Storage Ideas

[wahlfamily]

We're about to load up our Newmar 4154AS with our clothes and assorted goods for our years trip with the kids and I was wondering if anyone had suggestions of storage, especially under the unit. Are Rubbermaid containers adequate? Better with wheels on the bottom? Is there one store better than others with a good assortment of storage answers? Etc.

Thanks, Tom

[wahlfamily]

We're about to load up our Newmar 4154AS with our clothes and assorted goods for our years trip with the kids and I was wondering if anyone had suggestions of storage, especially under the unit. Are Rubbermaid containers adequate? Better with wheels on the bottom? Is there one store better than others with a good assortment of storage answers? Etc.

Thanks, Tom

[AFChap]

Hey Tom! Glad the plan is shaping up!!!

For clothing storage in the "basement," anything with a lid that stays on by itself will work, Rubbermaid or otherwise. Different people will like different things depending on how the basement storage is configured, but I don't think I would go with wheels for our setup. We have a few containers in the basement, and some in storage. We got some of them at the military exchange, and some at WalMart. For us, the lid and how it latches/attaches is the critical thing.

We carry only one large rubber container for "off-season" clothes. 'Course, there are only two of us. We parked beside a couple recently and noticed that every morning the poor guy was outside digging in the basement containers for clothes to wear that day!!

Figure out how many outfits each person needs for each season so you can tell the kids where to draw the line! Clothes weigh a lot, and the tendency is to take much more than you will need, and lots of clothes you will never wear. Our grandkids came to visit us for a month and their mother packed 7+ outfits each PLUS 7 pajamas each. In our case, 7+ outfits each was probably about 3 or 4 too many as we washed a load of their clothes about every other day as that is about how much our little washer/dryer holds.

[Moder2]

I agree with Paul, do some editing.

We each have a weeks worth of clothes, which in most cases it too much. We also carry 5 days worth of work clothes for Derek, since he needs to be presentable for his job.

We pack off season stuff in "Space Bags" and stow under the bed, and have a couple coats hanging in the closest for the colder days. We also have a garment bag with two suits in it for interviews/weddings/funerals if the needs arise.

We try not to bring new into the environment without taking old out. Paul is right though, clothing weights much more than you think and just keep in mind that for every 100lbs, your looking at about 1/10th of an MPG in fuel economy.

Just to give you an idea of weight, my typical outfit, jeans, button down short sleeve shirt, socks, underwear, shoes, belt, wallet, and watch weighs in at almost 15lbs.

John

[Techie]

Regardless of container brand, make sure the lid will be secure and that they interlock at least a little so that if stacked you will have less movement.

We have found that a nice mix of different size containers worked best for us and ended up with only 2 large ones and the rest small & medium...easier to categorize and stuff to the brim.