Storage hacks for bedside storage in our RV

Why do some RVers change the way things are organized inside their campers? We recently changed the storage in the bedside closets of our 2025 Rockwood Mini Lite 2506FK. Why? We usually don’t bring hanging clothes with the exception of a few jackets which we keep in our truck.

But, on longer trips, we do have a lot of clothing that we need to deal with.

Good storage in the Rockwood Mini Lite 2506FK

There is good storage in this rig. There are three drawers under the bed which is where we keep shoes. Each bedside table also gets a drawer. There are cabinets over the bed and, because the bedroom is at the back of the trailer which makes the wall flat, those cabinets are pretty deep.

In those cabinets we’ve placed plastic baskets which makes it easier to get things out of the cabinets and also easier to load them in advance of a trip.

Then there are the bed-side cabinets which is the whole point of this. We had cloth hanging storage gadgets which, I believe, are meant for shoes. These were pretty flimsy and it has become rather apparent that the back of this trailer gets a lot of movement on the roads as the hanging storage unit on Peggy’s side simply bent its hangers straight. Yikes!

Peggy decided we needed a better solution (hooray!) so she measured the closets, checked out our Rockwood Mini Lite-Flagstaff Micro Lite Fan Club Group on Facebook and came up with some lightweight metal shelving which will rest on the floor of the closet.

This metal rack system is one of those where wire shelves sit on the legs courtesy of plastic cap-like devices. The shelves press into the legs which keeps them where they are.

From there Peggy also found these cloth baskets that fit perfectly into the shelves and also through the closet doors - more on that in a bit. So, like the baskets over the bed these enable us to take them out and load them prior to leaving.

Building the metal shelving units

I don’t know how many of these metal shelving units I’ve built but it’s quite a few. We used them at the bed & breakfast in the kitchen and laundry room, I used them in houses in garages and storage rooms and now the smallest one I’ve ever built will live in the closet in our RV.

When Peggy measured these she found units that fit into the closet but are wider than the door so they have to be built inside the closets. Once assembled, they will not fit through the door.

Building these shelving units is pretty easy, the plastic caps that hold the shelves up have a ridge in them and you count the number of ridges in the legs and snap the little caps together where you want a shelf.

But that doesn’t really describe the reality of building these.

First of all, our trailer has these carpeted bases on either side of the bed which are, essentially, part of the outside storage compartment. They provide a good amount of pass-through storage but also create a box between you and the back of the closet.

So you first put the legs in and then start counting the rings. There are three shelves in these so you have to repeat the process three times. On each of the four legs. And hope that, as you stretch over this carpeted structure to the back of the closet that you count correctly.

And don’t drop either side of the two halves that make up the plastic seat on which the shelves rest.

Of course you drop that plastic seat. Multiple times. While streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetching to get to the back of the closet. I should have shot a video of me doing this, but I didn’t.

So - place the legs and then put the first four two-piece plastic seats in place and then drop the shelf on them. Done.

Repeat again for the middle shelf and then for the top shelf. And once you’re fiddling with the top shelf that’s when you’re most likely to drop the back half of the plastic seat and you go fishing for it beneath the rest of the almost-assembled structure.

Whew. Done. And I never once miscounted the little rings on the legs of this thing. And, if you believe that, then may I offer you a bridge in Brooklyn?

A job well done

But, quite honestly, the shelving looks good and I’m pretty happy with what Peggy chose. Sure, I got out of breath and may have laughed at myself several times as I dropped the plastic support thingamajig but the results look good. To me.

Knowing how much the back of this trailer bounces on what we consider roads in this country, I’m thinking that having the shelves just stay on these plastic bits through the magic of gravity won’t work so I may use the magic of zip ties to secure them better. We shall see.

In a house where I’ve built these before I’ve used a rubber mallet to better seat the shelves on the little plastic collars but I don’t know how much pounding should be happening in hanging closets in a trailer. Rockwood does a good job with what they build but there are also limits and I don’t care to find out what those are.

More baskets

Peggy is really good with basket organizing and we’ve used clear plastic containers in the closet in the bathroom as well as in the pantry and in the cabinets over the kitchen. I would share that link with you, but we bought those clear plastic containers at Costco so I don’t have a link.

As mentioned, we take the containers in and out of the trailer as we load it up which makes moving day a bit easier. These also help us to keep things organized as we shuttle down the highways and byways of this great land. There’s a lot of movement in there and this keeps the Spam from messing with the collard greens. Wouldn’t want them to mix - except at lunch.