If your summer getaway is often to a secluded campsite with your tent, things can start to feel rushed. You may not always have all the things you need organized like you would in a trailer. It can become stressful knowing you have to find and pack all the tools, food, clothing, and sleeping gear, especially if you don’t keep it all in one place. Knowing the best tent camping organization ideas is crucial to a relaxing weekend away.
Keeping everyone organized with their packing can make it a hectic week before going on a week or even a weekend camping excursion. Camping is limited on space, so it’s crucial to maximize your storage, so you feel less disorganized, rushed, or claustrophobic. If you organize, correctly, you limit the chances of stress.
Having all of the right gear and designated camping storage and products will make for a smooth camping trip. With this in mind, camping in a tent may become the most relaxing vacation you have ever had.
Here are ten tent camping organization ideas; you will wish you knew sooner!
10 Tent Camping Organization Ideas
1. Buy Collapsible Camping Gear and Storage Bins
Finding collapsible camping gear will give you more space than you could imagine. You never realize how much camping cutlery and cookware takes in your packing until you get collapsible ones. Having collapsible storage bins are vital to the experience. If you pack all of your essentials in a container, it can take much less space in the car later on once you have emptied it at a campsite.
I put together a list of some of the most vital tools you will need on your camping trip. These products are often large and clunky and can take up significant space in your small storage area. Using collapsible camping items is one of the all-time best tent camping organization hacks out there. Trust me, try it out and let me know!
When you wake up in the morning, there is nothing like a warm coffee to keep you going during the day. Having a morning fire to cook your breakfast and make a cup of joe or tea the Collapsible Camping Kettle and Collapsible Camping Coffee Mug will be a perfect way to keep extra storage in your backpack or vehicle. I love using my collapsible coffee mug in the morning as it’s so easy to pack away when it’s clean. This collapsible coffee dripper is also a must for your coffee.
Speaking of clean, having a Coleman Folding Double Wash Basin is the best way to wash your dishes. Often washbasins only have one spot for washing dishes. I like the double wash because I can leave water on one side and the dirty dishes in the other. If you’re looking for cookware, go no further because MalloMe Camping Cookware is perfect for cooking and is simple to clean.
Collapsible Folding Storage Crates
Finding a suitable storage crate that won’t take a lot of space during your trip is the CleverMade Storage Crates. Once you arrive at your campsite, it may be annoying to have a clunky storage crate. CleverMade collapsible storage crates keep it easy to pack them under a seat while you’re camping!
14 Collapsible Camping Items
| Collapsible Camping Gear Products: | |
| Collapsible Camping Cooking and Kitchen Gear: | |
| Best Collapsible Storage units for camping: |
2. Use a Campsite Storage Strap
If you want to take your storage to the next level, you need to get the LAMURO Campsite Storage Strap. The strap is a great way to hold all of your belongings on a line with very durable carabiners.
You can use it in or outside the tent. I love this because sometimes I run out of space on my clothing line and need to hang things. I also use this to attach my dogs’ leash. I have two, one for the inside of my tent and one for the outside.
A storage strap is essential for saving storage and keeping you organized. This storage strap is one of my favorite tent camping organization ideas on the list!
3. AllStays Camp and Tent App
Instead of being unorganized and having no clue where to stay, the AllStay Camp and Tent app will provide you with 1000s of campgrounds in the USA and Canada. I use this app when making long trips with multiple stays. It is an easy way to identify different campsites nearby. The app will give you the phone number and website to your chosen sites.
Before booking your trip, pick an area that you’re interested in staying in. Find the closest campsite and head to their website for booking. It makes things super simple because we can find ourselves googling an area and hoping to find somewhere we like.
This app has been handy when you are doing a long drive somewhere. Hotels can be expensive, but if you bring a bit of your camping gear, you can camp along your journey and find places to stay that aren’t far off your road trip path!
The app is very user-friendly and is compatible with IOS and Android.
https://www.allstays.com/apps/camptent.htm
4. Have a Designated Camping Storage Zone at Home
Returning home from camping can be exhausting. You may just put everything in the garage and plan to organize before you leave on your next trip. Although at the time, this may sound like a great idea, you may be kicking yourself later.
You can have a designated area in your garage basement, shed, or storage unit. Having this organized location of all the things you need is essential when packing and unpacking. If you keep a storage bin like the CleverMade Storage Crates, you can keep all of your camping gear organized for your next trip. Having things organized in the category within the box will also make sure that you never forget anything.
We have tape above the area to identify which bin goes where. It’s easier to see it when packing up the car. We have specific containers for winter camping and summer camping and have designated zones for each season.
If you know how to store camping gear at home it will keep you organized for every camping trip in the future!
5. Color Categorize Each Kid!
If you have multiple children or your kid is taking along a friend, use colors to separate their gear. This means one kid will be blue; they will get a blue bag for their camping toys, a blue cup to use when camping, blue clothes, etc. This will be enjoyable for the kids, but it will keep the organization for each person much easier!
When I was a child, my parents color organized my sisters and I. Three girls can be hard to keep organized. We all picked a favorite color, and my dad would coordinate us with camping gear right down to the fishing rod. If you can’t find a specific color, use hockey tape to identify each of their belongings.
