Simple RVing: 7 Ways We Kept Life Simple on the Road

One of the reasons we love RV travel: FREEDOM! Having the freedom to go where you want, when you want, with everything you need to eat, sleep, and live creates an experience that goes beyond simply going on vacation.

With this freedom comes some challenges. Will I have wi-fi when I need to work? Will we be safe? Will we get along as a family?

Each time we set off on an RV adventure, I had to let go and trust that everything would work out fine. And it always did. By keeping life simple on the road, we traveled easily and always had what we needed...even during the times when things didn’t go exactly as we hoped.

Here are 7 ways we kept life simple on the road:

1. Focus on sustainability – We brought a cooler so we would always have the ability to take fresh, healthier items with us when we went out exploring each day. We also each had a reusable water bottle. We used melamine plates and reusable silverware as often as we could. These trips weren’t always slow, but by focusing on sustainability and being mindful of how our choices impact the planet, we could embrace this important element of slow travel.
2. Grocery shop – Instead of stopping at fast-food restaurants for lunch or stopping to make something in the RV, we frequently stopped at grocery stores and bought fixings for salads and sandwiches plus fruit and veggies. We drank only water for most of the trip.
3. Journal – Each night before bed, we required quiet time for everyone to write in their journals. With blank, unlined pages, everyone had the freedom to record the trip details and their thoughts however they wished. We drew pictures, wrote about what we saw that day, and noted silly moments and quotes from each other. This practice helped me be grateful each day for all the blessings this trip provided. By allocating time for this each evening, we stayed caught up with journaling and we ended up with a complete record of memories and details that would otherwise fade over time.
4. Be Intentional with Souvenirs – Almost every stop we made presented us with opportunities to buy something to remember the place and memorialize the moments. To avoid cluttering up the RV and coming home with several “things,” we decided before our trip that we would purchase MINIMAL souvenirs. Here are the souvenirs we chose to purchase during our travels:
   • Postcards - We kept some but sent many to friends and family along the way
   • Coins & Junior Ranger badges from the National Parks
   • Used books native to a place- Every once in a while, I’d search for a used or antique book about the place we were visiting, to serve as another way to learn about the culture of a place during and after our trip.
   • Maps – We have a growing collection of maps from the places we’ve visited on the walls in our dining room. This collection brings me joy and spurs many conversations during family dinners and get-togethers with friends.
   • Christmas ornaments – We’ve been collecting ornaments from our travels since my husband and I met and each year, we enjoy hanging them on the tree, reminiscing about all our adventures.
5. Send postcards – Our family and neighbors enjoyed receiving notes from us from the road. This gave us a fun way to share memories as they happened and to send well wishes for birthdays and special occasions while we traveled.
6. Save and share photos – It’s important to have a plan in place to save and backup your photos as you’re traveling. A Photo Manager can help you come up with a plan to do this with ease. I use Dropbox to backup my photos from my phone and I edit my photo fee often to keep my phone clutter-free. These simple habits can save a lot of time and mess sorting through the entire collection when you get home.
7. Do laundry – just because we were “on vacation,” doesn’t mean we got a break from the laundry. Since we packed light, it was important that we wore clothes more than once then did laundry every few days along the way. We each had a mesh laundry bag to separate our dirty clothes, then we’d do a load or two as we accumulated enough to do a load at a campground.

These are a few ways we keep life simple during our family RV trips.  A bit of intentionality can go a long way in keeping life clutter-free and joy-filled on the road. How do you keep life simple while RVing? Send me a note and let me know!

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