One philosophy that has helped me with this is minimalism. This doesn’t mean to bring the bare minimum for survival, it just means to be intentional about each item that you bring with you and don’t toss in a ton of extra stuff that you likely won’t use or won’t use very much. For more reading on the idea, I suggest the blog Becoming Minimalist.
This philosophy is especially important if you’re only staying a night or two, but if you’re staying longer it can be worth it to indulge in bringing more stuff if you’re more likely to use the items or it might be worth it to you to bring items that make camping more comfortable for you.
The other key technique for us is to develop systems that support fast packing and unpacking. This means:
- If you can, don’t bring so much stuff so you have to zero space the car
- If you do have a smaller car, develop a packing system of which items go where and stick to the same system
- Also consider a roof bag if it makes packing faster for you
- Buy a tent that has easy to use stuff-sack
- For example: one with different compartments for different components instead of lots of small bags for stakes, poles etc
- The tent should easily fit in the stuff-sack and not require a lot of time to fit it in tightly
- Have the kids pack up their own clothes and sleeping bags – it helps if they have their own duffle bag
- Have a dishwashing system that you trust enough so you don’t have to wash the dishes a second time when you get home
Note on the dishwashing system: When we have to wash the dishes at home, often those dishes sit around in the kitchen for a while before we get around to putting them away in the camp kitchen, or the kids use them again and then they stick around even longer while you wash them, or the special camping spatula ends up in the regular kitchen stuff so when we go camping there’s no spatula!
Finally, get home with enough time to unpack the vehicle. If you have a fast system, unpacking isn’t much of a burden so you don’t have to get home much earlier. Additionally, unpacking the next day is never fun when you’re all back to work and school, especially if you forget and leave stuff in the cooler and it goes bad.
This is our fast unpacking system:
- Phase 1 – unpacking the car:
- Someone unloads the car and puts things in the right general area (example: just inside the front door of the house vs the garage)
- Someone else puts things in the final destination room (we have our kids do this)
- For example – duffel bags go to each person’s room, sleeping bags go to the storage spot, food bags and the cooler go to the kitchen
- Even 3-year-olds can help if you give them simple directions
- Phase 2 – putting items away:
- One person works on the kitchen unpacking the food bags and the cooler and washing any dishes that are needed
- One person works on putting away sleeping gear/tents/other camp items
- Kids take care of their own clothes bags – put toiletries away, put dirty and clean clothes where they belong (help them if they’re too little)
NOTE: this system may need to be modified for your house/storage area layout and the age(s) of your kids
We can unpack in 30 min with this plan and with good teamwork.