This will eliminate the argument of: “That’s mine!” Removing this stress from camping and allowing the kids to enjoy themselves on the trip.
Not only is this fun for the kids, but it’s also fun for you, as the kids will keep themselves organized.
6. Just Bring Batteries
You are likely to have some sort of battery-powered camping item, and you probably didn’t check to see if its batteries are still good. Always pack batteries because they almost always come in hand when camping. I buy large packs of different size batteries I may need and keep them in with my camping gear. This is another one of the tent camping organization ideas you shouldn’t forget!
On my most recent camping trip, we had purchased a battery pack camping fan. I had thought it was rechargeable, but I thought wrong. I didn’t have any D batteries in my camping pack, because that is such an odd type of battery to use. This reminded me that having at least 4 of every kind of battery keeps out the frustration of not having them when you need them.
You never know when you purchase new gear if you’re going to need batteries for it. Or maybe the batteries in your old levers are dead. Kids often steal batteries from the strangest places, so keeping extra batteries on hand will eliminate the stress when vital camping supplies aren’t working.
Here is a set of rechargeable batteries on Amazon that I use for my camping trips!
It may be a good idea to bring duct tape too.
7. Have a Designated Camping Bin
This is a camping organization idea that everyone should be doing already, and if you aren’t, you need to start. It keeps all your gear together and prevents you from losing the small stuff. Often when packing for camping, there are always one or two things you will forget. On my latest camping trip, we forgot our pillows. This made things complicated as we had to drive to the nearest city and pick up new pillows. It can be annoying to forget things when they aren’t packed away. When you remove items from the bin, always put them back.
Using your camping bin to your advantage, you can just pick it up and throw it in your vehicle without thinking twice. This does the packing and unpacking a lot easier. When returning from a camping trip, make sure everything is in order and organized. Check that all gear is in the right bins.
We pack all of our tents and sleeping bags in one bin and our cooking utensils and cookware in another. This also makes things easier when unpacking at the campsite. You can put one container in the tenting area and the other in the cooking area. Finding stuff once you get to the campground is a lot less hectic when everything is in one place.
8. Keep Your Camping Clothes Packed Separately
In our house, we like to keep specific clothing for camping. Things that we wouldn’t care if they got dirty or torn. If you keep all of your essential garments in a particular location, you won’t forget anything.
Forgetting your bathing suit bottoms or your favorite camping t-shirt can be a drag. It can also be challenging to find a store that sells clothing. If you’re camping in a state or provincial park, a Walmart may be hours away. This is why it is vital to having your camping clothes packed.
This also makes it easier when packing the vehicle to hit the road. Kids and teens aren’t running around, packing their clothes and packing too much or too little. If you have a specific shirt that repels the sun or mosquitos, it would be hard or expensive to replace. Also, Bug Jackets are very hard to find when on the road!
When returning from a camping trip, make sure you wash all of the camping clothes and pack them back in their respective suitcase.
9. Always Check your Camping Gear
Once, when I was camping, I hadn’t checked my tent and chairs from the previous season. I had forgotten that they were on their last legs, and I needed to purchase new ones. My tent had a small hole, and it was letting water and bugs join me in my tent.
Prior to the start of every season, you should take out all of your camping gear and evaluate the situation for any rips and damaged items. Create an itemized list of things you will need and ensure you get them before your next trip.
Keep a list next to your camping gear, identifying when was the last time the equipment was checked. Someone may have already checked the camping gear for the season. The list will keep your camping storage up to date.
10. Each Person Has a Designated Job
When my partner and I go camping, it is vital to set up and take down that we have our own specific jobs. My partner is the cook, so I send him to the kitchen area for unpacking or packing up. He has his own bin with all of his cookware and has a system for keeping it organized for our next trip.
I am the sleeper. I take care of the tent, sleeping bags, clothing, chair, and toys. I have a specific bin that I use to pack all of the extras.
Having camping members doing specific jobs eliminates them from standing around and not participating in the put up or take-down of the trip. Things will run a lot smoother if everyone is lending a hand.
Final thoughts
Packing for a camping trip can be stressful and hectic. The best way to eliminate this stress is to be organized prior to hitting the road. Finding collapsible storage bins and a storage camping strap will keep things small so you will have extra room. Don’t forget to book your trip using Allstays. It’s the best way to find ideal campsites. When storing your items, make sure there is a designated storage area for your bins.
The kids can be color organized as well as having batteries always on hand; you never know when the kids or your partner took batteries from the camping gear. With your designated camping bins, all of your items will be in one place, so they are easy to unpack and pack again.
You can keep specific clothing for camping packed and ready to go for your next big trip. Having the clothing already packed eliminates significant stress for not forgetting everything, including your toothbrush. Check the camping gear before and during every season. This will help maintain status on your most essential supplies.
When you arrive, giving everyone a job will help them put up and take down run smoothly. Having all of these vital tips in your back pocket will ensure an enjoyable and relaxing camping getaway.
The most important aspect of camping is to have fun and go with the flow. You may have forgotten something, but that’s okay. Just make sure it’s packed for the next time. If you are interested in 9 Ways How to Make Tent Camping More Comfortable please read the article! These hacks mixed with these tent camping organization ideas will increase your camping experience like crazy!
Happy Camping!