Space saving ideas

Just brought a trident auto sleeper. We have two children so every space must count

I had a Khyam drive away awning with mine which lay on the floor in front of the back seat while travelling. When stopped and put up everything went into it. Also had a sleeping section in it. Picnic seats and table, halogen oven, clothes bags all went in the back with anything else I needed and could put in. It's a tardis. Used sleep bags.
Have you introduced yourselves yet in the "Welcome section". You haven't said how old your van is. Might be a good idea

When I go touring on the motorbike I have to travel light obviously, but the way bikers do it is to get all the stuff you want to take and put it in 3 piles.

The essential items, the important items and the nice to haves.

Firstly throw the nices to haves out and then see how much you have left, and do again with the remaining stuff if needed.

Space saving idea's are great, but having a barrel load of non-important items will quickly soak up all that space easily.

Also after a few trips you get a feel for how you want to organise stuff and what you can and can't leave behind.

Good choice of van. My kids are now 10 and six but we've had ours since the youngest was a baby - summer holidays came complete with travel cot, pushchair, high chair etc. Somehow it all fitted in.
We keep all bedding and some clothes in the high top when travelling. Usually end up with a couple of big, soft bags on the floor in the back, but nothing else. There's quite a lot of cupboard space in a Trident if you use it cleverly. For instance, has yours got a toilet in it? Will you use it? if not take it out.

Buy some of the vacuum bags that you roll up to expel the air from, not the ones where you use a vacuum cleaner.

. These are very useful for carrying spare bedclothes, towels, clothes etc as, when the air is expelled you can get several of them stacked in an underbed space.

We carry our folding chairs and outdoor table behind the cab seats, with a luggage strap to stop them falling sideways as you corner. I guess a baby buggy would fit there as well.

We have a Trident and we find it has more than enough space. However our other car is a Fiat Panda, so we are used to travelling light. Our set up is like this:

- Kids bedding in the roof
- Adults bedding rolled up in the gap behind the rear seats.
- All clothing in individual bags in the wardrobe.
- Food in the sideboard.
- Cups/plates/etc. in the front roof spaces on either side
- Other bits and pieces like books, games, DVDs, in the front roof space in the center
- More technical things like tools in the space under the rear seats at the back
- Other cooking equipment in the drawer under the seat or in the sideboard.

There is always more than enough space.

We always found that it always seemed possible to find space for small items but anything big presented an issue. So Duvalays, pillows, extra gas cylinder, gas barbecue, etc all presented issues. So I guess the best idea is to assess v carefully what you actually need and if necessary leave the stuff that's less important at home.

When you come to work out where to store things make sure you take account of how often you use any item. It makes cooking a simple meal much more complicated ( time consuming and stressful ?) if you have to move cushions, lift bed bases and ferret around to assemble ingredients and cookware. 

The same goes with every day acts like bedmaking and showering.

These are good tips. For me the thing I love about the van is not having lots of stuff!

scruffian wrote:We have a Trident and we find it has more than enough space. However our other car is a Fiat Panda, so we are used to travelling light. Our set up is like this:

- Kids bedding in the roof
- Adults bedding rolled up in the gap behind the rear seats.
- All clothing in individual bags in the wardrobe.
- Food in the sideboard.
- Cups/plates/etc. in the front roof spaces on either side
- Other bits and pieces like books, games, DVDs, in the front roof space in the center
- More technical things like tools in the space under the rear seats at the back
- Other cooking equipment in the drawer under the seat or in the sideboard.

There is always more than enough space.

Uncannily like mine, except we manage to cram bedding for 4 and a few clothes into the roof