Camping in the summer creates the best memories. I’m not sure if it is the fact that you are out communing with nature or that you can’t get cell reception that really pulls families together. Whether you are camping at the beach, a campground or even in your own backyard, everyone could benefit from knowing a trick or two. Here are 8 of my favorite camping hacks to use on your next camping experience!
8 Genius Camping Hacks
1. Fill clean, empty milk jugs with water and freeze it before leaving on your camp trip. Add the jugs to your cooler to save money on ice and keep your food cold for longer. When it melts you can use that water as drinking water for your family.
2. Make your zippers easy to handle by adding a key ring to them. This is especially useful for sleeping bags in the middle of the night!
3. Wrap duct tape around your water bottle or a flashlight to save space and also have quick and easy access to it. Duct tape is great for blisters and also can be used to remove ticks.
4. Wrap a headlamp around an opaque plastic bottle to make an instant lantern. It can light up your tent by hanging it in the middle of the tent or you can leave it outside to use it at night.
5. For fewer burrs when you are hiking, rub the laces of your hiking boots with paraffin before hitting the trail. It is nice to come back and be ready for your next adventure without worrying about cleaning up your shoes.
6. Yoga mats are not just for exercise anymore. They can double as foam sleeping pads to isolate you from the ground and give comfort when sleeping. Yoga mats roll up nicely and are easy to throw in to your camping supplies.
7. Use corn chips like Doritos or Fritos as substitute kindling when you are starting a fire. The greasy (yet delicious!) part of the chips helps the fire get going quickly.
8. Before you leave on your trip put important and sensitive items in separate plastic bags for safe keeping. Even though your phone might not get service, if you bring it camping encase it in a plastic baggie for protection and make it easy to keep track of.
What are your family’s favorite camping hacks?
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About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Niki says
I reuse paper egg cartoons, put small twigs or wood mulch in each hole then dryer lint then drip wax over top. Best fire starter ever! When using it, use with the lid open or poke holes in the lid for better air circulation. (I just use with lid open, easier)
Happy-Money-Saver says
Great idea!
Wendy says
I sterilise my milk bottles ready for use, I also take the tablets with me too. Works for me when I get near to some where I can wash everything, the van and floor too.
Dawn Freeman says
You can also make a seat for the 5-gal bucket toilet with a pool noodle by cutting a length equal to the circumference them slitting it down its length.
Another use for pool noodles: cut 1 foot sections to put around the tent guy lines so you don’t trip over them like I invariably do!
You can also throw in a few solar powered garden path lights to put near the guy lines at the tent door. That way, if you have to make a midnight potty run, you’ll be able to see the entrance and not trip over those lines!! (Is it obvious that I’ve tripped over a lot of tent lines?)
Sailorman76 says
Pick up some sulfur powder at your local nursery. I put some in a old sock and stored it in a ziploc bag. Before hiking or walking in the woods, I dapped my socks and boots with the old sock. The sulfur powder discourages ticks and fleas from hitching a ride on your legs and boots.
TX Griff says
Re: reusing milk jugs. Just don’t. Theres’s no way to fully rid the plastic of milk solids, even with bleach or detergent or vinegar, and drinking melted ice water from an upcycle milk jug will introduce unpleasant bacteria to your gut.
Instead, use one and/or two liter soda bottles–washed with warm water & detergent, rinsed well, then bleached with one tbsp unscented laundry bleach and two cups hot water, swish vigorously then rinse well… don’t forget to bleach the cap, too– filled with water… leave 1.5″ of air space at the top for expansion.
Chuck says
Thanks for the tips. I used 1 gallon jugs my iced tea came in. These were great ideas. Thanks and happy camping.
Sonny says
I put a magnifying glass in first aid kit. Extra fire starter; especially if backpack camping.
Lisa R says
Any convex glass will do–even reading glasses! I like taking those flat marbles from the dollar store to use as a back up fire starter. They’re small, super light weight, provide some magnification so I keep them next to the tweezers in the first aid box.
Julie Mullen says
Speaking from long camping experience, if you’re going to use plastic jugs (milk or otherwise), only fill them two-thirds to three-quarters full before putting them in the freezer. Also, bleach is caustic (it’s a base, not an acid), which can mix with the milk fats and saponify, leaving a nasty residue! If you rinse your empty milk jugs with cold water and a little vinegar as soon as the last glass of milk has been poured, then wash with hot, soapy water, you won’t have to worry about residue. (Former dairy farmer- this is how we washed the pipelines that carried the milk from the cow to the tank- acid rinse followed by wash cycle.) Another thought born of long experience: drinking the water as it melts in your jug makes the ice melt faster and also doesn’t keep the food as cold.
mr.monalinda says
My kids are now about 40. We rinsed everything and saved our water for drinking. We pour out onto plants needing water and used every drop. Our guts are fine. Drink our precious water and live.
Bonnie says
“Space bags” are great for packing pillows, sleeping bags (folded, not rolled), blankets and bulky jackets when not in use and when transporting to/from camp!
Got little kids??
Make a chamber pot out of a 5 gal plastic bucket lined with a kitchen garbage bag and put some kitty litter in the bottom. They make toilet seats just for those buckets!
No need to get up and leave the tent. (Can sit it just outside also.)
