When living in an RV Full Time, RV inside preparations for the Travel day is essential to keep your home intact and family safe. These are our easy tips to prepare for RV travel that will keep you safe and reduce the stress!

Hi, we’re the RV Odd Couple. We sold our house & most all possessions to hit the road and live in an RV full time with our toddler and dog.

This is part 1 of a 2 Part our Travel Day process that focuses on RV inside preparations. Everyone is different but this is what we do to keep safe. Take what you like and leave the rest.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. This means if you make a purchase after clicking a link we get a small commission that helps us maintain our blog and it won’t cost you a penny more! Any item we link to is an item that we own ourselves and we absolutely love!

Also, don’t forget to check out Part 2 here where we cover the RV outside preparations. Below is a list of what we do for our RV inside preparations and at the end, you can download our customizable RV Travel Day Checklist!

The #1 Secret to a Successful Travel Day:

Go Slow! Mistakes happen when you hurry. RVing Full-time is almost a mindfulness practice because rushing or being distracted causes mistakes. Hurrying the preparation process can be financially costly and unsafe. There is no shame in double and triple checking! Since we are RVing full-time with a toddler, we are constantly reminding ourselves to slow down. Hopefully, our toddler takes notice and takes it easy on Mommy and Daddy. 🙂

The #2 Secret to a Successful Travel Day (RV Inside Preparations):

Start the day before! This is the first tip for RV inside preparations. We’ve learned the hard way to treat the day before travel day with the same seriousness that we treat travel day. We no longer schedule any big activities the day before traveling, especially if we’ll be on the road more than a couple of hours. While my husband makes his Exterior day before preparations, I focus on the following:

Food & Snacks

It’s hard finding the right kind of truck stop for our combined 60 feet rig set up. We can’t just stop at any fast-food joint because we’re 13 feet, 6 inches tall!

While doing RV inside preparations, I get groceries the day before and load up on snacks. I don’t know why we get hungry when we travel but having a few health bars, fruits, carrot sticks, along with Jerky and chips, makes for a very pleasant ride. If possible I like to make sandwiches too. The biggest reason I plan food ahead is below:

*RV Food Hack*

Get Snacks the Day before you travel! Truck stops inflate the prices of their snacks because they know you don’t have any other option. Don’t pay twice as much for convenience. It’s cheaper and healthier to plan ahead.

Charge Electronic Devices

This is one of the very important tips for RV inside preparations. While my husband is making sure the tire pressure monitor is charged, I make sure our phones and I pad are ready to go. We use apps for navigation and even though I can charge the phone in the truck, I like to be prepared. Heaven forbid our truck battery stopped working, we need to be able to call for help. These little tasks make a huge impact on our sanity.

Cleaning & Laundry

One of my favorite parts of tiny living is that it only takes me an hour to deep clean our entire home! The days of 8 hours of cleaning are behind me! I love arriving at our destination and walking into a nice, clean rig. It just feels 1000 times better.

For this reason, I dedicate the day before travel to deep cleaning. I’ll get as much laundry clean as humanly possible and start putting loose objects in their secure “travel homes.”

Plan the Route

With our height restrictions, we can’t just plug in an address and trust any GPS. We use special apps and plan our route the night before. We also have a road atlas that we keep on hand for in case we lose power or internet connection. Planning our trip the night before helps reduce the stress. We can get a realistic idea of drive time and plan out driving and bathroom breaks. We’re potty training our toddler so we have to go slower than most.

RV Internal Travel Day Tasks:

When you RV full-time, that means that most all of your possessions are traveling with you. If this were just the occasional weekend getaway, I probably wouldn’t be making such an elaborate checklist. But when the RV is moving, our whole house is essentially experiencing an earthquake. Here we need RV inside preparations before the travel day. The main focus of preparing the interior of the RV for travel is ensuring that everything is snug and tight. By restricting motion as much as possible, I secure our possessions!

Also, Every RV is different, but I’ve listed what I do by categories of tasks. Some people prefer to go room by room. I don’t think there is only one way to do things but you need to be true to your work style. Also, I think it helps to do things in a similar fashion each time. Having a set sequence helps me get in a rhythm.

Secure Electronics:

Our 5th wheel has certain electronics that require extra attention when traveling. The TV needs to be secured. Luckily the TV can still be watched when secured, so this allows me to keep cartoons on for my kid while I prepare the RV.

The fridge is another story. The Fridge locks so that the doors don’t open when the RV is moving. It always happens that when I lock the Fridge, my husband or toddler eventually needs to get into it. I just smile and go with the flow. I figure it’s better to secure the fridge when I’m thinking about it, rather than postponing it and inevitably forgetting.

Secure Liquid Soaps:

Our fifth wheel comes with a shower with shelves. Naturally, I don’t leave the shampoo and condition up on the shelf. But I have the perfect RV Traveling Hack for Shampoos, Conditioners, Laundry Detergents, and Liquid Soaps below:

*RV Traveling Hack*

Get a big plastic bin that fits all of your liquid soaps. Make sure the container is tall, but that the soaps are snug. That way, if something spills, it’s contained.

Secure Interior Doors & Blinds:

Our unit also has multiple doors that need to be secured prior to travel. The Glass Shower Door and the 2 Master Closet Sliding Doors have little latches that easily fasten for safe travel. This is easy and by the time I do this, we’re not taking any showers or reaching in the closet.

I also go around the RV pull up the blinds. Our blinds are awesome and give us our privacy at night, so to keep them from shifting while the RV is moving I pull them all up.

Clear Areas for Pop-Outs:

Our Fifth-wheel has 4 Slide-outs. The Pop-outs are amazing and add so much living room. I absolutely love them. But if things go wrong with the slides, there’s big, expensive trouble. The easiest way to keep the RV Slides in working order is to make sure there are no obstructions. My husband has enough on his plate, securing the exterior of the RV, so I make sure that everything is out of the way. Pulling in the slides is one of the last things he does, so this allows us to still live in the RV while we’re preparing to move.

Also, with a small child, I find that sometimes my work is mysteriously “undone.” Lol J So this is one that I constantly revisit… just in case my daughter decided to put her toys where the pop outs pull in.

Secure Cabinet Contents:

I go through the Kitchen cabinets, Living room cabinets, Bedroom closets, and Bathroom cabinets and make sure that everything is snug and secure. I got a lot of dollar store plastic organization containers and store everything in its place. This way, the contents of my cabinets are almost always travel-ready.

In the kitchen, we have glass and a few kitchen appliances. I have a great hack for keeping the kitchen items safe in the RV below:

*RV Traveling Hack*

Save Money by using towels & washcloths to fill empty spaces Instead of spending ton’s of money on specialty padding. Instead of specialty pot and pan pads, I just kitchen towels. It’s just as effective, saves me from carrying extra weight, and it’s free! As long as items are snug and secure, they should be fine.

If you found these ideas helpful, check out what John does to prepare the Outside of the RV.

Why are we sharing our Tips for RV Inside Preparations?

When we decided to take this huge leap of faith and RV full-time with our family, so many people offered us help. We’d like to pay it forward. We’ve created a downloadable checklist so you don’t forget your RV Travel Day routine. This list covers the Night before, the Interior, and the Exterior. It also has blank spaces so you can customize the list. You’ll Join our “Odd Squad” and be the first to know about our new adventures, products, and RV living hacks!

Thanks for Joining our Odd Squad,

John, Mercedes, Sage & Skippy