon through your links in an effort to support your blogging habit. Hope it helps. All of them are great suggestions. Where did you find the 3m basket in the cassette area?
Larissa says
Thanks, Dennis. I always love hearing about PUP projects and mods, so be sure to send me an update (with pictures!). 🙂 I found that 3M basket on clearance at Target… my favorite store. I’ve had trouble locating them since, though.
Jerry says
How do you manage your port o’ potty when dry camping, if you dry camp, and do you have an external shower, internal shower or do you always stay at a campground with full amenities?
Larissa says
We’ve done quite a bit of dry camping at campgrounds, but no dispersed camping yet. I like having bathroom facilities close. We have an external shower, but we have never used it. We have never stayed at a campground where you were allowed to let gray water run into the ground. If there are no showers at a campground, we usually make it a quick stay and bring body wipes. Those things are lifesavers! 😉
Here’s the post we did on our cassette toilet. It gives you the low-down on cleaning and dumping it. 🙂
Rose says
Outstanding, Larissa! I thought that I was organized, but you got me beat girl! Love the tension rod idea!
Bonnie says
Hi Larissa, I don’t have half the storage that you do. In my pup on one side is 3 small drawers and the under sink side has 2 small areas. When we close the entire sink folds down and takes up most of floor area. Other than that everything is under the benches and seats. Mine does not have a bathroom so I have a small room” zip tent” which is very private and we fill 5 gal. can with kitty litter lined with garbage bag with toilet seat on top. Works great. Love all your ideas. Well done!!!
Heidi Grignon says
I LOVE the idea of kitty litter in a bag in a 5 gallon bucket!! I would have never thought if that!
Hanna says
I have a shower/toilet in my pop up and I’m not sure what year but it’s a smaller one I don’t have near as much space as you do. But I was wandering if you know anything about taking out the shower/toilet and replacing it with a cabinet or possibly a place for the plastic cabinets. Or even a pantry?
colby egbert says
My husband and I are picking up our 2005 Bantam Flier trailer this weekend. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve pretty much gone through all of your remodel Pins on Pinterest and am stoked to rehab our new purchase! I do have one question, though: have you determined the affect (if any) doing a remodel on a camper has on resale? I think I can talk my husband into letting me recover the cushions, but anything past that will take some convincing. We have two girls under two, so this is my husband’s dream for our family vacations. We head to Yosemite on our “maiden voyage” in May and I’m just hoping to have some personal touches finished by then. This post will be my instruction booklet for when we set up our camper. I’m so excited!
Larissa says
Congrats on the new camper, Colby! Yosemite is on our bucket list. We did it in a tent years ago, but haven’t hit it in the PUP yet. You’ll have to let me know which campground you stayed in and what you liked and didn’t about it.
Resale value is a tricky thing when it comes to camper remodels. It largely depends on how well you did on your remodel, and if you selected colors that were neutral and appealing to a broad range of people. For example, while lime green cabinets are awesome, and may one person’s dream color, they might be another person’s nightmare. What looks like an upgrade to you might look like a project to another camper. Whites, grays, and browns are pretty neutral, and they appeal to most people. They also easily coordinate with many different fabrics, so if they new owner wants to change out the curtain or cushion fabrics, they can do so easily without repainting the whole camper. If you think you will eventually sell the camper, neutrals would be my suggestion. If you know the camper will be with your family for a good long time, you can go bold. 🙂
Good luck on the remodel! Take lots of pictures. I’d love to see it.
Leigh says
Your blogs are teaching me so much! We have two children, 5 & 6, and have been tent camping since they were babies. We just got our first Pop up yesterday and are taking it out this weekend! I can’t wait to start my remodel!
Larissa says
Congratulations, Leigh! You are going to have so much fun! 😀
Deann says
Hi Larissa,
Thanks for sharing your experiences about organizing your camper. Currently, I plan my trip with popup camper and this post help me a lot for a good preparation.
Hope everything OK now.
Is there any advice for a beginner like me?
Phil says
Hi Larissa!
Love the article and I look forward to keeping an eye on your page. I started a group on Facebook called Pop Up Camper Fans, would love to have you join us and promote your blog posts there.
All the best
Phil
Laurel says
LOVED this post! We have 12 children and have taken them to 42 states in the past 13 years. We have taken 5 cross country road trips, ranging from 3-6 weeks each. Organization for my crew has been quite the fun challenge. We give each family member a Rubbermaid tub for their clothes and personal items, and the labeled tubs all stack nicely in the back of our van. We also use Rubbermaid tubs for food, which stack nicely under the pop-out beds (when not in bear country), and travel on the floor of the trailer when its all folded up.
Trisha says
Thank you so much! We just got our 1st pop up in January & have camped 3 times so far. I am always trying new ways to organize & this post has been so helpful! I look forward to your future posts.
Thanks again,
Trisha
Carlie says
Where do you store your bedding etc.. my pop up will not pop down properly with all bedding on the beds. We lose alot of storage storing our bedding under the dinette in the storage compartments. We have two kids and a giant dog so the back of our suv can only store so much.
Larissa says
When we aren’t using the camper, Carlie, the bedding is stored in large Ziploc storage bags on the floor. In between stops on our long trips, we remove the comforters, fold them lengthwise, and tuck them between items for extra padding. 🙂
Julie says
I’d love to see how it looks in the camper when you are packing up to go to your next campsite. That is where I struggle when planning camping trips. Also a post on planning meals and packing food for such a long trios would be great. We’ve only camped 2 nights at the most so I’m curious how you plan for 3 weeks.
Marsha says
Thanks so much for sharing all of your hard work! I was wondering if you leave your pillows in the camper or take them from home every time? Also do you prefer bedding over sleeping bags?
