Living in a tiny space can be extremely challenging for even the most organized and prepared minds. That is why I have come up with this quick list of 9 RV hacks you can do to make RV living just a bit less hectic. For whoever found their way to this post I hope that just a bit of information may help you with your journey into tiny space living.
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9 RV Hacks That Make Small Living Easier
RV Hack 1: Water Valves
To begin our list I wanted to start with probably one of the most simple tricks you can do that doesn’t cost anything but can potentially save you hundreds and a lot of repair time. The simple trick involves all your water valves in your rig that have a shut-off switch on the handle.
The tip is to make sure to always shut off your water lines at the hot and cold knobs before shutting it off at the switch. After you have verified that water is no longer running out of line, then you can shut off that handle switch.
This trick may sound pretty obvious, but one thing I can tell you is its very easy to shut it off at that switch and think those lines are completely off, but they are not and your best case scenario is you just lost a lot of water on the way to your destination. The worst case scenario is water damage or damaged lines that would need to be replaced.
RV Hack 2: Velcro
Next on the list is Velcro. Listen, Velcro is your new duct tape for everything. You need to mount something small to the wall but you are afraid of drilling holes? Velcro. Trying to figure out a way to keep some small appliances in the bathroom from sliding around? Velcro. Want to hang some pictures and keep them from sliding around the walls while driving? Velcro.
All I’m saying is keep a roll on hand at all times, it is truly invaluable for small space living.
RV Hack 3: Space Heater
Get a space heater! Most rigs run off of propane for heat and running those heaters as the only source of heat can get a bit pricey. A high-quality and energy-efficient space heater can save you tons on propane costs.
We recently weathered through a pretty brutal winter in MO in our rig and we primarily used the space heater the entire time. As long as the temperature stayed above the 20s we could run the space heater and keep it above 70 degrees in the RV, and we own a 37′ class A!
RV Hack 4: Block Levelers
Let’s talk about block levelers a minute. When we first got an RV we really had no clue about any of the systems and just had to figure it out on our own. One thing that would have saved me a ton of time and heartache is some good block levelers. We added this to our list of what to buy after you buy an RV.
If you find yourself at a campground full of un-even sites and do not have levelers then you may be in for quite the struggle to get leveled without doing damage to your leveling system. With levelers, you can pretty much gauge the grade with your eyes, which you will get better with time, and drive on those then use your rigs leveling system to make fine-tune adjustments and stabilize everything.
A lot of travelers will tell you to just get some good boards for levelers, but I will tell you to avoid that and here is why. Boards are heavy for one and take up much more space than a good set of levelers. Plus boards will rot eventually and their integrity is compromised.
Instead of boards get yourself some Lynx levelers, they are pretty cheap, very light and extremely durable. Also, they have a one-year full replacement warranty if they should fail for any reason.
RV Hack 5: Sweeping
Sweeping. Sweeping is absolutely necessary every single time you will be pulling your slides back in. It only takes about 5 minutes to do and can save you so much stress.
Along with sweeping get down on the ground in front of each slide with a flashlight and just do a quick check to make sure nothing is hiding under there if so remove it.
The last thing anyone wants is to have a slide motor go out because of a water bottle lid that got stuck under the slide or something. Always sweep and double check, then pull those slides in.
RV Hack 6: Tank Treatment
Another extremely annoying problem to have with RV living is to have your waste tanks get backed up on you and then you have that fun job of “clearing the blockage”. Most people that have been on the road for awhile have likely run into this problem at least once already and understand just how frustrating it can be.
There is a very simple solution that will keep this from happening 99% of the time, tank treatment pods. Every few times after you have dumped those black tanks, drop one of these pods down the toilet and it will do the rest of the job for you, just make sure to flush a bit of water down there with it.
RV Hack 7: Storage Practice
Get some small plastic containers to organize your storage practices for everything in the RV. You can organize all your food in your cabinets, instead of just throwing it in the cabinets in piles.
You can keep all your tools and hardware in small plastic containers instead of rolling around loosely in your outside storage spaces. Get some of those small velcro tie-offs for your electrical cords and spare water lines and such to keep them nice and tidy.
Just another quick small tip is to really use up all that refrigerator storage space you have, it can also be used for dry storage goods.
Just a little bit of organizing can go a long way, the amount of space you will gain back from these small tricks will blow you away.
RV Hack 8: Downsize and Quality
Less is better. An extremely obvious statement for small space living but let me tell you exactly what I mean in one small hack. When you are cutting down on all the clutter, buy quality replacements for those things.
Specifically let’s just talk about dishes, silverware, and cutlery. We all each picked out a Tervis cup and a Yeti mug for ourselves in the RV. Yes, they were a bit pricey at first but so worth the cost down the road. Get used to washing those cups often, likely after each usage because you really don’t have space for many dishes in the sink.
Next, get rid of that cheap Chinese made silverware and cutlery set and get something more quality like a Liberty tabletop set and some Rada knives for the cutting.
You don’t have to use those brands, there are plenty of other quality brands to chose from with a simple Amazon search, I just wanted to make sure you are buying quality goods instead of things that will frustrate and cause you to end of throwing away in a couple of months anyway.
RV Hack 9: General Water Usage
The last small RV hack I’ll cover is general water usage in the RV. There are several things you can do to make things run much smoother in your rig. Allowing your water you are using in the sink for washing to run into a bowl or dish instead of the sink can cut down on a lot of wasted water running to the grey tank, and instead, you can just drop it outside when finished.
Obviously, check your state and local laws first to make sure it is allowed where you are at to do so first.
Another small purchase you can make to potentially save yourself a big pain is a water pressure regulator attachment for your water fill hose. Always using one of these little guys will ensure the water pressure into your tank or city fill is always a safe amount that will not damage any water valves or lines.
I hope this small list of RV hacks comes in as handy for you as it has for me for the full-time RV living life. Most of these hacks I have learned has a story behind it that drove me to create this list for other like-minded people so that they can avoid having those stories themselves.
Related:
RV Essentials: What to Buy After You Buy an RV
Tips on Buying an RV For the First Time
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