Camping is a great way to de-stress and disconnect from the world’s worries. But then, you come home and there’s a whole lot of gear for you to unpack and organize.
Want to learn how to organize camping gear such as your tent under $100 or rain fly for hammock quickly and effortlessly? It’s possible to do it right so that it’s ready to go the next time you feel like stepping away from civilization.
You just have to use the right camping gear storage solutions and use what you’ve got wisely.
Organizing Camping Gear at Home
How to store camping gear? You’d be surprised to learn that organizing camping gear is actually quite easy. All it takes is making sure that there’s a place for all items and that you store your stuff in a way that’s efficient yet accessible.
Read on to find out how to organize camping gear today.
1. Pack Your Clothes Carefully
The thing about camping is that you’re not going to stay in some hotel room with closet space. So, you must be careful in packing your clothes and make sure that they’re placed neatly into an organized pack or duffel bag.
Also, you should avoid packing too many clothes. Stick with the basics, like shorts, t-shirts, one rain jacket and/or fleece.
As for your undies and socks, they should be stored on top of the larger clothing items and make sure to fold them neatly so that it’s easier to find what you’re looking for later.
2. Get Zip Lock Bags
It doesn’t matter how big or small your zip lock bags are; they can be very valuable storage receptacles for your camping gear. That’s because they’re reusable, durable, and waterproof.
Plus, you can label them so that it’s easier to find stuff when you need it. You can use zip lock bags to store each person’s toiletries as well as snacks, cereal, rice, dried beans, and other essentials.
The great thing about zip lock bags is that they don’t take up much space, and they offer the perfect storage to keep your cell phones, cameras, and chargers safe.
3. Clean Up Everything After You
“Leave only footprints.” We’ve all seen this slogan at parks and reserves around the world, and for good reason.
It’s a message that reminds us to clean up after ourselves and leave the areas as clean and pristine as we found them.
Leaving food scraps on the soil can attract wild animals, and leaving your clothes strewn all over your camping chair will make it harder to pack up and get out of dodge when you need to.
4. Use Storage Bins
Car camping seems simple at first until you actually start packing your gear in there and realize that your car or van can fill up quicker than you thought. For best results, use large storage bins, especially for things like your tarp, headlamps, and Frisbees.
There should be a single bin for like-items like your table cloth, utensils, cooking equipment and food, while another bin could hold your sleeping pad, tarp, tent, pillow for camping, camping equipment storage, etc. Keep recreational stuff like collapsible hula hoops, balls, slacklines, and baseball mitts in a small bin.
You can then pack empty duffel bags and backpacks in the spaces between the gaps. And that’s how you can organize camping gear for your trip.
5. Store the Sleeping Bag in Its Sack
Most sleeping bags and wool blankets for camping come with a large sack and a stuff sack for your convenience. The stuff sack is what you use to carry your sleeping bag on the road, while the large sack is where you store the sleeping bag in between trips.
It helps to prevent the bag from getting compressed and gives it some breathing space.
6. Children Should Have Their Own Bags
If you plan to travel as a family, try to have a differently colored duffle bag for each child and allow them to bring a few of their favorite toys.
Make sure everyone knows to pack everything into its rightful place at the end of each day to avoid losing stuff and to make sure that everything stays organized.
7. Wipe Down the Tent
Once you get home from your camping trip, be sure to unpack everything before you collapse onto your bed because if you don’t do it immediately, you might end up not doing it right.
Use mild soap to wipe down your tent and then pack it in a backpack.
8. Store Your Gear in Storage Tubs
It’s one of the best camping gear organization ideas or storage ideas to store your gear in storage tubs in your basement so that it’s ready to go when you feel like taking a trip.
This includes things like mountaineering and climbing gear, i.e. your chocks, carabiners, harnesses, and ropes. Once you’ve cleaned your cookies supplies, pack them neatly in another bin, and store them in your basement as well for easy access.
Frequently Asked Questions
Want to learn organizing camping gear, particularly your tent? The most important thing is to collapse the topes and find a cool, dry place to put it in your house. This will help to distribute tension evenly. Avoid placing your tent in the car trunk, attic or basement. Rather keep it in the garage or inside a gear closet.
Ideally, your backpacking pack should be stored upside down in a fridge. But, this is only after you’ve drained all the water out of it. Alternatively, you can store it in a closet, wherever it’s dry and cool. Avoid placing it in the garage. For best results, use opaque plastic bins that are stackable to store your camping gear because they’re UV-protective, and resistant to dust and water damage.
Keep all the large storage bins on a top shelf and place them on top of rollouts for easy access. Look for any dead space around your house such as underneath the couch or bed to keep things like trekking poles and backpacks.
The simple answer is you should roll it because it’s just neater and reduces the amount of space required to store stuff. It’s definitely not as stressful as stuffing.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know how to organize camping gear, you can have peace of mind knowing that your stuff will be easy to access when it’s time to go on a trip again.