Housekeeping In Camp

"I'm on vacation..." was the plaintive cry of Billy Crystal in the movie Cityslickers as he was being dragged along a dry wash by a runaway cow.   Many of us legitimately feel that way (hopefully without the part about being dragged by a cow) when we go camping so we have a tendency to avoid routine housekeeping chores and just enjoy ourselves.  After all, we're on vacation!   And shouldn't that mean a vacation from housekeeping chores too?  We'll, no, not really.  Whether you're camping in a second hand tent or a luxury motorhome you need to pay attention to routine housekeeping tasks. Done regularly and properly, they will take up little time and in the long run actually give you more time to enjoy your outing.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone, not even in huge, luxury motorhome, who brought their domestic staff to camp and most of us don't have a domestic staff anyway!

Daily chores. Many of the routine chores associated with camping are the same as those we perform at home.  Details may be different, but the basic list of chores remains the same.  Make your bed.  Do the dishes.  Pick up and put away errant items.  Sweeping and dusting.  You probably only need to clean the windows on your RV as needed, especially if you've been doing proper pre- and post-trip maintenance.  Why bother making your bed in an RV or a tent?  Why not just close the door or zip up the tent and forget it?  One factor is the effect on your attitude. A  friend of mine once told me her mother taught her that "if the beds are made and the dishes are done, your house is clean".  Obviously there are other factors, but those two are highly visible to us as well as any visitors and help give us a sense of order and organization.  Leaving these things undone lends an air of clutter and disarray that promotes even more clutter and disarray.  You will sleep better in an orderly bed than you will in one with loose, tangled bedding.   What about "making your bed" when tent camping?  Well, the process is a little different but is even more important.  You need to air out your sleeping bag every morning to allow accumulated moisture from overnight perspiration to evaporate.  A damp sleeping bag will not keep you warm and, on top of that, it will soon develop rather unpleasant odors.  One of the best ways to freshen your sleeping bag is to turn it in-side-out and hang it outside in the sunlight and breeze for a couple of hours.   Don't leave it there all day as extended exposure to sunlight will damage the fabric.  In inclement weather, you'll need to hang it inside your tent.  Make a clothesline across the inside using light rope or twine.   Turn your bag in-side-out, and hang it over the line for a few hours. It may take longer to dry out than it will outside in the sun and the breeze.   Follow the same procedure if you use a sleeping bag in your RV instead of regular bedding.   If you're camping in an RV for more than just a few days, you will want to bring along enough bedding to at least change the sheets every few days.  Lacking that, remove the bedding and hang it out for a few hours every day or two to dry and freshen it.  And you might want to hit your bedding with Fabreze every day or so to minimize odor problems.  Oh, the wonders of modern consumer technology.

Sweeping the floors.  Regularly sweeping out your tent or RV may seem to be a waste of time since someone will probably track in more dirt before you can even put the broom away.  However, keeping the floors as clean as possible is important to keeping them in good condition.  Grit gets into the fibers of carpets and tent floors and literally cuts them off.  On hard surface floors it grinds away at the shine.  You shouldn't be anal about sweeping the floors, but neither should you be lax.  As always, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Keep a mat outside the door or your tent or RV to wipe your feet on before entering.  An awning mat alongside your RV also traps a lot of what would otherwise end up inside.  One suggestion is to use an old burlap bag as a mat.  They are cheap, take up little room in transit, and are easy to clean. You can hose them off when you get home or even toss them in the washer.  The rough texture helps scour mud and debris from your shoes and dry the soles before you track it into your tent or RV.  When I'm camping in my little pop-up dome tent, I just stand in front of the open door, pick the tent up by the poles and shake out any loose dirt and debris that has accumulated at least once a day, usually when I get up in the morning.  For a more securely anchored tent I use a short broom or a whisk broom.  You can use a full size broom in an RV or a big tent.  Some RVs come with central vacuum cleaner systems but as along as you have shore power or a functioning generator you can use any vacuum cleaner.   Canister styles are easier to store in an RV than uprights.   I have mine in the space under one of the dinette seats.  I chose a Kenmore with an air-powered brush to enhance cleaning power.  The disposable bags make getting rid of the swept up gunk a breeze.   Just make sure you bring along some extra bags.

General clutter should always be avoided.  When you are finished with an item, put it back where it belongs.  The old adage, "a place for everything and everything in its place" is particularly valuable when camping.  Whether you're in a tent or an RV, you have limited space, limited resources, and limited time.  You may be able get by rummaging through a pile of stuff on the workbench at home looking for something when you need it, but when you're camping, you don't want to spend your valuable leisure time like that.  Avoiding clutter requires some initial organization to find the right place for each item.  From there it is just a matter of putting things back when you finish using them. Putting them away properly does more than maintain the appearance of your RV or campsite, it keeps you from wasting time looking for things the next time you need them.  Once you have established where things go, avoid putting them away someplace else.   It is OK to thoughtfully re-organize things as you learn what works best and what doesn't, but don't just stuff something in a convenient drawer just to get it out of the way.  And don't re-organize too often!   If you keep moving things around you'll never remember where you put them.   It might be better to have something in a less logical place where it has "always" been if you know where it is.

