Now that we've fully outfitted our camper with the true essentials, I'd like to discuss the not so essential items you'd take camping, or have on hand in your camper. We've covered old towels, worn blankets, cheap plastic plates, and mismatched cutlery. This post will be about "luxury" items.
My family is quite content keeping it simple at the c.g. I take bar soap for showers and 2 n 1 shampoo and conditioner. I leave my make up at home most trips. There are a few toiletries I won't leave at home though. I mentioned before I take my facial moisturizer with an spf in it. I also take a travel size bottle of smell good body spray with me. Camping tends to be in hot weather, hot weather makes you "glisten" from parts that don't ever see daylight. With that comes smells, at times foul odors! I take my smell good body spray with me, I'm camping not a barbarian. I may be sweating, I may use cheap shampoo, but I do tend to smell good! I take my regular deodorant I use at home too. There's no need to buy special travel toiletries, I just fill travel bottles with the stuff I use at home. I may even take makeup with me on some trips this year, b/c we plan to be in town some, and though my hair may not be as smooth as it is at home, I won't stink or go around scaring the locals by looking a literal hot mess!
I've put a good set of sheets and a foam mattress pad on the master bed too. My husband tends to get very sunburned at the campground, and refuses to sleep on what he calls, burlap sack sheets! Soft sheets are an almost must for us. Our master bed wasn't the most comfy, to be sure, so I purchased an 18$ foam pad at the local Walmart. It makes a world of difference. I have a very bad back and sleeping in a camper tends to stove me up. I'm hoping the somewhat thin pad will combat that. If we determine we need a thicker pad, I'll pick one up. The sheets on the bed were free b/c they were too big for my Memaw's bed. They are probably 1200 thread count. Just because we're camping doesn't mean we can't sleep in comfort. I surely will be taking all my 5 pillows I sleep with at home as well. That's right 5!
Just because, to most, we're roughing it doesn't mean you have to sacrifice some creature comforts. You're on vacation, not a battlefield. I've been told that camping in a camper isn't really camping. I disagree. It's as camping as I want to get. The camper doesn't have a tv in it, or a video game console, or dvd player or things of that nature. To us, its part of getting away, the disconnect part. Yes, on rainy days or at night when the kids won't settle down and I'm whopped and need some quiet, it would be easy to pop in a dvd to lure my heatherns to sleep. We take their hand held electronics for the trip there, and allow them to have them at night. I want my kids to enjoy their vacation, and totally taking daily "luxury" items from them just because we're camping doesn't seem nice.
My camper has a quiet air conditioner unit as well. It gets hot here in the South in summer. I'm hoping the ac keeps us nice and cool at night and mid day when it's 100 degrees. Why suffer if you don't have to. I take fans as well to keep some sort of air stirring outside as well. We already know the heater works like an oven if set on 75. For that, I'm thankful. It will still be cool on our March trip.
I also suggest taking foods you normally eat at home camping. Sure, there are c.g. only foods, like smore's and onions wrapped in foil cooked directly in the fire. If you don't eat cheap mayo at home, don't eat it camping. I sure don't. I take a squirt bottle of Hellman's mayo. I'll cheap out on some things like mustard and even ketchup. I won't skimp on taking things like cheese, butter, good deli meat or my Doritos. The dollar store has lots of smaller size items perfect for the tight spaces of a cooler or camper fridge. I made the real mistake of taking cheap coffee last Labor Day. I picked up a flavored package of coffee for $1 and figured if I didn't really like it, I'd be fine for a weekend. How truly wrong I was! The coffee was pure swill! My friends who came and met us on Saturday had to bring me real coffee! I'll never make that mistake again. You can use a hand me down coffee pot, or one you get at Goodwill, but make sure the coffee you brew is something you will drink at home. You get what you pay for, for sure! Lesson learned. I'll grab a bag of my favorite Community Coffee blend and not gripe at all.
I asked my husbands input on "man" items he thinks makes camping easier for man type jobs. Those being things like starting a fire, chopping wood, leveling the camper, and garbage duties. He says to not use cheap trash bags, ever, at home, the campground, ever! So we don't. he also suggest power tools. a heavy duty cordless drill will come in very handy for various uses. He also suggest a very sharp ax and even a chain saw. It's better to have the items and not need them, than to need it and not have it.
I've learned a lot about camping the past few years, what to take more of like bug spray, bottled water, and band aides and what you can take less of. You don't need a bottle of body wash for every family member or a million other little things that I've taken before. You learn what works for your family. It takes time. I'm sure after our first trip in the camper I will be removing some things and adding others. Remember, it's all about fun, relaxing, and enjoying yourself. Yes, camping is work, but it doesn't have to be a drudge. We divide up task like cooking and clean up. That way we all enjoy ourselves. It IS a vacation and just because you're at a campground and not a 5 star hotel, doesn't mean it can't be just as enjoyable.
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