Packing for different scenarios

[veg_frenzy]

I thought I was alone in my OCD spreadsheet mania.

I won't attach mine cos it's too embarrassing (10 pages, landscape) but can I add a suggestion? I you use the first column for a category and the second as detail, then you can filter on type to breakdown the last to more manageable chunks. With a column for 'DONE' to further filter as you prepare for the season/trip...do I win the prize for OCD?!!
For instance:
Setup - for things you need to buy when setting up your stuff at the beginning
Turnaround - for things that need emptying and repacking every trip
On departure - things to check on leaving a site (I've made a laminated card of this info, with on arrival checklist on the other side
Longer trips - 'more shampoo', etc
Guest list -tent!
Stores, season prep, food shop,...and the categories go on!

Add dates when memberships and insurance expire (columns 3)!

Sorting then filtering on column one and DONE column is the key!

A piece of art!

I then have a notebook in the van to record my nights and adventures and note down if I have to add anything to my list for future use...highlighted in pink! Eg I had no pen in the front so I will add that to my door pouch which contains hankies, hand wash, hand lotion, etc...all you'd need to hand when pootling along on your journey!
PS I also list numbers of knickers! :thefinger

Ah hah, something I might bring out for a laugh at our gizmo spot when we have our next meet! I might add a column for 'too embarrassing' and filter out the items which are a step too far!

Dottie, please share!!!!!! I think I LOVE YOU!!!

 

[Dottie]

Hee hee...I hope this is not a windup?! I'll have to edit my list and issue a manual for its use, but will do this...as soon as our server has recovered from its second cyber attack in 3 months...I hope I haven't lost my lists....!

 

[veg_frenzy]

No wind up Dottie. I am obsessed also. In fact I created my own version today.

 

[Dottie]

Will publish ASAP....!

 

[DavidofHook]

We are also list lovers. I won't print it because it has everything on it some of which it may be better not to advertise.
We have separate headings for Food, Habitation (our tent, additional table etc) Washkit, Medical, ( it's got all my drugs on it so no publishImg), Documents (mainly when we go abroad), Bikes and Bike rack, Personal (books etc), Electronic (iPads, phones chargers etc), Foot ware, TraVelling (stuff to have to hand during journey, especially for longer journeys, France, Spain etc)
A total of about 180 items and We mix and match (using the remaining grey matter) depending on where we are going and the season.
We use the van as our car and so we do not carry much on a regular basis except perhaps cutlery.
Obsessive? Well there is nothing worse than arriving to find that you have left behind say your razor and iPad charger so I think not.....

But, I am a Chartered Surveyor and I am retired. (This is for Welshgas and his survey!)
PS If I can clean up my list I will post it, but I may not be able to because I only have the iPad here.
Sorry that this is so long and hope that it is of interest

 

[DavidofHook]

I may have done it!

 

[LindaF]

We keep our van packed with most things as we like to be able to just get in and go with minimal amount of gathering bits and bobs. We have his and hers wash bags permanently in the van (overhead locker), bedding in a box in the rear. We keep a small amount of clothing in the van as well - few t-shirts/underwear, towels, so that if we have an impromptu stopover we have everything we need. If going on a longer trip there are a few items we need to collect from the garage such as driveaway awning and safari chef but generally we are packed ready to go. We don't use lists (surprisingly, as at work I am a list/spreadsheet kind of person!).

It was one of the things that attracted us to the California, the fact that it could be sitting there ready to go so that on the spur of the moment we could just get in her and drive off for the weekend.

 

[mchbiker]

I use ipad wunderlist app for the essentials and tick them off as I pack. Might add a winter themed one but just have a master list for now.

 

[Skylark2.0]

We are also list lovers. I won't print it because it has everything on it some of which it may be better not to advertise.
We have separate headings for Food, Habitation (our tent, additional table etc) Washkit, Medical, ( it's got all my drugs on it so no publishImg), Documents (mainly when we go abroad), Bikes and Bike rack, Personal (books etc), Electronic (iPads, phones chargers etc), Foot ware, TraVelling (stuff to have to hand during journey, especially for longer journeys, France, Spain etc)
A total of about 180 items and We mix and match (using the remaining grey matter) depending on where we are going and the season.
We use the van as our car and so we do not carry much on a regular basis except perhaps cutlery.
Obsessive? Well there is nothing worse than arriving to find that you have left behind say your razor and iPad charger so I think not.....

But, I am a Chartered Surveyor and I am retired. (This is for Welshgas and his survey!)
PS If I can clean up my list I will post it, but I may not be able to because I only have the iPad here.
Sorry that this is so long and hope that it is of interest

My list is in excel and categorised like this.
I have an "everything list" and I edit it down to what we're doing, then save that list with the destination in case I want to use it again.
If there are changes I make a list on my smart phone and add it when we get home. like the lack of hair gel for our teenager when we were away last year. The water did do remarkable things to our hair. I felt like I was back in the 80's. If only...
I like the idea of adding filters from Dottie..... Hmm next version I think...

 

[motacyclist]

I may have done it!

You must have the California Large? (You know, like the Fiat 500 Large?)

 

[DavidofHook]

You must have the California Large? (You know, like the Fiat 500 Large?)

Well, not really.
There are just two of us, most of the stuff goes in cupboards, the tent is a Sunncamp Daytent which compresses down very small and we put the poles along that gap by the back seat.
A lot of stuff just packs up into washkits so the list can be a bit misleading, and like some of the others we don,t take it all. Here in France all my clothes squeeze into 3 Eagle Creek bags that take up just one third of the back seat drawer.
We take paperback books which fit into 2 book sized zip bags (acquired as lunch bags on a trip in the U.S.)
We also take two, more comfortable, chairs which fit in the boot as well!
We had considered upsizing when our T4 Cali wore out (at least that that is what I told Mrs DoH) but felt a new Cali was the answer, not a big lumbering thing!

