Overnight, our family of four went from living in 3000 sq ft to 200 sq ft. All families who move into an RV go through something like this. We had the advantage of not trying to take any of our current belongings with us. Everything had to go. So in some ways, I think it was easier. Still, it’s been a project to figure out how to make 200 sq ft work for us. I’m writing this post to share some of the organizational and space management tricks we’ve figured out.
The big caveat with this post is that if this trailer goes bad and we end up having to get rid of it, we’ll have lost all the work we put into improving it, and we may not be able to trade it in because we’ve made it so different than how it was when we got it. I think it’s worth the risk because it’s made living in it so much better, but it is a caveat that you need to consider going in.
None of the links here are promotional or whatever. They’re just links. I’m just writing this to share knowledge.
Bunkhouse
We’ve got two kids in the bunkhouse. They’re preteens and need their privacy. So each one of them has a side of the room.
On the closet side, the first thing we did was remove those ridiculous climbing wall things (not made for Mom-sized feet and impossible to climb for changing the sheets) and replaced it with this ladder. Much better. We put in Ikea bed slats on top of the plywood base and replaced the foam mattress with an Ikea mattress.
On the slideout side, we took out everything: the couch cushions, the little table, and unscrewed the fold-up bed from the wall. We replaced it with a simple wooden frame made with different Ikea slats (I’m not finding them on the Ikea site now) screwed into 2×4 legs. A standalone bed frame didn’t fit in there so we had to make our own, but it wasn’t too hard. We then put in an Ikea mattress.
We hung blackout curtains across each side so each kid has their own private bed area.
Master Bedroom
Right away, we replaced our mattress with a regular mattress.
I’ve regretted buying regular mattresses a few times when we had leaks. So far they haven’t gone bad. But they might someday. If I had to do it again I’d replace with Exped air mattresses.
After toxifying several different types of pillows I’m now sleeping with a Klymit X pillow and liking it so far.
The front of our trailer, which is the back wall of the master, is a huge window. It’s a nice idea. But it’s a huge source of cold in the winter and heat in the summer. We cut reflectix to fit in and it helps. We can go outside if we want to see the view.
Bathrooms
I caulked like crazy everywhere in the bathroom, and installed leak detectors, when we first moved in. It didn’t stop leaks from happening but it sometimes helped find them.
When we moved onto land we bought and went off grid, we decommissioned our regular toilets and moved to a compost toilet. We are currently using a Nature’s Head in a tent outside. As the person who emptied the black tank and now empties the Nature’s Head, I love it. Way reduced stink factor. The rest of my family is unsure. If I can convince my husband to install the Nature’s Head inside I’ll write a post about the installation.
Some of the things we installed to optimize space in the tiny bathroom are:
We replaced the shower spray head with an Oxygenics low flow one and it’s much better. We also put in a kid-friendly shutoff and taught the kids to take military showers. It’s helped a lot with our water usage (which is important since we are currently trucking in every drop of water we use.)
Our vent fan stopped working after a year of constant use. We considered retrofitting with a better brand but we couldn’t find one (thank you COVID) so my husband just replaced the fan mechanism with this one. Not a perfect fit but a cheap fix that works fine.
Main Room
The dinette was one of the first things to go. Very uncomfortable and totally impractical for a family of four for full-time use. We replaced it with the Ikea Norden table and folding chairs from Costco. It’s not a perfect fit but it works well enough. We all spend a good portion of our day sitting at the table; working on our laptops, eating family meals, and playing games. The drawers in the table are very handy for storing office/homeschool supplies and medications/supplements. We keep this organizer on top of the table to store various devices and chargers that pile up there.
It took a lot of doing to make the tiny kitchen usable. Spices are stored in tiny ball jars. The metal lid is screwed into the cabinet above the sink (with two screws each so it won’t spin as we’re screwing the jar back in.) Knives are stored on a magnetic knife rack mounted to the wall. This drawer organizer keeps the cutlery organized and separate from cooking utensils in the single tiny usable drawer. We added a couple of shelves. One shelf folds using these brackets where needed to retract the slide, and holds the dish rack. I bought our dish rack at Grocery Outlet and can’t find the exact one but it’s something like this one. We also installed this shelf to hold the instant pot. This shelf just lifts off for slide retraction. This paper towel holder works well and can be tucked up against the wall so it doesn’t take up counter space. I use this basket to hold binders and other supplements that need to be visible so I’m reminded to give them.
Misc
We make liberal use of command hooks everywhere. They hold potholders, the cutting board, keys, coats and hats, pajamas, you name it. We also use over the door hangers. We hang them on the slide over the table to hold bunches of bananas and bags of avocados, and we hang them over our bed frames to hold shoes. We have an over the door shoe hanger on the back of the bathroom door that holds shoes, hats, scarves, and umbrellas. I use command velcro tape to hang things on walls, too.
Since we are living off grid, we need power. We are currently making generous use of this Harbor Freight Inverter Generator to run AC. (Yes, we have resorted to running AC to get through the hot summer, and yes, it’s gone slightly moldy, and I need to get it cleaned out but am having trouble finding cleaning supplies because COVID.) We also have solar panels that run everything when we aren’t using AC. The best/cheapest batteries we found were Costco’s Lion Lithium Ion batteries.
Hope that’s helpful! If there are things that have been helpful to you in RV living, please share. We can all learn from each other.
