We’re celebrating with Kathy at Bliss Beyond Naptime again!
Earlier this month, my family and I set out on a ten day cross-country camping trip from Texas, to the Virginia coast, and back again. It was to be our first trip using our new (20 year old) pop-up camper. I grew up camping. I love being in nature. I hate all the clutter and schlepping of stuff that comes with camping. With three children, a husband, and a dog, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and had a great need to pare everything we were taking way down.
One thing that worked out so well for us was restricting each family member to that which could be contained in an Ikea Snalis box. This gave everyone room for four outfits, a set of PJs, a pair of long pants, a small jacket, undies and socks. All five of the boxes fit comfortably within the two trunk seats of our camper dinette. (And I still had room for the cofee maker and a small lamp in there.) The boxes were easy for the kids to use, way easier than a suitcase for this particular trip.
Reactions to packing that little box varied: my husband and 8 year old daughter just threw things in quickly without a care once they new what the packing list was, my twelve year old daughter panicked and switched items back and forth until she felt she had the right mix, my six year old son barely filled his box due to his stature, and I realized that after putting the required items in my box, I had room to stuff a couple of extras in when no one was looking (I’m working on it).
Anyway, utilizing the laundromat at our destination campground made us all realize that that one little box of clothes was all we really needed. We had a fabulous time at the beach, crabbing, and sitting around the campfire in those four outfits. And now I can’t wait to get into our closets and purge some more items that we really don’t need, especially before it’s time to do (a little) school shopping for my kids!
