Tweaking the Trailer

Today we're busy moving our furniture to storage, which means we'll be sitting on the floor and sleeping on air mattresses for the next week or so. Meal planning has been interesting since our food stores are dwindling (on purpose). I just realized that next week will be our last blog post before we hit the road. Yikes!

Since we've had so much time to prepare, I've been having fun getting our trailer organized and comfortable for the trip. Pinterest has been a huge help in this area. Check out some of the hacks I've added:

This is a PVC fishing rod holder. I screwed it in next to the fire extinguisher. It makes a fantastic flashlight holder. I've also added glow-in-the-dark tape so it's easy to see in the dark. 

Glow-in-the-dark-tape is also on our outside step to keep everyone safe in case we need to go out at night.

The trailer originally came with a tiny shower head. I replaced it with this one. It distributes the water more evenly and aerates it so you don't use as much. That little switch in the center opens and closes the water flow so you can lather up and not have to keep turning the water on and off completely. The temperature stays constant and you don't waste water!

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself because the bathroom didn't have a toilet paper dispenser (I mean really, what were they thinking?!), so I installed one myself! It was so secure that I decided to put up a towel rack too. This one is actually a lightweight wine rack. The walls in trailers aren't very thick or sturdy, so we'll have to be careful when taking the towels out so we don't accidentally rip it out of the wall. So far, so good!

We're using a great idea from a friend (Hi, N!!) and doing something creative with both the towels and the dishes. They're color coded! Now each person has an assigned color (the same for both their dishes and their towel) so we know immediately who hasn't cleaned up. There will be no confusion or fighting about who used what item.

Things can move around in a trailer when you're traveling, so you want to keep everything as secure and compact as you can. This is especially true in the shower, so we bought this great mesh pocket holder for the shampoo, conditioner, and soap. It attaches to the rings that hold the shower curtain and dries quickly.

I'm loving Command Strips more and more these days. You really can't screw a lot of holes into the trailer and these little beauties keep everything in place with the option of removing them at any time. Brooms are a necessity in such a small space and these little Command Strip holders keep ours nice and secure, not to mention handy. Do you see that curtain my son added to his bunk for privacy? Comand Strip hooks are holding up the rod!

This Oh-Snap Pocket from Thirty-One Gifts is right next to our door and is a great place to keep our smaller first aid kit and hand sanitizer. The chalkboard panel is easy to see so we can write down the location information of our camp site. That way we'll know where we are in case of an emergency.

This little towel holder hooks over the cupboard door to keep the towel handy and out of the way.  The Command Strip Hook on the wall keeps our scrub brush from rolling everywhere. When you need space to prep your food, it's nice to have access to these items without them being in the way.

These tiny bead containers (the containers are almost the size of a Tic-Tac box) are going to hold various spices. A label maker will tell us what's what and we'll save space and weight but still be able to spice our food.

Hopefully in the next week or so we'll make it to Ikea and get some of their Pluggis containers to mount next to the kids bunks for books.

14 days to go!

- Jen

Preserving the Past

What can I say? I'm a total sap. I'm sure if you looked up the word "sentimental" in the dictionary, my picture would be used as a reference. I've saved school pictures, letters, cards, origami-style notes and more because I like remembering people and meaningful events. Each item in my collection holds a memory. Some good, some bad, but all part of my life story. Every once in a while I'll go through this collection and throw away things that no longer have meaning- things that may have been important to me as a child, but I can no longer remember what they were for. It's good to clean house to keep the important things close and let go of the rest. This trip is giving us the opportunity to do just that.

Packing up our home for storage means sorting through these items. I have four different categories of mementos that were organized and boxed up this week- mine, my husbands, my kids, and our family history. I love family research and treasure those old black and white photos from days gone by. Documents like birth/marriage/death/baptism certificates give us clues we need to piece together the stories of our ancestors. It's so sad to run across old pictures of people at the antique store with no clue as to who they were or where they came from. Please make sure to write on the backs of your pictures if you are the keeper of these precious identities! Also, make sure to scan them so they can be enjoyed by the whole family for many years to come. There may be only one picture of "so-and-so" but with a database everyone can access, everyone gets to enjoy it and the original can remain safe.

Since these old pictures and documents are fragile, they must be handled and stored with care. The picture above is how I organized my genealogy research this week. I took advantage of some local sales on shoe boxes (specifically made to store photographs) and clear plastic bins . Then I got to work coating my floor with piles of paper and documents. Paper can get heavy quickly, so I made sure the bins were small enough to carry if full but big enough to keep everything together. Each bin contains one or two shoeboxes with labels on them for quick reference. There's also enough room in each bin for corresponding family history books and albums/pictures that are too large to fit in the shoeboxes.

Here's an example of the contents of one of the bins:

- Shoebox 1- Pictures of my fathers side of the family
- Shoebox 2- Pictures of my mothers side of the family
- Large photographs and documents
- 2 family history books that either mention or are about these families

After a lot of sorting, writing on the backs of pictures, and reorganizing, I can now find what I need quickly and efficiently. This system is perfect for storage because aside from being easily identifiable, the bins will keep everything dry and free of pests. It's also great because once we return I can take each bin and just place it back on the shelf for easy access. Functional AND sustainable. My favorite! :-)

Soap Box Note: While sorting through everything, sometimes you run across things that might mean more to someone else. Everyone has that family member who "inherits" everything and never wants to share. I implore you to not be that person. If you are blessed enough to be entrusted with these priceless heirlooms, then please make sure to keep what is precious to you and send the rest to the most relevant people. Space will be freed up for you, but more importantly, you are giving a gift to someone who will treasure it. You really don't need 5 copies of your great grandfathers photograph if you have siblings and cousins. You really don't need your uncles' report cards if you know his family would take care of them and appreciate them more.

My great aunt sent me my grandparents marriage certificate a while ago. I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to me that she trusted me with it. It has now been scanned for our whole family to reference and enjoy while the original is safely stored. On that same note, I've spent this past week sending envelopes filled with pictures to other family members because those pictures rightfully belong in their hands. In sharing, everyone benefits. Also, you just never know if you might have the key to someone else's mystery. Something to think about.

- Jen