Clothes when living on the road

[corynmelnkids]

We have only gone for up to 2weeks so far but we use 52L plastic tubs to store our clothes,hubby and i share one, girls 6m and 9yr share a 2nd, and boys 8yr and 11yr share a 3rd, hubby has made a timber slide for them to stack on which slides down one side of the trailer, we were using individual suitcases but found it time consuming to pack into the trailer because it was like doing a jig-saw puzzle......we got caught last big trip with shoes, we only packed thongs for the kids because the trip before it that's what they mostly wore and we had 3 sets of shoes to five people which just wasn't practical packing wise, on this last trip we went to take them go-karting but they had no enclosed shoes so luckily we hadn't brought new shoes for school yet so shopping we went......we are still working out what to pack and how many sets of clothes to pack, but i always pack a weeks worth of undies, and we are considering buying fishing shirts for everyone, my hubby has one and loves it, warm in winter, cool in summer, and they have sun protection ratings, only thing they are not cheap, boardies are great with kids, last trip they ended up in boardies and rash shirts all day......it's great to hear everyone else's tips for myself for our future camping trips

[SteveandViv]

We also did the 6 Month across Aus. left ANZAC day from the Blue Mountains in NSW and ended up in Broome. All the tips above are so right. We did use three plastic container for cloths and some not so often needed stuff as it fitted in the draw in the camper that we access from inside perfectly and that may make a difference. You just have to wash a bit more and really it's OK to be a bit of a grub for a few days like when we went across the Simpson. it was winter and cold so we didn't smell to bad but it was more about the fun of that trip than worrying if we had enough undies to last. If you run out just wear them again for the next day. No one will tell you off :-) We had some main gear that was always available like mine and the kids jackets. They almost weren't considered part of the cloths as they lived in the car in case. We were lucky in that we only had one day of rain in 6 Months, well, we tried to avoid the rain and it worked. Get your washing routine worked out and it will all come together

This is all part of the planning but don;t let it worry you too much.

[Hairs]

great idea I can see myself ripping the cupboard out this weekend

What I did do before ripping the standup cupboard out wa to make a storage area as a step to the rear bed.
The table opposite the kitchen has become a bed for the young fella. The step stops everyone stepping on his bed to get to the rear bed.

This area and under the seat(towards the rear) has become our pantry.

[chester ver2.0]

Sorry i forgot

We also had
1x beach towel each
1x bath towel and washer each
1x driazabone coat each
7 pairs of socks and 7 pairs of undies each
1x set sheets summer weight
1x spare top sheet
1x lightweight hispital blanket
1x doona

In the summer months up north we were literally only washing once every 1.5 weeks as we just lived in the swimmers untill they wanted to walk by themselves

Dont go to hard on the bedding it is weird as you cross the topic of capricorn. i.e in ALice we had the doona on as it was only getting to 19 degrees during the day and cold at night. 24hrs later at wiecliff well 22 at night and 31 during the day, sleeping on top of a sheet with a 12 volt fan going flat out

[Vk3bq]

restarting an old topic again!..

so, whats the consensus, seems sail/yacht bags are the preferred option for squish-ability and functionality, our camper has a rear trailer section, without drawers/etc, we have boxes for food stuff and technology/tools, the bags idea seems right to squish into the remaining space, while keeping items together, 4 small ones? or two big ones (wifey and myself, + masters 3 and 5).  we have a "red,white and blue bag" for the dirty stuff..

[GanG]

I have a mate who is a canvas worker.........after our last month long road trip I got him to make a large bag for  each of us, each one with a different end panel color for easy ID, if it fits in your bag you can take it is the rule now, and if you leave stuff behind to include something useless, that's not the parent's problem

[Vk3bq]

Thanks gang. Approx how many litres per bag? (IS 3 and 5 too young to expect them to control this. Lots of toy trains and Lego might be clothing for the trip!! though when you are 3. Nudie runs are a given!

[GanG]

I dunno mate may be 30-35 liters at a guess........and yeah 3 and 5 to manage their own is a big ask, mine are now 19, 17, 15, 13 and at their ages its still a big ask to get them to manage their own gear LOL

[KingBilly]

Family of four with a 14yo and an 18yo.  Each of us has a 60l soft duffle bag from Anaconda.  They are always popping up on special for only about $18.  Everything we take has to fit in the duffles including shoes.  If it doesn't fit it has to go in their side of the tug at their feet.  Kids and wife only did that once (on a long trip) and soon realised how cramped it was.  We have learnt to pack "smart".

KB

[BrindiCruiser]

I am a fan of the Kathmandu packing cells and a big plastic box.

[lilstookie]

We ended up with two plastic tubs (about 50L from memory)...one for the kids and one for us. We've also just bought some vacuum bags for winter and 'Sunday best' clothes. These will live in the roof bag and take up far less room than the tub they were in. We also have a canvas bag we use as a suitcase if we travel anywhere (i.e. 5 weeks in Melbourne for Christmas). We packed clothes for all of us in there with no real issues. The bag is used for other things when we're on the road...clothes in a tub works for us as it keeps things neater (the boxes go in the trailer sideways) and is easier when we're set up. The boxes double for other things if needed as well. Kids bath, useful when sorting the storage drawer, kitchen or toolbox among other things.

Admittedly we've been in the one place for 6 months now and have been living in a house, but we cull things reasonably regularly and keep trying to find the best way to pack things. Now the kids are a little older (the youngest can walk now and the eldest can eat without making a huge mess) I don't feel as though they need to change clothes as frequently, so they only have a few changes. We have the option to follow the good weather so often the kids wear next to/nothing.

Shoes are a bigger issue IMHO. They take up a lot of room and can't really be made to take up less room. We try to be sensible about shoe choices. I tend to live in thongs/crocs and also have a pair of walking shoes and a pair of boots. Stookie has the same (at the moment he also has a couple of pairs of safety boots). When someone comes up with a way to compress them, I'll be a happy girl 

Lil 

[sonny]

We also use the plastic tubs - they stack perfectly in our walk way to the bed area and this has a hatch so we can access these on the road without opening up the camper if we need to.  We like the tubs as it is easier to get to the clothes without pulling everything out and messing everything up.  Also use the vacuum bags (the ones you don't need a vacuum to compress) for out of season clothes and extra bedding - we can then use these for some extra padding if needed between boxes etc in the trailer or car and they take up less room.  We use a backpack if we need to go anywhere and leave the trailer and this doubles for day trips, hikes etc.  Also have a backpack camera bag which has extra storage which we can use for our wet weather gear or a change of clothes.