If you are reading this article, you are about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime and I could not be more excited for you! We have been on the road full-time with our three kids for over two years, and I am already dreading the day we return home and settle back down. Packing the right equipment when RVing full-time with kids is probably what took me the longest when planning out our adventure. The good news is, since your mode of travel is RVing, you'll be close to any store you might need to pick up last minute or forgotten items. Best of all, La Mesa RV has stores around the country and can give your rig a tune up should you need it. Leaving with most everything you need will make adjusting into your new lifestyle much easier and set you up for success on the road, and we've got that list covered. Check out the details below.
Guest Post and Photography by Laura Georgieff
Capsule Wardrobe
What might take you the longest to plan, is everyone's wardrobe. If you RV full-time with kids, you will need clothing and footwear for all seasons.
Here are my top recommendations:
* Get everyone several tops and bottoms in plain colors and in a similar color scheme. In the morning, everyone will be able to get dressed independently, knowing that all tops fit all bottoms, and all kids will look somewhat assorted, helping you capture nicer photos of your trip.
* Plan roughly 6 pairs of shorts, 10 t-shirts, 2 sweaters, 3 pairs of pants, 14 underwear, and 6 pairs of socks per person. That will help you keep your laundry at once every couple of weeks.
* Ensure everyone has a winter jacket, a pair of warn undergarments, a cap, a winter hat, a pair of gloves, sunglasses, and 2 swimsuits.
* If you're a pajama kind of family, grab 1 or 2 per person.
* In terms of footwear, plan a pair of sneakers and a pair of hiking sandals per person. You can do fine year-round with those, but could decide to add on a pair of flip flops and a pair of hiking boots per person, depending on available space, as well as a pair of snow boots if you plan on snow camping!
* Optionally, you can pack one dress up outfit per person if you attend church, family function, or think that you will be visiting nicer restaurants or venues.
Toys / Books
Keeping the kids busy while driving, or on cold and rainy-weather days, is essential. However, with very limited space, choose wisely.
* Our kids are book worms, and if yours aren't yet, they might really pick up love for reading while RVing. If you are not a heavy-screen family, there will be plenty of time to nurture a love for reading along the trip. Plan at least 5 pocket books per kid. They will read and re-read them, which is ok. While at campgrounds, exchange them for new ones at campground libraries, or find free little libraries in different places. When meeting other camping families, ask if you can exchange books!
* When it comes to toys, you have to let go of most games in your home. My recommendation is to pack a large box of loose Lego bricks, as well as little figurines to help your kids develop their imagination. Those open-play toys are great to keep the kids entertained for hours.
* Make sure to pack plenty of arts and craft supplies, coloring books, pens and pencils, sticker books, and paper sheets.
* Lastly, camping nights are for family board game nights. You have to pack at least 4 or 5 family board games, and plenty of card games (i.e., UNO, Phase 10, etc.)
Homeschooling
If you are RVing full-time with kids, the odds are high that you will be homeschooling. While you know exactly what to pack for each child's homeschooling, my recommendation is to pick up a couple of large atlas and science books, to help make the learning more visual. If your child is old enough for learning on a laptop, have a charger for each device, as well as individual headphones so all kids can work simultaneously without disturbing one another. For younger children, have a plan to keep them busy while you work with the oldest. Good activities include online typing lessons, foreign language apps, coloring, tracing, etc.
Outdoor Fun
You will soon understand that the beauty of full-time RVing is the amount of time spent outdoors and in nature. When you get to a campground, be ready for the kids to dash out of your camper, making quick friends with all the young souls around. At a bare minimum, pack bikes for the kids, a couple of balls, a few pool toys, and a camping chair for each family member. If you have a little more space, some of our favorites include zero-gravity laying chairs, roller blades, a small fire pit, and jumping ropes.
For the active families, I highly recommend packing a couple of inflatable SUP's and/or kayaks. Being able to get on the water is priceless and we have made incredible memories at state parks, national parks, and on lakes and rivers. If you do pack water vessels, make sure to also pack life vests for everyone, and maybe even wetsuits.
Foodie Essentials
The amazing things about full-time traveling in an RV is that you can bring your home with you. We cook and bake a lot, and being able to travel with all of my pantry staples has been a game-changer, versus traveling internationally without any of that.
Pantry Items
Bring all of your must-have pantry items (i.e., spices, flours, baking ingredients, etc.). You should definitely invest in cabinet shelving and smart storage solutions to make it all easily storable and accessible.
Dishes And Cutlery
If you can, try to purchase bamboo plates, bowls, serving platters, and cups to stock up your RV. You will save on weight and likely breakage, as well as reduce your footprint by reusing instead of trashing paper plates. Make sure to pack all of the cutlery you will need, such as cutting knives, spatulas, mixing spoons, tongs, and more.