Laundry can be a difficult task while camping, unless your RV is equipped with a washer and dryer or there is a laundromat at the campground.  It is, however, something you will need to do.  Primitive civilizations did their laundry in lakes and streams, without soap or detergent, pounding them on the rocks to work loose the dirt.   Not a very appealing solution, especially if you have delicate fabrics. You may be able to successfully wash your clothes in ordinary laundry soap in the RV sink or in a plastic washbasin and hang them out to dry.   If you use a washbasin, be sure to dispose of the soapy water where it won't contaminate the local water supply or make a mess in the campground.   If you do choose to wash them in a lake or stream, be sure to use biodegradable soaps as normal soaps will contaminate the water and make sure you are downstream from anyplace people are swimming or drawing water for drinking and cooking.  Just rinsing things out with fresh water will help keep stains from "setting" and will usually make your clothing fit to wear again -- if you don't go too long between washings.   If you are backpacking or find your self in survival mode with no means of washing your clothes, just hanging your clothing out in the sun and air for a few hours will help freshen it.  The UV in the sunlight will kill bacteria and viruses and the air will help eliminate accumulated moisture and odors.

Personal hygiene is sometimes thought of as a luxury or even a nuisance while camping.   It shouldn't be.  Personal hygiene should be routine if you're camping in an RV or a tent and have adequate provisions.  Even in a survival situation, personal hygiene is essential to maintain health and comfort.  Personal hygiene isn't just a way of making you more pleasant to be around, it can be essential to maintaining your health.  Avoid getting dirty when you can.   If you have a suitable water supply, take regular baths and rinse out your clothes.  If your water supply is limited, take "cat baths" using just a wash cloth and a pan of water to clean your hands, face, and other parts of the body that need special attention.   If water is scarce, take "air showers" -- strip down as far as weather and propriety allow for at least a few hours every couple of days or so. This allows air and sunlight to cleanse your body of germs and dry and air out your clothing.  Keeping your hands clean has been shown as an effective way to reduce spreading of disease.  Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 15-20 seconds if you can whenever they may have been contaminated by germs, especially after handling raw meat.

Outdoor housekeeping.  When camping you need to pay attention to outdoor housekeeping as well as keeping things neat and clean inside.  Campers usually have a bunch of outdoor items (camping chairs, recreational equipment, firewood, shovels, axes, OHVs) and everything needs to be well organized to start with and kept orderly throughout the excursion.  Careful organization will makes our experience more enjoyable and we'll feel better about our camp site and ourselves if things are neat and clean and conveniently located when we need them.  You don't need to go to the extreme of the Boy Scouts at Jamboree where they mark off and outline and put signs on each area, but you and your fellow campers should be able to easily identify the function and boundaries of each section. Sure, you can just dump your box or bag of firewood on the ground, but it looks better and is more convenient to use if it is stacked neatly.   Remember, when you're building your fire you need tinder, then kindling, then progressively larger pieces of wood.   Having it stacked neatly makes this task much easier and quicker than if you have to dig through a random pile of junk wood to find what you need.  Put large pieces of wood on one end and add progressively smaller pieces as you work toward the other end. Keep your fire pit in good condition.  If someone has dumped in non-combustible materials, remove them while the fire is cool.  Realign the rocks around rock fire pits to maintain a proper fire ring.   Coolers should be kept out of the sun.  Sometimes you can slide them under your vehicle so they're shaded all day.  If they won't fit under your vehicle try putting them under the picnic table.  This also keeps them out of the way so people don't trip over them.  Tools, like shovels and axes, need to be stored where they're convenient to use but out of the reach of children and where they won't be a trip hazard or fall on someone.  Camp chairs should never be left standing around a campfire when you leave the fire.  At the very least, fold them up and lay them down flat so they don't get blown over into the fire pit after everyone has gone to bed.  Better yet, move them away from the fire and lean them up against your vehicle or some other consistent place in your camp. Sliding them under your vehicle or picnic table keeps them out of rain and overnight dew and prevents them from becoming a tripping hazard.  I've seen people take outdoor housekeeping to what I think is the extreme: such as sweeping their camp site down to the hard pack. Sweeping your camp site makes sense if you're on a paved surface, but to me, sweeping dirt is going over board!   Still, if that makes you happy, go ahead!  ust don't kick up a lot of dust that drifts into a neighboring site or contaminates your tent, kitchen, sleeping bags, sitting area, or RV.

Survival housekeeping.  Housekeeping may not seem to be a priority when you are in survival mode.   After all, you must have shelter, water, and food in order to stay alive and that takes time and effort.  But housekeeping should be a part of your survival plan.  You will need to keep things neat and organized to facilitate your other survival tasks.  Collect fire wood and potential building materials into designated places.  Create a "laundry room" area to hang out your clothes and bedding. Though not a pleasant subject for polite company, you will need to have a latrine area to dispose of body wastes.   Ideally, it should be located conveniently close to your main camp, but far enough away to provide privacy and avoid odors from polluting your main living space.   Put it down hill and down wind if you can.   Keeping things neat and clean will also provide a psychological assist you need to maintain a good survival attitude.  If you are stuck for any length of time, creating some creature comforts for yourself and your companions will both give you something productive and rewarding to do and make your lives easier.  The more you can turn your emergency camp into your own personal or personalized living space, the more at home you will be, improving your attitude and your chances of survival.  Keeping things clean and organized will reduce the potential for disease and make life more comfortable.

Keep it clean!