Larissa says
We bring our home pillows when we go camping. We like the pillows from our bed best. And yes, we much prefer bedding over sleeping bags, but that is personal preference. I know lots of campers who prefer sleeping bags. 🙂
Evelyn Edgett says
Okay, I am officially missing my old (and I mean OLD) pop up we had years ago. We paid $500 for it, and while it was old and out of date, it was in good shape. I cobbled together a supply kit, porta potty, kitchenware, etc. We used that thing until it was worn out, then we traded it to a relative for a truck we needed. The last I heard, some crazy person had turned it into a chicken coop up in the mountains! I have been really considering finding another good used pop up lately. Your blog is great, and I am getting inspired with all the photos you post.
Keren says
Hi Larissa,
I just have a question regarding where you store your heavier cooking accessories for the campfire? I have a cast iron frypan and dutch oven and I am finding that they are pretty heavy and don’t go well in the plastic storage containers that well.
Thanks for putting all this info together btw!
Larissa says
We only bring a dutch oven along with us, Keren. Usually, we store it in a pillowcase, then we put it on the floor of the PUP just behind the stepper door. We try to pad it with other gear so that it doesn’t bang up the cabinets while we are driving. It has worked pretty well so far. 🙂
Ginny Barrett says
Came upon your site from RVFTA, and I love that you are so devoted to pop up campers. We purchased our Coleman Ceyenne (I dont know what year) and are so in love! I would like to pick your knowledgable brain about making repairs. The canvas off to the side over one of the bunks is unraveling from where it was sewn together, the seal around the bottom of the roof is coming apart, zippers off the track and split zippers, the sink connections leak. Could you direct me to a DIY, detailed tutorial on all subjects popup?
Larissa says
Welcome, Ginny! So glad you found us! We had a few issues with our canvas coming unraveled as well. I was able to remove the sections that needed to be repaired and take them to a local upholstery shop. They had the machines that made short work of a repair. It was cheap and easy, and it only took a few days. Our canvas was good as new in no time. I would venture to guess that the right upholstery shop could also repair the zippers. You might try calling a few in your area to see if someone could make those repairs for you.
We replaced the seal around the bottom of the roof ourselves. You can read all about our roof repair here. We purchased our seal online, and it was quick and easy. Once you’ve replaced the seal, I would recommend conditioning it at least once a year to keep it in good condition. We like 303 Products Rubber Seal Protectant. I don’t have a tutorial for the plumbing. We honestly just took everything apart and replaced all the seals and connections with new ones. It was a bit like taking apart a puzzle and putting it back together. Mr. TypeTwoFun is handy, but he doesn’t have a whole lot of plumbing experience. That project was easy enough for him to do on his own–no problem!
Have fun with your new Cheyenne! Feel free to email me with any other questions. 🙂
Kristin says
Shower lanyards!! That is brilliant!! No having to put bottles in yucky showers. Hmmm, I wonder how we’ll do dry storage when we get a pop up, our SUV doesn’t provide enough cargo space in the back and we have 5 kids so we need that 3rd row. We need an extend cab….i miss my mini van, lol
Casey says
I know this is an older post, but I am SO curious to know where you got your bedding. It’s exactly what I have been looking for to use in our camper! Are the bedspreads duvets, and what size are they?
I’m having a hard time finding something I really love that seems like it would fit my beds.
Love your site!
Larissa says
We bought our bedding at Ikea, however, I am not sure they still sell that particular color anymore. If you want more info on our bedding and how we sleep comfortably in the camper, make sure you check out this post. We give you all the details on sizing and what works for us. 😉
Michelle stillman says
My husband and I just bought a NTU pop up and have put new curtains and cushions on the dinette. We have plans to alter the dinette and make more of a pull out sofa to gain more floor storage space. In the meantime we are having trouble figuring out where to store the folding chairs, folding table for outside, grill and grey water holding tank. Where do you store these items when packing up?
Jenny says
Super old post but I’m commenting anyway 😂 Tell me about those green plates in the drawer. They look like vintage jadeite but I’m guessing you aren’t camping with vintage dishes! Can you tell me about them?
Larissa says
Oh, they are just cheap melamine plates I found on clearance at Target. No way I would take vintage dishes on a camping trip with my kids. I can’t keep them from breaking my dollar store mugs. 😆
Dana says
This is super helpful!!! THANK YOU!!!
Sarah says
Is that an older model Honda Pilot that you have? I have a 2007 Honda Pilot, white, and I LOVE IT. I’m wondering, do you pull your pop-up with it? Did you have to do any modifications to the car to be able able to pull it? I have a factor installed hitch (frame, not bumper) but I know the NEWER Pilots are requiring a transmission cooler to be installed before hauling something of this size. We live in Florida and we plan to pull a boat with my husband’s truck and the pop-up with my car.
Larissa says
We had a transmission cooler installed in our 2006 Pilot before we started towing the camper. That Pilot towed like a dream. We now tow with a 2017 Pilot with a tow package. I love it as well. 🙂
Deb says
You said you store all your food in your tow vehicle including refrigerated food in cooler chests. What do you put in your refrigerator in your camper if you don’t use it for food?
Larissa says
We use it mostly for drinks. I will store bottled water and sodas in there while we are traveling. Sometimes once we get to camp, I’ll put snacks like apples and grapes in there, but no meat or dairy or anything that needs to be kept at a constant temperature. Our fridge is too flakey for that. 😆
Amanda says
What grill do you guys have?
Larissa says
We usually use the grills available at the campground if we need a grill. Most of our cooking is done on a Camp Chef stove like this one.