Keeping Toiletries in the RV

[Kaadk]

Originally Posted by Silverbirch

Those particular plastic bins will freeze and crack and break into pieces when you try to move them. I leave my toiletries in the camper year 'round in Michigan but the things I had stored in those plastic containers in the pass-through storage were a mess.

They’re going on 6 years now no problem, but we don’t leave them in over the winter. The whole bin, and all the toiletries in it, comes in in the fall when we winterize, then goes back in the spring when we open up.

[Susan C]

We take everything out except for paper and plastic products, foil. I also leave in dish soap and toilet packs during the season, take out in winter. Clothing, towels and bedding get taken out to wash. I put the bedding and towels back in after wash for next trip. Food, clothing and toiletries are packed fresh for each trip depending on things like the weather and our chosen menu.

[msoucy]

I have always left my toiletries in my camper during the camping season. I do take them all out when we close up the camper for the winter. We have never had any issues with them there.
Good luck

[Lefty Squeeker]

Never seen a problem leaving ours in the cabinet in the syummer. Our highs reach into the low 100s here 😂

[tdiller]

Originally Posted by jacqui583

Hi Folks. This may sound like a silly question, but I just went shopping for trailer toiletries so here goes.

I'm thinking the beauty of moving to a travel trailer from a popup is that I can keep more things in the trailer between trips. The idea is that I want to only have to pack clothes and food and go. I will take toiletries out of the trailer over the winter, but will the heat hurt them when the trailer is not in use and therefore no a/c running? I'm thinking shampoos, deoderant or toothpaste. For example, will stick deoderant melt if left in the rv? I am in Southwestern Ontario where summer temps can reach mid to high 90'sF/mid 30'sC. What do other folks do?

Between outings we remove anything that may have an odor. Helps keep critters from invading. This includes things like toothpaste, deodorant, soaps, and other scented stuff. We also use a small cosmetic case to store them in so we can just grab and go.

[minteeg]

I leave all of mine in the camper - toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo, soft soap for hands, air deodorizers, dish soap, salt, pepper, etc.

However...I learned the hard way on my first trip two years ago...Do NOT...I repeat...DO NOT LEAVE POTATOES in the camper.
Trust me, you will think something crawled up and died in there!
And anything laying around it when it leaks out, will also smell like something rotten.

So, be sure to check your pantry/cabinets for potatoes!

[onetonford]

Only one time I had a problem was when my wife put the hand washing soap in the sink for storage. The soap leaked from the pump spout ran down the side of the sink after it sat for several months I went to check on fiver and found it. The sink now has a permanent stain in it as the soap ate the plastic in the sink it had pitted it.

[johnleann]

I don't keep cooking oil in the rig anymore as it seems to go rancid and sweats our of the bottle making a sticky mess. I have it kept in a one gallon zipper bag now even when at home.

[woodrockin]

Originally Posted by grumpy0374

Except for food/drink/meds, we keep our Lexi fully stocked. Clothes, toiletries, ect all stay in the rig, year round. Only items wife has to bring is a bit of makeup.
Never had any problems with soaps, arm pit juice, shaving stuff, ect, going bad.
Grumpy

Same here. Hot summers and cold winters and no issues with leaving toiletries.

[wanderer26]

You have plastic sinks in your fiver? I wouldn’t have a fifth wheel unless it had stainless steel. Here in southern michigan we leave everything in the rig. We spend winters in warm climate. Although we were in texas last winter and new years eve it snowed and got down to 14° overnight. Felt like i was back home.

[elivingston59]

Okay so y’all have convinced me to leave my stuff in the camper year around. We keep it plugged in anyway year round so I feel sure it will all be good.

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by elivingston59

Okay so y’all have convinced me to leave my stuff in the camper year around. We keep it plugged in anyway year round so I feel sure it will all be good.

Then you must not have read all of the posts!

[onetonford]

Originally Posted by wanderer26

You have plastic sinks in your fiver? I wouldn’t have a fifth wheel unless it had stainless steel. Here in southern michigan we leave everything in the rig. We spend winters in warm climate. Although we were in texas last winter and new years eve it snowed and got down to 14° overnight. Felt like i was back home.

