Clothes when living on the road

[lilstookie]

There's going to be heaps more of these silly questions in the coming weeks...you'll just have to bear with me 

This is particularly for people who've spent long periods of time on the road. How do you pack your clothes? One suitcase for all? Everyone with their own bag? If so, what size/type of bag? There are four of us (Stookie and I + Mr 2yo and Miss 9mo) and I'm having trouble working out how best to do this. Also, how many changes of clothes? I don't know that 2 or 3 changes will be reasonable    . We're going to have a bag stashed away with 'Sunday best' for each of us. I did see a post somewhere with a camp cupboard kept in the back of the car which is just moved into the camper when set up. I love that idea, but it won't work for us as we have the dog and her bits and pieces in the back with the fridge. Any tips would be most appreciated!!

Lil

[NatGav]

We are hitting the road in 6 weeks for 12 months, with two dogs and i was thinking of taking a backpack, great idea for the sunday best, never thought of that. I'm struggling with shoes....i guess less is more and really if you need something you can get it from an op shop on the road...Keen to hear other peoples suggestions.
We were thinking of leaving the clothes in the CT with maybe a spare set in the car.

[Jason B]

When we go away we have a bag each and can sometimes get away with one for the kids (3.5 and 7 YO girls). We use the Burke sailing bags (availiable from witworths or BCF) as they are not to big and bulky and they are water proof, so they can be placed in the trailer and your clothes are protected from dust, water etc. Also becaues the bags are soft they can be manipulated to fit into unused space, and they can be squished to the size of their contents.

To me it is also important to look at the type of clothes you take. We are fans of the columbia type shirts and pants for summer trips as they are lite and dont take up any space, also the legs zip off the pants so they are shorts as well. When it is cooler we tend to use thermals as again you can pack a number of pairs of these each and they take up less space than an extra pair of jeans, so you can use your lite clothes with thermals under them and be toasty warm. We also have a number of lite polar tec type under shirts/pants for when it is properly cold these can be worn under clothes or to bed and they keep the kids toasty.

We also tend to keep the just in case bulky stuff in a separate bag, (jackets, rain gear, big jumpers) this way it can be packed out of the way and you are not digging through it to get at your clothes all the time.

So to the type of clothes is just as important a decision for us.

regards

jas.

[D4D]

We use a 90L dive bag for each person, if it doesn't fit it doesn't go. Dive bags are dust and waterproof.

We generally take the Columbia style quick dry, no iron clothes. That way a quick wash and they're good to go.

[WogsRus]

We have 100L bags from Anaconda, zip ones, dust and water resistant. We have a bag each, but we have clothes, shoes and ll in these, including kids toys in theirs. They fit neatly in the Paj and also in the camper.

We have a collapsible washing basket which we chuck all our dirty stuff into.  These clothes normally get washed at caravan parks ect.

For the dirt magnets we have Heaps of spare clothes, i have maybe a weeks worth of clothes or so.

[Jason B]

For the dirt magnets we have Heaps of spare clothes, i have maybe a weeks worth of clothes or so.

X 2

[Mace]

We use an older version of this, had it for years:

http://www.billabong.com.au/product-cat/447/travel-bags#item_7051_base-travel-bag

wetsuit bags are good too, heavy duty.

Three pairs of jocks, shorts and t shirts with sandals does me, with one change of good clothes.

 

[timneva]

We've got 3 kids and for a big trip, generally take the minimalist approach. One 25 Ltr plastic box each for day to day clothes. Whatever doesn't fit stays at home. We then have a couple of extra boxes for good clobber and shoes / rain jackets etc. These stack beautifully in the car or camper and leave room for the important stuff -

We just wash the clothes as we go in an old beer brewing drum which I chuck up on top of the camper and as we travel, it sloshes the clothes around and washes them clean.

Our last big trip was 6 weeks and this seemed to work pretty well for us.

Cheers,
Tim

[LJs GU]

Lil,

It's hard to say how many changes of clothes they need as it's depends on where, or more specifically the type of camping we do.  If it's wet and muddy then they tend to look more 'feral' at the end of the trip. If I had my way, I'd let them wear the same clothes each day!

