7 Van Life Organization Hacks We Can’t Live Without

Instead of letting fruits and veggies roll around in the upper cabinets, they have a dedicated spot in a banana hammock. This might be one of our favorite organization hacks as it seriously frees up space they would otherwise be taking in the cabinet, sink, or fridge. Not to mention, we also just love that homey-vibe that it gives the van. This is the one we use: Fruit Basket Hammock

Packing cubes are a total game-changer for keeping clothes under control. Instead of shoving shirts, socks, and underwear into our cabinets, each category of clothing has its own color-coded cube. We each have one cube for tops, one for bottoms, one for socks, and one for undies. The colors make it easy to identify what is in what, and they’re easy to stack, pull out, and put away without disturbing everything else. These are our favorites: National Parks Large Compression Packing Cubes

This one’s a stealthy dual-purpose win: an extra pillow that secretly stores our extra clothes. On the outside, it looks like a cozy pillow on the bed. But unzip it, and you’ll find it packed with t-shirts, bathing suits, flannels, and our ponchos. It’s perfect for off-season clothing or extra layers, and it keeps clutter out of sight. This is what we have in our van: The Storage Pillow XL

We added a couple of leather pouches next to our bed, and now we wonder how we ever lived without them. These wall-mounted pockets hold our phones, headlamps, bear spray, tablets, and whatever else we need within arm’s reach at night. Before we mounted these, our phones would be lost in a sea of sheets and bedding by morning. We got these off Etsy: Extra Large Leather Wall Pocket

We love our upper cabinets, but there wasn’t much in the way of organization or maximizing the space till we added a removable shelf on one side. Now we essentially have two shelves on one side to stack things like dry and canned foods, tupperware, and foil/baggies. It’s a cheap upgrade that instantly doubles usable storage and helps us avoid the dreaded “avalanche” every time we open the cabinet (although that still sometimes happens, too). This is very similar to the one we have: Kitchen Shelf Organizer

We use soft plastic bins to corral our spices, oils, and vinegar bottles in one cabinet. No more spice jars flying across the van every time we hit a bump. Everything is upright, easy to grab, and neatly contained. It’s the kind of simple upgrade that makes cooking in the van way more enjoyable and way less chaotic. These are similar to the ones we have: Kitchen Pantry Storage Organizer Bin

We strung a simple piece of rope above the cab to hang our hats, and it’s been surprisingly useful. Our hats used to end up crushed or lost. Now they’re easy to grab, add some personality to the space, and don’t take up any precious storage in our headliner. It’s one of those hacks that cost almost nothing but solves a constant problem.