Small Appliances
Remember that life on the road is still life. Many will tell you that you are lucky to be on an open vacation, but don't mistake full-time travel with vacation. Make sure to pack the things you can't live without. If you need your grinding coffee maker, pack it. We didn't and had to run to Target to buy a brand new one within a couple of months of starting on our full-time RVing adventure.
If you are a baker, pack your mixer. If you enjoy smoothies, bring your blender with you. I can't eat toast that is not toasted, so my toaster is sitting on my counter top! Think about what will make your life on the road comfortable, and find a way to make it fit! Again, that is the reason why you reduced your home wardrobe to a capsule wardrobe - to fit in things that are more important to your happiness.
Water Safety
Water is important, and with limited space and a quick thought for the environment, I don't recommend purchasing water bottles. You can drink campground water with the proper equipment. Start with a small filter attaching right at the campground's water outlet. After that, the sky is the limit. Our water is filtered at the source with the external water filter, and once more through our fridge. If you do not have a fridge filter, you can invest in double osmosis filters, countertop carbon water filtration system, or a handheld filtration carafe. All come at different price points and in different sizes - find what works best for you and ditch the water bottles.
Rig + Car Maintenance
Pack what you will need to clean and maintain your car and rig. Always have an extra container of DEF if you drive a diesel engine, some cleaning and waxing solutions for your car, as well as tools, a glue gun, nails and screws for all the little things that will need fixing on the road.
Being prepared will save you several trips to the local hardware store. Remember that your rig, no matter its shape or price, live through a long series of earthquakes as you travel down the road. Expect things to need fixing and having the right tools with you is a great first step!
Bedding
Bedding is bulky, heavy, and takes up lots of precious space. Only take the musts, including a waterproof mattress protector for every single bed (no matter who sleeps on it!), one fitting sheet / one comforter / one duvet cover per bedding. Add a few fleece blankets in suction bags to keep under the master bed. They will come in handy on cold nights without being too bulky or taking a ton of space.
Don't overdo the pillows... you will quickly regret the lack of floorspace once your pillows are down on the 3 square feet of flooring in your bedroom. Believe me, less is more when it comes to bedding. Save the space for more joy-bringing items!
Cleaning Products
This one is a given but I would hate for you to leave those essentials home. Pack a glass cleaner, bathroom cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, stainless steel appliance cleaner, and leather wipes if you have leather seats in your rig.
You will notice that a small space requires much more frequent cleaning than your brick and mortar home. Don't be surprised if, with kids coming in an out, you need to sweep the floor 2 to 3 times a day. But the good news is that everything is sparkling clean in 10 minutes! While many modern RVs have a central vacuum, it will honestly be faster to sweep the floors, so pack a broom, a small brush, and a spray mop, and you're good to go!
While we left ours at home, I often wish we traveled with our pressure washer. You need to see whether you have the cargo space for it, but full-timers can make great use of a pressure washer to keep their RV sparkling clean!
Camping Essentials
Let's look at a few camping essentials you should buy prior to leaving on your adventure. We mentioned a couple of water filtration systems above and won't be touching on those again. However, on the water front, make sure that you have a water pressure controller valve that you will install between the campground's water source and the external filter. It will control the water pressure and prevent your pipes from bursting in case of high water pressure.
Now let's look at power. You have to get a surge protector before your very first trip. You have a lot of electronics on board your rig, and it would be very upsetting to see everything fry with a faulty power box. A surge protector is worth its weight in gold! Ours tripped multiple times and saved our onboard computer, TV's, appliances, laptops, etc. from getting fried.
Connection
Whether you work from the road of not, you will want to be connected and won't be able to rely 100% on campground wifi. This one was my biggest worry prior to starting our full-time RV travels. Not only do we need internet to work from the road, but this girl needs a good movie to relax at night... After several months on the road, we finally found the perfect solution. We had left thinking the built-in Wineguard 360 wifi booster would get us great internet and keep us happy on the road... Little did we know just how much of a struggle connection on the road would be.
In the end, we purchased two hotspots from two different carriers, giving us more antennas to connect to. Turns out, we love our hotspots and since one is tiny and portable, we can pack it in our backpacks and use it to work from a park if we decide to go explore and something urgent arises. To avoid unnecessary stress, pre-pay for enough data. We have a 1TB and a 100GB contract, and use it as much as necessary, often streaming on 5 or 6 devices at the same time, without running into issues. Now, I also recommend using apps like Campedium to read camper reviews on connection at the campgrounds you are trying to book! You will avoid bad surprises on arrival.
This list should give you a good basis for what to pack for full-time RVing with kids. Remember - save space on clothing and pack with you what brings you joy. If a kayak or your crochet set make you happy, make space for it. Life on the road can be taxing and tiring, and you want all the comfort you can get, accessible at an arm's reach!
Bio
Laura is a full-time RVing mom of three. After traveling around the world, Laura and her family started touring the U.S. in their fifth wheel, before settling on a Tiffin Phaeton Class A found at La Mesa RV. They are chasing the national parks and you can follow their adventures on Instagram and on their family travel blog.
