RV interiors have a real knack for attracting dust, sand, grit, and dirt! It’s not hard to understand why this happens, but it can be frustrating to eliminate from your home. We have rounded up the 4 cleaning supplies and equipment that help us stay on top of the unavoidable mess.
When you bring your new or new-to-you RV home, the first thing many of us do is to stock and furnish it with supplies. These supplies will include everything from bedding to bathroom supplies, kitchen tools to quirky RV essentials that you didn’t even know you needed. (I use the term “need” loosely. Those items are things you could certainly survive without, but they sure do make RVing even comfier and more “luxurious” feeling!) As we stocked our new travel trailer, we also included some basic RV cleaning supplies like dish and hand soap, multi-surface cleaner and microfiber towels.
One RVing truth that applies to just about everyone: you won’t really know what you will need and use until you start living in your RV! That was certainly true for us in the beginning and it’s still true today. We have yet to go on a camping trip and NOT think: “hmmmm… it would be great if we had….” And little by little we have added many of the items on our wish list to the RV over the years. (Note: I’m pretty sure the wish list never actually ends… it doesn’t matter how many things you cross off.. there’s always more to add. Though I know for us, that’s part of the fun of RV life.)
Quick Cleanups Make a Big Difference
When we get home from each camping trip, the first thing that we do is to unpack all food, clothing, and other items. Once these items are out of the camper, it’s time for a deep clean. The interior is thoroughly wiped down and sanitized. After that, the exterior gets a good scrubbing and a wax. We learned early on in our RV ownership that by taking the time to give the camper a thorough cleaning after each trip, the camper stays in like-new condition for many years!
Any little cleanups you can do here and there during your trip will make a big difference in your comfort level and also cut down on the time spent cleaning after you get home. Let’s dive right into our must-haves!
Clorox Wipes for quick wipe downs
We always keep some Clorox Wipes in the camper. They are great for sanitizing high-touch surface like doorknobs, the toilet, and countertops. Grilling raw meat? Give your prep surface a wipe after the food goes on the grill.
One of our favorite things about our RV is that we travel with our belongings, use our bathroom, etc. However, there are always things that need sanitizing around the home! These wipes are the perfect solution for quick surface cleaning.
Broom for loose dirt and slides
This one might be obvious, but don’t forget to tuck a broom in your camper! You don’t have to bring along a full-sized, industrial sweeper. A small broom will work great. Actually, since space is so limited in many campers, smaller is probably better. You can store a small broom in a closet or under a bed or even in the storage space under the camper. This compact broom with telescoping handle would be very handy.
Brooms are very efficient at cleaning up loose dirt and sand. A broom is also very helpful to have on hand if you have slide on your camper. Slideouts can catch lots of leaves, twigs and other debris from trees around the campsite. You can use a broom to brush off the top of a slide and clean it off before bringing the slide back inside. (You don’t ever want to bring a slide back into the camper without checking the roof for foreign objects. Objects like twigs could damage the slide!)
Stick Vacuum
Our stick vacuum is by far one of the best things we added to our camper! We had just returned from our first beach camping trip. The amount of sand that was dragged into the camper on our feet, bodies, etc was beyond frustrating. We tried to clean up the sand with our broom, but we were fighting a losing battle.
The stick vacuum did a great job with the sand removal. It is slim, lightweight and fits right behind our camper couch.
If you have a little more storage space, I would recommend upgrading to a cordless vacuum with attachments. You can use the crevice tool to clean all kinds of nooks and crannies around the camper!
Swiffer Wet Mop
If you don’t have a small wet mop in the camper, add it to your list of things to round up. We keep a Swiffer mop in the camper (stored next to the stick vacuum behind the couch!). These mops are great for grabbing dust, muddy footprints or pawprints from the camper floor. They are also a handy tool for giving the bathroom floor a nice fast wipe after a few days of showers. The Swiffer model that we have uses disposable paper pads on the bottom.
In our house, we have this Microfiber Spray Mop. It works great and when the microfiber pad gets dirty, you just toss it into the washer.
Those are our main go-to supplies for quick RV cleanups! What would you add to our list? Drop us a comment and tell us about it!