 

[Dottie]

Well done Davidof Hook..I haven't edited/refined my list for publication yet!
My comment would be that you should work it into 2 columns only and enter 'DONE' in a third column when the item is in...then keep filtering out the DONE items until the list becomes shorter and you get a sense of satisfaction.
I have several columns...I'll call myself an advanced list maker..yes, I know there are other descriptions for the likes of me!

I see you have Eagle Creek mania too...!

 

[DavidofHook]

Well done Davidof Hook..I haven't edited/refined my list for publication yet!
My comment would be that you should work it into 2 columns only and enter 'DONE' in a third column when the item is in...then keep filtering out the DONE items until the list becomes shorter and you get a sense of satisfaction.
I have several columns...I'll call myself an advanced list maker..yes, I know there are other descriptions for the likes of me!

I see you have Eagle Creek mania too...!

Thank you Dottie
It has all those column so it fits on an A4 sheet. When we pack I just print it off and run a vertical line through each item as I get it. Any thing not going on this trip is crossed through with a vertical line. Ultimately you have a subject column with a line thro from top to bottom. Well that is the theory.
It works pretty well now. I no longer drop my glasses on a campsite and find that my spares are at home, or we have forgotten the hearing aid batteries and I can't hear. (age=more stuff)
I adjust it with experience, we no longer bring the bike foot pump for example. Usually the tyres stay hard anyway but you can always nip into a bike shop and they will do it for you. Despite the apparent length of the list we are trying to take less and less. The more you have the more problems it seems to create. We no longer take a ground sheet, packing it up is always messy and then you have to store it some where. And slippers should come off as well, we never take them!
So the target is to remove at least one item a trip! Not sure that we succeed though!
Oh yes, Eagle Creek stuff, brilliant eh?

 

[alter]

Do not know about you, but where I go around I possibly everything that I can serve ..... travel with Cali must not be a ... stress aside things strictly personal, it can serve if not a healthy spirit adaptation and positive meaning of life ... NB. to go to Florence in August do not need so many things in Cali ..... only so much coraggio..hahaha Hello

 

[DavidofHook]

Do not know about you, but where I go around I possibly everything that I can serve ..... travel with Cali must not be a ... stress aside things strictly personal, it can serve if not a healthy spirit adaptation and positive meaning of life ... NB. to go to Florence in August do not need so many things in Cali ..... only so much coraggio..hahaha Hello

I agree with that. My big list cuts down my stress brilliantly, no more worrying if I have got everything packed before we go, jus check the list. And, as you say, Florence in the summer needs much less stuff, no wellington boots for example!
David

 

[Bello]

Well done Davidof Hook..I haven't edited/refined my list for publication yet!
My comment would be that you should work it into 2 columns only and enter 'DONE' in a third column when the item is in...then keep filtering out the DONE items until the list becomes shorter and you get a sense of satisfaction.
I have several columns...I'll call myself an advanced list maker..yes, I know there are other descriptions for the likes of me!

I see you have Eagle Creek mania too...!

Dear Dotty,
You truly do sound like a professional listmaker, very much unlike me. I'm very interested in that list of yours, could you please share it with us, poor listmakers? (Imagine puppy-dog-eyed-emoticons on this spot)

Marjan

 

[DavidofHook]

Dear Dotty,
You truly do sound like a professional listmaker, very much unlike me. I'm very interested in that list of yours, could you please share it with us, poor listmakers? (Imagine puppy-dog-eyed-emoticons on this spot)

Marjan

Hello Bello,
Is it my list that you want to see? It is in the earlier part of this posting but I can try and send it again. ..? It is very flexible, I have even adjusted to use on a cruise, including the provision of a Dinner jacket!

 

[Velma's Dad]

My Iron Law is that 'VelmaList' is never allowed to exceed one page (and no cheating with small fonts). Whenever anything gets added, something has to be taken off.

We find that travelling with too much unnecessary dunnage just adds clutter and stress. If we haven't packed a particular item of kitchen gear, it's just a great excuse to find a good pub to eat in. (In fact, we travel with very little in the way of cooking gear, for that particular reason.)

But actually, another reason is that we need to keep some free space for carting home all the new stuff we end up buying during our trips...

 

[Taff7996]

We have a list that has developed (grown) since we got our van in 2014, it is not a matrix for different types of sites but has most things that we need for different types of holidays. I have attached a copy so you can see how ocd you can get!

Pity its not in excel format

 

[sbmcd]

Pity its not in excel format

Will post once I am at my PC

 

[sbmcd]

Pity its not in excel format

Excel cannot be posted, can email it if you PM me.

 

[Taff7996]

Excel cannot be posted, can email it if you PM me.

Pm sent

 

[sbmcd]

Pm sent

Need you to pm your email address

 

[Meoncoast]

All our needs are already in the van except,

• Grab bag of bedding. Ready packed
• extension lead
• bag of clothes needs to be packed (but already packed with toiletries)
• bottle of milk

Off on the road without a lot of faff and very quickly.

 

[Anthony1]

My Hotel California holds the basic stuff in boxes behind the rear seat and i add things in function off the trip ....
Not gonna take rubber boots in the summer as they are standard on a wintertrip.
But in general we just pack clothes and food , the most stays in the Cali at all time

Hook-up cable , levelling ramps , outside coocker, tools , ....all stay in the Cali at all time, we not use it as daily driver...

Have you used your levelling ramps much? I have a pair but they take up quite a lot of space. I tend to leave them behind. Not rolled out of bed yet.