In February of this year, we found ourselves embarking on a brand new adventure – we are first time camper owners! This is something that I’ve been thinking about for many, many years and actually one of the first travel dreams Matt and I had together too. We started out thinking we would get one in 3-4 years, to next year and, suddenly, 3 weeks after deciding this was definitely in our future we owned our very first camper! We have learned a lot in the past 6 months and decided we would share some of the biggest lessons we’ve learned on our journey.
Your Camper Doesn’t Come Camping-Ready
The biggest thing that truly surprised me when we were purchasing our camper is that your camper doesn’t come ready to camp. At all. You have to purchase so many things that make it fully functional like a sewage hose, a surge protector, a water hose + water pressure valve. All these things keep your camper “safe” in the sense that you won’t blow out all the electrical or plumbing and also make it functional.
These are the Things We Purchased to Make Our Camper Itself Ready
Be Prepared to Drop Some Money Furnishing Your Camper
Furnishing the camper was so much fun! It’s like putting your first apartment or home together. But also like furnishing your first apartment or home, you realize just how many things you have to get! While some people may load their campers from their homes before each trip, but that wasn’t going to work for us because we knew we were looking to spend most weekends in the camper and we have two little ones in tow. So packing is already time-consuming, but we didn’t want to have to repack it all each time. So we bought some bedding, dishes, pots, pans, storage containers, other kitchen supplies, some decor, pillows and others and it definitely adds up… quickly. But if you take care of it, it should last you quite some time.
Let’s Talk About Camper Toilets
Many people are hesitant to use their camper toilets – especially for #2. They’re afraid the toilet will stink, that draining the black tank is a pain, they’ll get clogs, etc. We have been fortunate to not have any of these issues. Matt did a lot of research into the best camper toilet practices and he discovered an amazing product that we put in at the beginning of each camping trip (and once a week on extended trips) that keeps the toilet fresh: Happy Camper. The other thing we learned after a lot of research is don’t waste your money on camper toilet paper. It’s up to 4x the cost of other thinner 2-ply toilet paper, such as Angel Soft, which is what we use. Also, on the subject of emptying the black tank, Matt says it’s truly not bad – speaking for our camper, of course.
Get (and Stay) Organized
I can’t stress this one enough. Most campers have really inventive places to store things, but many are also in odd places or just big massive openings. We bought multiple storage containers of various shapes and sizes, knowing we could return them, and discovered which ones fit which spaces. Then, once we discovered what fit where, we assigned places for things. It’s easy to let stuff pile up or just throw things somewhere, but then it makes it very hard to find those things. So get everyone on board with what goes where and keep up with it for a much smoother experience.
Plan and Prep Meals
One of the perks of having a camper is having a kitchen. It’s a great way to keep your trip cost down and to make being in your camper truly feel like a home away from home. My tips for cooking while camping, though, are to try to have your meals planned out. If you just throw a few things in your pantry, you’ll be much more likely to just eat out instead. Also, if we know we’re going to have something like tacos or even cook things that require bacon, chicken or ground beef, we try our best to precook those to keep smells and grease splatter down inside the camper. Plus, it saves on time which is even more helpful with two little ones.
An Amazing Tip to Save on Propane
My parents gave us an amazing tip to save a lot of money on propane. As we all know, the cost of propane can fluctuate greatly and most rv/camper heaters run on propane (possibly all, but I don’t know that for sure). Instead of running that, though, purchase one or two electric heaters and keep those in your camper as well. You’re paying for the use of electric at your campsite, so you might as well use that instead of racking up money on propane. We found that one of this particular heater was sufficient this spring, but we have 2 just in case we have even cooler temps next year when we camp in late winter – for reference, we have a 30ft camper. Also, our camper has a control option to switch our hot water heater over to electric and we do that at every campsite as well, so we only use propane for cooking.
Weight Truly Does Matter
The weight of the things you purchase truly add up. It’s amazing how quickly you’ll find yourself adding 50, 100, 150 pounds in random things you’ve brought in your camper. In fact, due to not knowing as much about trucks and not realizing just how much things would weigh, we’re almost at capacity of our payload and we’re actually purchasing a different truck to be sure we’re not going to go over it. Do your research and if in doubt drive through a CAT Scale. You want to be sure you’re driving safely on the road.
Keep a Small Tool Box in Your Camper
Matt says this is important because, in his words, “Campers are the most expensive pieces of shit you’re ever going to buy.” But in all seriousness, things break, but many things are also easy to fix. We’ve read horror stories about small fixes taking shops days or even weeks to be done, which can cause you to lose time camping. Many small fixes can easily be done by the average person, so keep those basic tools handy. Matt’s must haves are screwdrivers (both phillips + flat head), a socket wrench (know the size(s) you need for your camper) and pliers. He also recommends a can-do attitude. But also he said, “Know when to quit and ask for help.” Ha!
Campsites in Popular Locations Book Up Faster Than You Might Expect
Obviously, being new to this, we had no idea just how quickly so many places would book up. Many popular locations like State Parks, National Parks and popular outdoor towns can book up as far as a year out! In fact, we’re already booking many weekend trips for 2024 because we want to be sure we get to see these amazing places.
Do Multiple Walk-Arounds Before Leaving Your Campsite
Twice now we’ve left things at campsites. One time we left the sewage hose connector and the second time we left our surge protector, which the campground graciously told us about and we went back for. I know there will be more times than this, but until that time, we’re putting into practice that we need to walk around the outside of our camper more than once to be sure we don’t see anything left behind. It adds a lot on to your camping expenses if you have to go back to pick something up or replace something.
Let’s Talk About Backing Your Camper
We’ve seen so many things about how couples fight while backing their campers. So. Many. We’ve yet to fight, or even get frustrated with each other during that process *knock on wood* but I think that’s because we game-planned a communication method. I had never helped someone back a trailer and Matt was new to backing a trailer too. So, we decided the easiest way to communicate was to call each other and he could just listen over bluetooth and I tell him where to make the “butt” of the trailer turn. We don’t always get it on the first time, but try to practice patience. But my biggest recommendation here is to find a way of communicating this that works best for you and be willing to try a few different things if need be. If something doesn’t make sense, ask your partner for clarification.
Purchasing a Camper to Travel in Isn’t a Money-Saving Endevor
I remember that one of my initial points for purchasing a camper was that it would save us money in the long run because campsite fees are so much cheaper than hotels or even AirBNBs. However, I have to be fully transparent that it would take a several hundred stays to break even, especially if, like us, you have to buy a truck too. But this investment has led us to traveling so much more and allows us to do so with so much ease, especially considering our little ones. Someday I do believe that we will have used our camper enough that it will pay for itself, but that is not going to happen quickly.
These are the most obvious tips that came to Matt and me about things we wish we knew or didn’t know until we bought our camper. This is an investment, in both time and money, that has brought us more joy than I ever dreamed it could or would. The memories we have made over the last six months are some of the sweetest in my life so far and I cannot wait for more over the years. I hope these tips were useful and I would love to hear from other camper owners and see if they had any different tips that they would give to first time camper owners.
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