My Simple, Organized Life

Most 5th Wheels have what I call a 1/2 fridge. There's not a lot of space in there, so organization is a must when trying to feed a family of 4. I got sick of items falling out of the freezer everytime I opened the door. Stacking things on those shelves just wasn't working. When I took inventory of what was in the freezer, I realized that I could organize the items into three sections - breakfast items, meat items, and prepared foods. The other thing I needed space for were ice cubes, since we have an ice maker . So, I measured the length, height, and depth of the spaces and found these sturdy plastic organizer bins with handy handle cutouts. Their measurements, 8-inches square by 6-inches high, were a perfect match. Here's a 4-pack that will save you some money. This is how my freezer looks now and nothing falls out, ever.

When it comes to plants, I’m not very good at keeping them alive. I tend to overwater them or neglect them until they die. So, I’m hoping I have better luck with these – air plants. They don’t need to be planted or watered. They get all their water from the air and only need sunshine. Well, it just so happens that the shower in our RV has a skylight over it, allowing in lots of sunlight. And the moisture from the shower is perfect for the air plants. I used some of my jewelry wire to make some cute spiral plant holders and hung them on Command Strip hooks. Aren’t they perfect? Now I just need more!       Update:  I got more! I went back to The Plant Man in San Diego's colorful and festive Old Town. He's had a run on all things Tillandsia lately and had to stock up on more from his grower. When we went back, he had some amazing air plants in stock, so I bought more than I should. But, they're oh so pretty. Here's what I've got now:  

When we moved into the RV, I wanted to hang my boys’ clothes in their closets, but there were only shelves. So, I removed one of the shelves (before taking measurements) and then realized that a hanger wouldn’t fit in the closet. The edge stuck out and didn’t allow the door to shut. I reluctantly had to replace the shelf and use plastic storage bins instead. It didn’t take long for my perfectly folded clothes and precisely arranged placement of the boys’ clothes inside the bins to become a wadded up, disorganized mess. Ugh! I had to find a way to hang those clothes. So, I measured the width of the closets and bought a 1-inch PVC pipe. I already had a PVC pipe cutter so I cut it to the lengths needed. I bought some  closet rod holders  and screwed these anchors into the closet side walls and hung the PVC pipe. Turns out, children’s hangers fit nicely and allow the doors to close. The problem I then ran into was that the clothes were dragging and getting wrinkled on the sh

After 6 months of living in our RV, I faced the fact that the sleeper sofa in the boys' bunkroom was only being used to pile stuff on. It was never sat on or slept on. It's only use was to hold stuff that either had nowhere else to go or no one who was inclined to put it where it belonged. Before, with the sleeper sofa: In case you didn't gather by my decorating and organizing pictures, I'm a little OCD. And by a little, I mean a lot. A couch with an ever-growing pile of junk on it just doesn't sit well with me. Add to that the tripping hazards created by the boys' gaming chairs in the middle of the room, and a 6-year-old who jumps constantly while playing Wii, shaking the entire RV, and I had had enough. Couch be gone! During (sorry, I ALWAYS forget to take a Before picture):   Convincing my hubby to remove the couch was my biggest obstacle and took a few months. After that, it was just a matter of painting and rearranging to turn that space into a

Our closet is located at the front end of our 5th wheel, which has a sloping wall. I looked at several different ways to organize this area. I bought the flat felt hangers that have tabs in the center so that you can stack them. I found them on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond, so I bought more than enough. My plan was to hang three hangers per slot with them being stacked, but I decided that we don’t need that many clothes (it was a ton and weighed about that much, too), so I changed my mind and decided to only hang one hanger per slot and get rid of a LOT more clothes. It was tough downsizing all of our clothes from our house’s walk-in closet to our RV closet. For my really nice, name brand or business clothing and shoes, I took them to a local upscale clothing consignment shop so that I’ll get some of my money back. I don’t like selling clothes in garage sales or online because you get pennies on the dollar for what you paid and it’s just too much hassle for too little

Our RV kitchen drawers are long, narrow, and deep. With a width of only 8" to deal with, I quickly realized that it was going to be quite difficult to find a silverware organizer that would fit. I finally found a 7" organizer  and bought two. Once they arrived and fit nicely in the bottom of the drawers, I couldn't help but wonder how to make use of all the height space. There is a company called InterDesign that sells a wide range of clear, heavy duty plastic containers for kitchens and bathrooms. These little caddies are an RVer's dream come true. I bought two that are 8" by 8". Then, I found some stick mount hooks at Wal-Mart and attached them to the sides of the caddies. Now, they slip right into the drawers, providing extra storage space. When I need to access something underneath, I simply lift up the caddy, get what I need, and put it back in.       On the front of the cabinet, under the sink, I had some blank space. I decided to attach some

With two boys who have tons of clothes and tons of toys, it's a good thing I'm such an organizational freak. I was actually able to organize most of their beloved toys in their bunkhouse, in the drawers as well as the storage area under the fold-up bunk. This left just the wardrobes for their clothes, so I had to get creative. Since there are no places for hangers, I thought I'd install a bar to hang hangers but realized that the width of the wardrobes is too small for a hanger to fit. Alas, I resorted to the trusty plastic storage bins . On the top shelf, I've got a big bin for long pants and a small bin for shorts. On the middle shelf, I've got a big bin for shirts and a small bin for pajamas. On the bottom shelf, I've got three small fabric bins - one for underwear, one for socks, and one for swimwear. Since the fabric bins aren't very tall, I put a wire shelf over them so that I could store small toys in stacked pencil boxes . All of the bins are l

My boys change their minds about as often as they change their underwear, so it was no surprise to me that no sooner had I finished decorating their bunkhouse in their requested monster truck , dragons , and space themes , they both decided they wanted a Hawaiian theme . I was actually thrilled because Jaden's room is already beach-themed . I have already sold some of his decorations, but I still have the good stuff left, so it made me happy to think I can repurpose those things into the RV instead of selling them. What I didn't have was the fabric to create the privacy curtains as well as their window curtains. I found coordinating surfboard fabric online for the privacy curtains. Jaden loves seaturtles, so I ordered him some seaturtle fabric for his window curtains. Jordan is obsessed with sharks, so I ordered some shark fabric for his window curtains. I wasn't sure what to do with the walls since I haven't had any luck with command strips sticking to those p

If there's one thing I'm known for, it's making my space my own. My husband has created a term for this process, he calls it "Theresa-fy". When I am working on my projects, I'm "Theresa-fying" them. When they are done, they have been "Theresa-fied". It was no surprise to him that the day we got the Crusader home, I had the paint and decorations waiting. The fact of the matter was, it was Thanksgiving weekend and we were having unseasonably warm weather for Northern Utah - in the 50s - but only for a few days. So, that was my time limit to slap that paint on the walls. I didn't quite get done, but I was able to "Theresa-fy" it enough to be satisfied until summer, when I can paint the areas I didn't get to. I used Behr Paint & Primer in one paint , which went on beautifully without any messy prep work to the walls, just paint it on. I used two coats and as of 3 years later, it is still holding up beautifully. Also