OR…sit under an adult potty chair like you buy for invalids that fold up.
Same 5 gal buckets with lids are great for storage and extra seating. (They also make padded lids for those.)
You’re welcome! ??
Dawn Freeman says
You can also make a seat for the 5-gal bucket toilet with a pool noodle by cutting a length equal to the circumference them slitting it down its length.
Another use for pool noodles: cut 1 foot sections to put around the tent guy lines so you don’t trip over them like I invariably do!
You can also throw in a few solar powered garden path lights to put near the guy lines at the tent door. That way, if you have to make a midnight potty run, you’ll be able to see the entrance and not trip over those lines!! (Is it obvious that I’ve tripped over a lot of tent lines?)
Henard says
If using a milk jug for water, make sure that you wash it out first with bleach water first and dish detergent if you want to get rid of the bleach taste. Trust me, you won’t like what happens if you only use dish detergent to wash out your milk jug. Better yet, just buy a gallon of water and freeze that and then re-use that jug for now on.
Anonymous says
A lot of people use bleach and dish detergent together, but it’s never a good idea. Bleach and Ammonia react with each other. Ammonia is the key cleaning agent in many dish soaps- Dawn is one of them. And it explicitly says on the bottle never to use it with bleach. (It can create a toxic gas.) I would actually suggest using dish soap and vinegar if you want to neutralize smells. The vinegar and dish soap cancel out each others smells if used in equal proportions.
Alegretorres says
Thanks to anonymous for the bleach detergent information. My husband always puts bleach in w his detergent and sometimes the smell over takes the kitchen. I think I now know why. Also, I have many empty distilled water bottles (Cpap machine requirement)
and I have been giving them to my neighbors to store water in for an emergency. Like stated they don’t have to go thru all the cleaning hassles of a milk bottle.
Lori says
buying a gallon of water is the best @ 99 cents I find the plastic stronger and no after tastes or stuff floating in it later.
.Terry Finch says
to save space just take a pillow case, not a pillow When you get ready for bed, put in your dirty cloths, now you have a pillow and all your dirty cloths in the same bag. Maybe on the first night pout in clean cloths, sweaters are the best for a pillow.
Happy.MoneySaver says
Great tip!
Zaboomafoom says
HE HE HE
Happy Husky Momma says
When my kids were still young and we still twnt camped, instead of dirty clothes we put our coats in the pillow case. Then when you have to trek to the potty you know where it is in the middle of the night!
Happy.MoneySaver says
Good idea–I hate those midnight potty trips when you are freezing!
Zaboomafoom says
You can always potty behind a tree?
Zaboomafoom says
Or in your pants?
Hilda says
For middle of the night “potty” trips – bring or save some empty water plastic bottles with screw top to pee in … empty coffee cans with plastic lid for the other… over time, both will break down so you can throw them in the garbage.
Nancy Evon says
add a dryer sheet when you put those dirty clothes in that pillowcase. Helps mask the smells of the campfire and hiking trips from the day!
Lindsay says
I don’t think I want to sniff my sweaty camping clothes all night while i sleep. Eew.
Peacemaker says
Ewww! Thanks but I’d rather not smell my dirty clothes that I’ve been sweating in all day! ?
Not trying to be mean…..just my preference.
Dawn Freeman says
You can also inflate a large (gallon) zip lock bag to use as a pillow– but to be honest, I always use the pillow case trick. 😉
Stargazer says
None of these “hacks” are original. They’ve all been around for some time.
Tracy says
There is never any need to be a nasty person.
I would love to thank you for those tips!!! Not just for me
but for those who did not know. 🙂
Happy.MoneySaver says
Thanks, Tracy!
Landy says
Ya! Mean people SUCK!
Cheryl McC says
A lot of good ideas in one place. Thanks for sharing. They may not be original but they are NEW to many of us. Sorry about the negativity of some.
Quentin says
Thanks Tracy. I knew some of them but the parafin on the boot laces is new to me.
Peacemaker says
I personally didn’t take them as being mean…just stating a fact! ?
Debbie's Mom says
Thanks Debbie!
Alegretorres says
I too am looking for some fresh ideas. So I can understand stargazers thoughts. I don’t think stargazer was being nasty…just stating a fact. Seems like there are a lot of repost on Pinterest all with different captions to get you to go to there website. Saying that I did learn something new within the comments.
Peacemaker says
I totally agree!!
Billie says
I’m 58 years old and go camping all the time and there was a couple of them that I had never heard of so why don’t you keep your rude comments to yourself. There are still people out there that have not heard of everything!
sue carlton says
I agree with you Billie…58 and never heard of some of these hacks..Would love more, love to camp.
Dennis says
so? People are born every day as well…how do you think the “newbies” in the field learn? Everything you ever learned in school was there generations before you for the most part….does that mean you should have been taught from a system that was “scrapped” and started all over the day you enrolled since none of the information was “new”?
Luanne Martin says
Rude person. I enjoyed it.
Jim. says
So has water but we still drink it!
Amber says
Hi karrie! thank you for the tips on camping, i know this is off topic but my chickens were eating a sick wild bird! they ate its eye and were plucking its features do you or any commenters (it would be so great:) have any clue on what i can do ? thank you for everything!