Filed under: Family Camping, Preparation & Readiness

Making Lists

February 26, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment

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I have always made lists. I have never been able to be a “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of girl. As I prepare for our camping trips this spring, I am making lists. I am using them to keep myself organized and to keep my camping equipment purchases under control. I mentioned in my previous blog entry that when my son and I visited our local Coleman outlet, we were practically drooling on the showroom floor because of all of the camping goodies we found. My first thought was to load up the cart with one of everything. Of course that wasn’t practical from a financial or logistical standpoint. Our vehicle won’t hold one of everything we found at this well-stocked store, and if I had purchased one of everything, I could never have justified to my husband why I spent the equivalent of the Gross National Product of a small country on camping supplies. I did make one major purchase that day, but we will talk about that later.

For now, let me share with you my list of areas that I believe need to be considered when our family decides what we will need to camp comfortably.

1) Eating

2) Sleeping

3) Recreation

4) Cleaning

5) Bathroom!

I should have made number 5 number 1 on the list. I didn’t want to cover each of these in detail right now, but let me just say that number 5 is pretty high on my priority list. I remember a long sprint to the bathhouse in the middle of the night on one of those Cub Scout trips I mentioned in my last post. I have to make some closer potty arrangements for our camping trips!

My plan right now is to make a list of processes needed for each category I listed above and create a list of materials needed for those processes. After I have those lists completed, I can make my shopping list. I know this will take some time, but I believe it will pay off in a well-organized experience. I am not saying we won’t forget something or realize once we are at the campground that there is something else we should have included on our packing list, but if this works the way I think it will, we should pretty much have all of the basics we need for a fairly comfortable camping experience.
I am always open to suggestions, so if you can think of a category I haven’t included in my list above, please, help me out by leaving and comment and educating me!

Check out Woodall’s main site for more camping information.