8 caravan space-saving tips

It’s your home away from home – but if only you had the same amount of space in which to fit all your creature comforts. Everything’s there, including the kitchen sink, but you’re sometimes left scratching your head wondering where do you put things in a caravan.

Any space-saving tips are likely to prove most welcome – you can never have too many caravan storage accessories, it seems. So here are some ideas;

1. Plastic boxes

  • call them storage cubes, tubs, or what you will, but stackable plastic boxes extend the volume of storage space available and may keep clothing, handy devices, and all manner of odds and end all up together and out of the way;
  • clearly, if you keep the same kinds of items together in their own separate storage box, you’ll know where to look and find them more easily;
  • in the galley cupboards, using small plastic containers for spices, sauces, the contents of opened cans, and salad dressings will help prevent spills and tipping when you’re on the road and keep things better organised;

2. Collapse it

  • if you can crush it or squish it, anything capable of collapsing, you’ll be able to stow away until you need it – it’s simply going to take up less space;
  • pop-up laundry baskets, clothes horses, and ironing boards are just some of the collapsible gadgets that spring to mind – according to a blog by Oaktree Motorhomes in August 2022, these days you can even get collapsible kettles, pots, and pans;

3. Ditch the toolbox

  • when was the last time you went through your toolbox and considered just how many of the tools you were actually likely to use – the chances are you’ve been carting around many rarely used pieces;
  • it may be worth a serious reorganisation of the toolbox, replacing a bulky metal container with a simple roll and substituting some of the often-used tools with a single multi-tool;

4. Hang your shoes

  • do you find that everyone’s shoes tend to end up in a jumbled heap at the bottom of a wardrobe – or just anywhere on the floor?
  • a simple and effective way of keeping better order – and saving space – is to buy a hanging shoe rack;
  • It’s not only great for shoes, but the pockets provide equally handy storage for items such as toiletries and cleaning products;

5. Peg it

  • hooks and pegs you can hang anywhere – on the walls of your caravan, on wardrobe and cupboard doors – to provide handy places on which to hang beach towels, hats and clothes, dishcloths and the like;
  • if you prefer to keep all this in the one place, you might fix a pegboard in a convenient place and keep all those frequently used items all up together;

6. Magnetic strips

  • you probably use one in your kitchen at home, so why not fix one above the space in the galley of your caravan;
  • knives, kitchen utensils, and scissors are kept neatly out of the way – and you’ll always know just where to find them;

7. Nest them

  • another trick for saving space in the kitchen or galley is to make sure that your bowls, plates, and dishes nest together, rather than awkwardly shaped items taking up their own individual space in the cupboard below or above the sink;

8. Suspend it

  • you don’t have to turn your caravan into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but there may be some unobtrusive areas where you can hang extra storage space from the ceiling;
  • a small hanging wardrobe, food storage cupboard or extra shelving can be hung from the unused space and keep things well out of the way;
  • then, when you’re next asking yourself where do you store dishes in a caravan, that newly suspended shelf could come in very handy.

Finally … Don’t take it

A final, if somewhat cheeky, suggestion is to create more storage space by being more selective in your packing and simply not taking items that are unlikely to be essential during any particular caravan trip.

Increasing the storage space in your caravan is likely to prove a Godsend. It helps to keep everything neatly in its proper place, rarely costs much to buy, and might help make your tourer more of a home from home.