When winter’s bite clamps down that may be a great time to completely empty your RV and start over. While we’re not as affected by temperate extremes here in Northern California as some folks around the country, we still do camp less when the calendar indicates winter. And, on a recent camping trip to Bodega Bay, we realized that our camper was becoming a problem.

A lot of the “stuff” from the trailer spread out in our sticks-and-bricks kitchen.

It all started with the fact that, for a four-day trip, not only were our camper’s cabinets completely full of whatever was in there but so was the back seat of our truck and even the bed. There was a tremendous amount of “stuff” and we sought to figure out what it all was.

Last year we had packed for three weeks of camping surrounding our Quartzsite adventure and didn’t have as much stuff as we did for this four day trip, and we were told Quartzsite was a food desert so there was a lot of food in our RV. That wasn’t true for the Bodega journey.

The process started with literally emptying every cabinet and drawer in our trailer and filling the kitchen in our home base with all that stuff. Boxes of things filled cabinets with stuff that all seemed intriguing when we saw them on this RV journey that we love so much. But now they’re just stuff we haven’t touched in a while.

The way we see it, if you have something that you haven’t touched in a while, put it in a more obvious place. If it still serves no value, it’s time to consider donating that item to charity.

So the pink flamingo wine glasses, for example, were really cool when we bought them but we’re not sure that we’ve touched them since. But that didn’t negate the fact that they were taking up space in a cabinet which, in a 19’ travel trailer, is at a premium.

There were lots of similar items such that, when we were done and had repackaged the trailer, we found a lot of empty cabinet space.

Another aspect of taking everything out of the trailer included the fact that we could wash off all the shelves and cabinets and such. It’s amazing what a year traveling around, including to places that have a high dust quotient, will do even in closed cabinets.

We were able to take all the utensils and pots and pans out of the trailer and run them through our dishwasher so they’re nice and clean going back in.

Of course, taking everything out included finding broken items which Tony fixed and will go back into the camper better than they came out. Those drawers that disintegrated are no longer just stapled together, they’re now screwed and glued so they shouldn’t come apart any longer. We also had a drawer assembly that suffered from a lack of screws used in the original construction which now could survive whatever the Richter scale wants to throw our way.

Having everything out of the drawers and cabinets also has the benefit of allowing us to thoroughly examine the trailer for any mechanical problems or signs of leaks or other failures. We also disassembled a portion of the dinette after finding the drawer coming apart and that provided an opportunity to replace the carbon monoxide detector.

We also got to buy a whole new set of spice containers and replace the spices with new, fresh ones. Spices are something Tony’s passionate about which is how we became partners with Savory Spice Shop. Spices do lose their punch over time and a new set of containers means that we can replace the older spices that we haven’t used yet with new ones as well as adding more spices.

We also got to wash every soft thing in the camper from the towels and sheets, which normally get a trip to the washing machine, to the shower curtain and rugs.

Lastly, when we put things back into the RV they got to go into see-through totes. There are totes for the black tank process, a tote full of string, zip ties, tow straps and attaching goodies, a tote for just the hooking up process including an apron since I’m good at getting grease on my clothes and more. The totes make getting to any of these sets of goodies much easier and they’re all in a single place, making the whole set-up and tank cleaning process much faster and less frustrating.

I’m sure we’ll take every opportunity possible to get the camper as dirty as possible again which might prompt another thorough cleaning but we know that the cabinets, drawers and other storage spaces are now much better organized and ready for the next adventure.