Small Space, Big Help: Six Things That Earn Their Keep in Our Caravan

Space in a caravan is a genuine premium, and as we learn to travel with ours, I have become quite ruthless about what actually earns a place inside it. Nothing gets to stay simply because it might be useful one day, it has to prove itself, again and again, in a space this small. These six things have done exactly that, and not one of them takes up more room than you could fit in a single kitchen drawer.

A Pegless Washing Line That Actually Holds in the Wind

The Ezyline has been part of my life at home for years now, long before we ever had a caravan, and I have watched it hold a full load of washing through the strong wind that often blows at our place, without a single peg involved. One of our Ezylines is nearly ten years old and still does its job perfectly, while in the same time I have gone through bags and bags of plastic pegs. I loved using this system so much that when we travel overseas, not knowing what to expect from the apartments and places we stay, we bring one along, folded into its own small pouch alongside my travel iron. We have found ourselves more than once in an apartment with a washing machine but nowhere at all to hang the washing, and no iron either, so now the two travel together, just in case. When we brought the caravan into the picture, adding two velcro straps turned it into something even better suited to life on the road, compact to store, quick to set up, and just as quick to take down again, without ever once worrying about the wind undoing an afternoon's work. The pegless washing line lives alongside my washing machine sheets, which wash beautifully and, being stored in their own small plastic container, mean there is never any spillage of liquid or powder to worry about when we travel.

Silicone Holders for More Than Just Remotes

We bought these small silicone holders specifically for the caravan, and they have proven so useful that I am now ordering a second set. What I did not expect was how useful they would turn out to be for more than one job, holding the remotes securely in place, and also fixing an entirely different problem, the battery in our slide-out kitchen kept working itself loose and falling out, and one of these little holders fixed it instantly, holding it firmly in place while still letting me change it whenever I actually need to. So over the next couple of weeks I plan to experiment and see what else these little silicone holders can help me with.

A Mini Screwdriver Set That Lives by the Door

This one lives permanently at the very front of the caravan, right by the door, precisely so it is the first thing to hand whenever something needs a quick fix. It is compact enough to sit in a pocket, or to clip to a belt loop with the little carabiner built into its case, rather than dragging a full toolbox out for the sake of adjusting something small. For sure, we have more tools in our proper toolbox for anything more complex, but when all you have to do is tighten or replace a screw, the convenience of something this small, already exactly where you left it, is hard to beat.

Awning Clips for Anything That Needs to Stay Off the Ground

These slide straight into the awning's own channel, and they have become the answer to a problem every caravan traveller knows, what do you do with a wet jacket, or anything else that needs to be outside rather than inside, without it ending up on the ground. Small, simple, and exactly the kind of thing you do not think about until you need it. On one of our trips it rained for days, and we ended up with wet things hanging in the shower rather than anywhere useful, so when I later saw a picture of something similar in a post, I quickly researched where to find them and bought a pack that now travels with us all the time.

A Travel Iron That Has Outlasted Several Trips Overseas

This little patchwork iron has been with me for years, long enough that it has travelled overseas more than once, ever since we discovered that plenty of hotel rooms and apartments simply do not have one at all. Camping is rarely the place you think about ironing anything, but every so often there is somewhere nice enough to want a proper shirt, and with a small felt mat laid over the caravan table, I can set up a genuine little ironing station in a couple of minutes, then pack the whole thing away just as quickly.

Velcro Mesh Organisers

One other organising item that has really been a great help is a set of mesh organisers, attached with velcro strips so there is no drilling involved. We have several dotted around the caravan, one for shoes near the front and another by the bed, one for magazines and odds and ends, one inside the kitchen cupboard for plastic lids and shopping bags, and one more in the bedroom side tables for small items and glasses. Because they are held on with velcro, if the shoes ever mark the wall behind them, I simply lift the net away, clean underneath, and fix it straight back in place. They were quite inexpensive and have turned out to be far more versatile than most other organising items we own, so, like the silicone holders, I have already ordered another pack, knowing I will find more places to put them to use.

Keeping Track of It All

Deciding what earns its place in a space this small is not really a one-time decision, it is something I find myself reassessing every few trips, as new things prove themselves and old ones quietly fall out of favour. Keeping track of that, what actually lives where and why, is the other half of the job, and it is the part The Kit List was built for, alongside its companion, a proper departure checklist, for the day everything needs to be accounted for and stowed before you pull away.