Anyway we use these types of cases for the kids:


We find them big enough for all the clothes they need. 
They lie flat on the end of their stretcher beds, so it makes getting their clothes out easy, rather than trying to rummage through a bag that's more upright/taller. Also being rectangular, they pack well in the CT.

For dirty clothes, we all have a bag each .  They're the stuff bags used for sleeping bag (with the draw string at the top).


LJ

Their shoes & thongs get put in a green eco shopping bags.  That sits outside the door, so the kids can put them in there before entering the CT (if it's dusty/muddy etc)

[Hairs]

We've got 3 kids and for a big trip, generally take the minimalist approach. One 25 Ltr plastic box each for day to day clothes. Whatever doesn't fit stays at home. We then have a couple of extra boxes for good clobber and shoes / rain jackets etc. These stack beautifully in the car or camper and leave room for the important stuff -

Our last big trip was 6 weeks and this seemed to work pretty well for us.

Cheers,
Tim

Hi Tim,
Same as you guys for the 5 of us,
We also use the plastic boxes, the kids can easily see which one has their gear in it. We removed the stand up cupboard in the Swan, to many fights about, those with kids will know about  , oh well this works heaps better.  Four days worth of clothes each, just in case we strike bad weather and it makes it hard to wash & dry.

One for each of us. Shoes are kept in a bigger one, that way the box can be left outside and the contents doesn't get wet or creepy crawlies don't find their way into the toe of a shoe.
In the back of the cruiser is another plastic box with warm jackets/Jumpers, long pants and a good set of clothes each.

[Burnsy]

Anyway we use these types of cases for the kids:

We find them big enough for all the clothes they need. 
They lie flat on the end of their stretcher beds, so it makes getting their clothes out easy, rather than trying to rummage through a bag that's more upright/taller. Also being rectangular, they pack well in the CT.

We have just changed over to thse for our last few trips as well, for the same reasons you state.  There are always plenty of them chucked out at roadside pickup time and collect any up that are in good condion (some have been like new, used for one plane trip I would guess) and upgrade to better sizes as needed.  We use one each and just use a big rectangular based calico shopping bag for dirty washing, this doubles as a laundry basket come washing time.

[timneva]

Thanks Hairs - was trying to find a couple of pics 

[Crisp Image]

Clothes?You only need them if going into town!
We use a suitcase shared between us and one for the kids 10 &12.
Zip off legs on pants are great and anything that drys quickly works for me.
Multi layering works best in cold climate as it is easier to adjust the warmth factor than one or two thick layers.
Polar fleece is great but does not like fires.
We pack 5 or 6 days of jocks and socks. I tend to wear the pants till they stand up by them selves but change shirts regularly (once or twice a week  oh and I bath on Sunday even if I don't need it).
Regards
Crisp Image

[RWS]

oh and I bath on Sunday even if I don't need it).

You must be pommie!

[sdollery]

When camping with the 4WD we use 50Lt Blackwolf duffels. In the CT we'll use 50lt black plastic boxes from Bunnings because previously when we've hired CT's we found the clothes in boxes kept tidier than in the bags. They also seemed to keep them most dust free.

For washing we use the beer fermenter type with a crew on lid but no tap fitted. Breakfast to lunch for wash, lunch to Happy Hour for rinse.

We also carry an additional box for shoes (so they can be kept outside).

Cheers,

SD (Shane)

[timneva]

I tend to wear the pants till they stand up by them selves but change shirts regularly (once or twice a week  oh and I bath on Sunday even if I don't need it).
Regards
Crisp Image

 
I reckon my clothes record would be 4 days straight with a bath in the second week. Clothes tend to start losing their smell by the third day anyway 

[NewcastleKnight]

We don't wear clothes... Oh hang on wrong forum..., lol

We used to put our clothes in tubs and they lived in the camper.

[Nomad]

I can go for a week on two pairs of boardies, a few t shirts and a pair of thongs. If it's cold black thermals under boardies and a t shirt is perfectly acceptable camping wear..................   