The bathroom sink is plastic. The kitchen sink is the under mounted one and is a plastic hybrid. And having ss doesn't keep them from chemical damage as I have worked in the Dairy industry and chlorine can damage ss by pitting. causing rusting etc. so even they can be damaged.

[woodrockin]

Originally Posted by wanderer26

You have plastic sinks in your fiver? I wouldn’t have a fifth wheel unless it had stainless steel. Here in southern michigan we leave everything in the rig. We spend winters in warm climate. Although we were in texas last winter and new years eve it snowed and got down to 14° overnight. Felt like i was back home.

Did I miss something? What does that have to do with leaving toiletries in your camper?

[MartiB]

After toting my toiletries back and forth for about 10 years, I finally decided the camper needed its own supply. I have kept everything in the medicine cabinet all year long (Chicago area) with no adverse effects for two years. I use plastic boxes (maybe 8x4x2?) that fit on the shelves for the small stuff. They have the handles that clamp on the ends - similar to: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite...lear/144821838.

[J Andrews]

We have been camping for three years and I keep smapoo, conditioner, deodorant, body sprays, toothpaste and other toiletries in the camper 365 days of the year and we had no issues what so ever. Just make sure to take all Food out.

[onetonford]

Originally Posted by woodrockin

Did I miss something? What does that have to do with leaving toiletries in your camper?

Yes Yes you did. In my first post I told that my wife had put the hand soap dispenser in the sink to store it and that it had dripped from the spout and ran down the sink it sat for possibly more than several months and ate into the plastic sink they have in the bathroom. So we never store any soaps in the RV anymore.

[TXredbird]

Our Texas summers are so hot it can get 120+ degrees in the camper when not in use. I actually leave the top covered vent open so heat can escape except when I know it will rain (unfortunately we've been in a drought again). We don't leave anything in there except dry goods like dishes, linens, toilet paper, paper towels, portable vacuum cleaner, playing cards etc. My toiletries stay packed in a bag that I can quickly bring in and out of the camper.

[Loraura]

Also in Central Texas here, highs above 100F 30+ days a year. I leave all the soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, dish soap, etc in the RV. The only thing we've had to throw out is liquid meds like Nyquil or liquid ibuprofen.

I have to wonder what the heck was in that liquid hand soap that ATE THROUGH PLASTIC?!?! what????

I also leave stuff like Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, instant oatmeal, canned goods if I know we will be taking the RV back out again soon (within 2-3 weeks). If it's going to sit for a month, I'll take those things out too. Our RV rarely sits for a month (I start to climb the walls if I can't go camping!).

I did have dawn dish soap pop the top and drain half a bottle into the sink when we went from Texas to Wyoming and got into some higher elevations. I can't remember but I think it was on the way back down to lower elevation that the bottle expanded and popped it's top. Man, my grey tank was full of bubbles and my sewer hose has never been cleaner!

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by Loraura

I did have dawn dish soap pop the top and drain half a bottle into the sink when we went from Texas to Wyoming and got into some higher elevations. I can't remember but I think it was on the way back down to lower elevation that the bottle expanded and popped it's top. Man, my grey tank was full of bubbles and my sewer hose has never been cleaner!

And now your tank sensors will be accurate for a few trips as well...

Here in Yuma, Arizona (the hot spot of the US of A) the temps have been 100+ degrees every single day since I arrived here back in mid-May!

And for the last month and a half over 110 almost every day!

The camper has reached temps of 156 degrees inside (that I know of - I'm sure it has been hotter than that inside) on a daily basis when sitting in the desert storage lot about 300 yards from my home.

I don't leave anything in there anymore...

I do have a small Pet Shampooer that I keep in my 5'ver as I have no carpet in my home (have three large Mainecoone cats), and when I went out to the camper two weeks ago to prep for a trip, the bottle of carpet shampoo for that machine had split open and leaked.

Lucky for me it was in a dishpan under the kitchen sink.

However, when I found that bottle split I put it in the kitchen sink and left it there for a couple days until I brought the RV up to the house, and where it had dribbled out into the sink I now have a weird stain that won't scrub out.

Guess I can't leave that stuff in there, either!