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Camper vans are a pretty awesome thing to have. I mean, you have a kitchenette, bathroom, dining area, and bed, all in the size of a full-sized van! You can park in a regular parking space, and drive anywhere you want to without worrying about size restrictions. They are perfect for a couple, or a small family with 1-2 small children. Road trips with two potty trained/training toddlers are awesome now, since we have a bathroom with us! But one thing you don’t have a lot of, is storage room. Here’s where you have to get creative.
We just took our first road trip in our camper van, and I fit A LOT of stuff in there! We have a two and a three year old, so we had to find room to store all those extras like diapers and wipes, games and toys, and lots of snacks! Here are some of the items we used that I absolutely love!
1). Stylish Storage Baskets
I love this set of storage baskets! I got mine in a grey and white chevron pattern. There are three different sizes, and they fit perfectly in the closet area of our camper van! We use them for all of our toiletries, medicine, and other bathroom items.
2). Under Cabinet Storage Shelf
We use these in the bathroom/closet storage area. They are the perfect height to store extra toilet paper rolls! Also use to store towels and washcloths.
3). Portable Shelving Luggage Insert
This portable closet was the perfect size for our closet area. I love the fact that the bottom is an attached hamper for the dirty clothes as well!
4). Over the Door Organizer
This was my solution for diaper and wipe storage, and it worked great! The organizer fit perfectly on the outside of the door to our closet area, and barely took up any room. It also fit some of the books we brought along for the kiddos, as well as some of their toys.
5). Cargo Carrier
This was a great hitch cargo carrier. It fit our generator, gas can, outdoor rug rolled up, and a large plastic tote box for extra items perfectly! It was super sturdy too and didn’t bounce or sway.
6). Magnetic Tape
This magnetic tape is really strong. I put it on the wall at the back of the stove to hang knives and other metal kitchen items. Nothing has fallen off yet!
7). Magnetic Wall Plate and Spice Jars
Save precious cabinet space with this magnetic wall plate, and just stick your spice jars on the wall! This idea intrigues me, and I will probably purchase this at some point, though I have not yet.
8). Mesh Pocket
We use these on the wall at both sides of our bed in the back to store books, our phones, etc. while we are sleeping. Perfect since there is no area to set these items near the bed!
9). Coleman Camping Oven
Camper vans usually do not have an oven, there just simply isn’t room for one. We bought this oven so we could bake if we wanted to in the van. This oven is awesome! It collapses completely flat, so it barely takes up any room in the cabinet, and it works awesome! We made cinnamon rolls in it, and it was so easy to regulate the temperature. You set it on top of a camping stove or the stove in your camper van to heat up… super easy!
10). Collapsible Cookware
This cookware set is awesome! Mainly for the fact that it collapses so takes up very little storage room! Again, there is not a lot of cabinet space in a camper van, so every little bit counts!
11). Mixing Bowl Set
This mixing bowl set is great for small spaces since they all nestle inside each other, and also come with measuring cups!
12). Collapsible Dish Washing Tub and Cutting Board
Anything that comes collapsible to save space is a win in my book! Plus this one doubles as a dish washing tub, and a cutting board! Perfect!
13). Collapsible Strainer and Funnel
Again, if it’s collapsible, it saves space! The perfect strainer for the camper van’s kitchen! Plus it comes with a funnel. If we are ever to need a funnel.
14). Car Trunk Organizer
We use this between the two front seats in the camper van. It’s the perfect size for that area, and holds a little trash can, snacks, my laptop, and any other extras that we want within easy reach while driving.
15). Command Hooks and Velcro
These hooks are great to hang anything in the camper, and they are super strong!
16). Key Hooks Organizer
We have something like this hanging just below our battery and water pump switches in the van. It’s perfect for keeping track of our keys, phones, and any paperwork we need.
17). Compact Coffee Maker
This is such a cute little single serve coffee maker!!! It’s the perfect size for our camper van, and comes in a few different colors. Ours has worked great for us, and believe me, we use it often!
18). Inside the Refrigerator
Bottles of juice and creamer containers fit perfectly in the door of the camper van refrigerator. We used empty ones for milk, pancake mix (ready to pour), and eggs (that we had already broken and mixed together). The convenient pour spout and ready-to-go food, made it really easy to make breakfast. For the rest of the refrigerator, we like to keep it organized using these stackable bins!
19). Stove Top Cover & Over The Sink Cutting Board = Extra Counter Space
I don’t have a link for this one, but we have a cutting board that fits perfectly over the sink in our camper van, which makes for a lot more counter space when making meals! Some stoves also have an optional cover that covers the stove to utilize additional counter space as well.
I hope these ideas help you utilize your small space as well! If you’re interested in “glamping” up your camper, check out our Fun Items That Will Turn Your Camper Van “Camping” Into “Glamping”. Please share your space saving camper ideas in the comments! Happy camping!
