Tips for your first RV trip from RVing experts

Tips for your first RV trip from RVing experts

This summer is shaping up to be the perfect opportunity to take that family RV trip you’ve been talking about! (Don’t own an RV but always wanted to experience an RV adventure? Try renting one first to test it out before making the big investment.)

Since many families are planning an RV trip for the first time this summer, we reached out to Josh and Christina Dyches, undisputed experts at RVing with the family, and asked them to share their best tips for hitting the road with the family.

Josh and Christina sold their house and moved into an RV with their four kids and began a journey they document on their popular YouTube channel, Dyches Fam. While they describe the experience as pure craziness, they wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

It’s not easy to wrangle a family of six in an RV but the Dyches Family has it down to a science. Here are five tips on how to make it all work: 

1. Change your way of thinking! “Less is more, yes you can live without it. If you haven’t used something this month get rid of it and don’t allow yourself to make unnecessary purchases. We each downsized to only 10 outfits, in fact each person has only 1 drawer to fit all their clothes in.” Christina Dyches explains. When packing for your RV trip remind yourself that many campgrounds have laundry facilities so you can pack even less clothing to have more room for your family to move around the RV. 
2. Get smart with your organization. “I use command hooks to hang everything including hats, paperwork, fruit, paper plates, cleaning supplies, they’re so versatile and easily removable.” Christina details, “We store our extra coats and shoes in a suitcase, so they are out of the way and we fold our clothes using the Marie Kondo method so there’s no extra searching.”
3. When everyone goes stir crazy, get outside! Christina says, “We try to do something active everyday, even on travel days. We’ll eat at parks with playgrounds or take a break at trampoline parks. If things start getting crazy, we all go outside and do jumping jacks.” Many campgrounds have great amenities to help you break out from the RV and enjoy where you’re at!
4. Join camping memberships such as Thousand Trails to do the most possible camping! Thousand Trails gives you unlimited nights of camping across the country. “They have playgrounds, pools, sports courts, and open areas to keep the kids happy on days when we just want to relax.” Christina adds. 
5. Keep it clean. “Staying organized in a small space means when you’re done with it, put it away. You can’t leave things out, ever! When we wake up, everyone cleans up their bed, after school everyone puts their books away. Even if a couple things are left out, then there’s nowhere to eat or sleep. Once a week we clean every inch of the RV, do laundry, reorganize, and make any repairs necessary,” she adds. While school may not be in session during your road trip, it’s important to remember to keep everything organized to maximize your space in the RV.

“Traveling with the family is so fun, the more the merrier. It’s like going on a new adventure everyday with your best friends,” 

Christina says, which makes all the craziness worth it.