Nomad

[NatGav]

Oh Nomad, i'm sure the thermals under the boardies makes the girls go crazy!!! 

As long as i have my cowboy boots i'll be happy!!!

[chester ver2.0]

Ok for 5 months on the road across winter and summer climates here is how we did it

Mum was good on the sewing machine so i got her to make up 3 sacks measuring 1.3m long by 70cm wide with a zip up the middle. These sacks then took the place of the rear bed matteress in the goldstream. There was a his and her sack and the one in the middle held the alternate season clothing. We would place these on the floor of the goldstream when packing up to take the weight of the unsupported bed

Summer clothes you need bugger all couple of tee shirts, singlet or 2 2 pairs boardshoots 2 pair normal shorts 1 pair light weight jeans and 1 short sleved going out shirt and a sarong or 2. You find you live in the board shorts. wear things and are at the beach or other so pretty clean.

Winter was the above plus a pair of heavier jeans good winter jacket, polar fleece vest, some tracksuit pants couple long sleve t shirts beanie and gloves.

Shoes were in another area and consited of Crocks ( i cant walk in thongs) a pair of going out sandles, a pir of going out shoes and hicking boots.

I all honesty i recon we could have halved this again as in the summer months we lived in swimmers. I also took 1 good pair of pants and one dress shirt in case i had to have a job interview (my going out shoes doubled as job hunting shoes)

Dont overcomplicate it and also keep in mind unless you are doing 3 months on the canning you can pick up t shirts and the like for 5 bucks at a target or K mart

[NatGav]

Great tips chester....thanks heaps.

[lilstookie]

Thanks Chester! We're planning on chasing the sun, so shouldn't need too much warm stuff, though we'll have a jacket each. I've always been a layers person, so quite happy to continue doing so.
I think I'll struggle a little more with the kids, but I reckon a happy kid is a grubby kid Little Miss is crawling, so not going to keep her clean for long anyway!!

Lil


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[Kit_e_kat9]

I see no one has mentioned WET WEATHER GEAR for all.  It's a must have on all trips no matter where you go or for how long .. as is a full set of warm stuff per person (including for your head).

We use Kathmandu rectangular suit cases.  They aren't really solid, but they can be folded flat when not in use and have a wire inner that holds the walls up when in use.  Sale had them at $20 each, but they can be found at $60.  Zipper all the way around the top, clear window on one side of the top flap (who knows why) and we keep them in our pull out under bed draw as they are a perfect height.

I'm usually in thongs (the foot wear kind), but always take a good pair of walking shoes and decent socks.  Several pairs of undies (if you wear them) and socks are a must - at least 2 pair a day in case of inclement weather or water crossings.

Two towels each.  One for showers.  One for swimming.  Don't forget a hat or two either.  A cap for quick use and one wide brimmed for walking through the day.  We also have a "day pack" to carry things whilst walking that can fit extra clothes, towels, food, cup and water, wallets, watches and keys (when swimming).  I also take a camera bag with me everywhere, so the camera is usually around my neck and this leaves some extra storage in there for keys and wallets on shorter walks.

But I'm with the others though, who utilise (protective) clothing only when required or in company.  Dare To Be Bare!!

Kit_e

[fishfinder]

Hi Tim,
Same as you guys for the 5 of us,
We also use the plastic boxes, the kids can easily see which one has their gear in it. We removed the stand up cupboard in the Swan, to many fights about, those with kids will know about  , oh well this works heaps better.  Four days worth of clothes each, just in case we strike bad weather and it makes it hard to wash & dry.

One for each of us. Shoes are kept in a bigger one, that way the box can be left outside and the contents doesn't get wet or creepy crawlies don't find their way into the toe of a shoe.
In the back of the cruiser is another plastic box with warm jackets/Jumpers, long pants and a good set of clothes each.

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

[Nomad]

Oh Nomad, i'm sure the thermals under the boardies makes the girls go crazy!!! 

As long as i have my cowboy boots i'll be happy!!!

Sh!t yeah..................Redwings and thermals are perfectly acceptable camping wear as well.