Photo credit: Rachael Ray Show
Aired July 07, 2015
by Lisa Lozano
If you’re planning a camping trip, but don’t want to buy a bunch of new gear, our organizing pro Peter Walsh has six hacks you can use to cheaply and easily repurpose items that you likely already have in your home.
Hack 1: Use Kids Play Mats or Yoga Mats to Make a Comfy Floor
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Foam and inflatable camping pads can be pricey! Peter shows you how to repurpose playroom mats or even yoga mats to make a comfy floor for your tent.
Hack 2: Make Your Own Lamp
How to Create a Portable Lantern
How to Create a Portable Lantern
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Camping lanterns can be pricey as well, and you need a few scattered around the camp site. To make a lamp that gives off a cozy, ambient light, just take a gallon jug of water and wrap a headlamp around it, with the light facing inward.
Hack 3: Keep Your Toilet Paper Dry
(Hacks 3-6 are demonstrated in the below video.)
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A Shower in the Woods?
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Take an empty large plastic coffee container and cut a slit in the side. Insert your toilet paper roll vertically, pulling the end of the roll out the side. Pop the lid on, and now you have a waterproof toilet paper dispenser!
Hack 4: Make Portable Containers for Your Lotions and Creams
It’s important to bring along lots of creams and lotions when you travel, like antibiotic lotion for cuts, for example. But if you don’t want to lug around a big travel bag full of bottles, Peter shows you an extremely creative way to make little tubes. Basically you take a plastic drinking straw, and melt the end with a lighter. Pinch it closed, fill with toothpaste, lotion or whatever else you’d like to bring, then melt the other end and re-seal. Done!
Related: Peter Walsh Helps a Family with 15 Kids Get Organized
Hack 5: Make Soap Flakes for the Shower
When you are using the public showers at a campground, it’s no fun to have to carry around a wet, slippery, gooey bar of soap. So before you go, just use a vegetable peeler to make individually portioned portable flakes of soap that you can easily take to the bathroom with you.
Hack 6: Make Your Own Bathtub and Shower
If you want a place to clean off after a sweaty day outdoors, make this nifty outdoor bath and shower. Start with a baby pool placed under a tree. Take an old empty container of laundry detergent, fill with water, attach a nozzle, then hang above the baby pool with a rope. Instant shower or place to wash your hands! (Watch the video for more details.)
What’s your favorite tip to make camping more enjoyable and fun? Tell us in the comments.