How to Make Everything Not Move While Driving a Van or RV

One you start driving a converted van instead of a car you quickly realize it is so different in terms of driving! Before getting our van we never worried about where things were in the car or getting it ready to leave. Everything inside the car just kind of stayed in place. Well driving in a van with all of our stuff requires a little more thought in order to not having everything flying around! We’ve taken some bumpy roads and had quite a few disasters while driving. Here is how to make everything not move while driving in a van or RV so you’re not left with all of your belongings on the floor!

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A Designated Place for Everything (Before You Drive!)

This is a good rule of thumb for living in a small space such as van or RV no matter if you’re moving or stationary. To order to make the most of the small space you have to be really intentional with what items you bring into your van or RV and how you store them.

We had already downsized almost all of our belongings when we left to travel internationally in 2019. But a van is still bigger than the backpacks we used to travel with so we found ourselves wanting to bring more. But at the end of the day there just isn’t enough room for extras of one thing or just in case items.

Everything in the van has a designated place where it lives. We don’t have a ton of extra floor space for piles of stuff to just hang out. So everything needs to have a spot tucked away but that is still easy for us to access.

You especially need a designated place for everything before you hit the road! Everything needs to be secured so it won’t go flying the minute you pull away. It’s annoying to have to “set up” and “put away” items in the van every time we get to a spot and every time we leave a spot. We wanted the van to function much better than that. So we limit the number of things we need to move in order to get ready to drive.

For example, we used to store all of our fruit, bread, paper towels, and soap in our sink when we drove. Storing things in the sink is actually a pretty good idea because it’s a relatively contained space. But the problem is that in order to do that it meant we needed to clean and wipe out the sink before driving. Which is fine but then while driving if we wanted to use the sink we couldn’t because it was full of stuff. So we got these hanging baskets for our fruit and installed an under mount soap dispenser so we don’t need to take out and put away a container of soap all the time. We moved things around in our headliner shelf so there is a spot for things like bread which we often have.

Cabinet Roller Latches

Upper cabinets are one of the places where things move the most because they are higher in the van. You definitely want some kind of latch to keep your cabinet doors (no matter if they’re upper cabinets or lower cabinets) closed while driving. They should be strong enough so they don’t pop open on a bumpy road.

There a lot of different kinds of them (magnets, roller latches, child locks, etc.) but we have these roller latches and we love them! They are really strong but not too strong to where it’s hard for us to open the cabinet. We haven’t had an issue with them opening while driving even on some really rough roads. They also were pretty easy to install and work on all of our cabinet doors!

You also can’t see them at all from the outside of the cabinet and they are very minimal on the inside which is an added bonus!
Plus they are very inexpensive and come in a large pack so we had plenty for all of our cabinets!

Everything in Containers

The more contained things are means the less likely they are to move around while you’re driving. So we have containers for all of our cabinets. Less loose items also means there is less of a chance of things falling out and hitting you when you stop driving and open one of the cabinets. Trust me that has happened to us so many times.

We have these containers for our clothes. They come in a six pack with 2 small, 2 medium, and 2 large. I store socks and underwear in the smallest one. In the medium sized one are all my bottoms and in the largest one I put tops and rompers.

We have these open containers for things like spices, olive oil and cooking spray, salt and pepper, and all those cooking related items. It keeps them all organized and we never worry about them spilling while we’re moving. We also have one where we can grab snacks like these bars (our absolute favorite), crackers, and other snacks we reach for often.

Then we use these closed containers for food items that we don’t need to access quite as often such as tuna packets, ramen noodles, and other extras. They stack really well which means we can use all of the vertical space in our upper cabinets!

We also have a few other random containers for things such as cords, this woven basket near our sliding door for masks and other small items, and one like this for larger snacks like chips that we keep in our headliner shelf.

Non-Slip Drawer Liners

These non-slip drawer liners are so in expensive but make such a huge difference! We actually used them in our cabinets when we had an apartment too so you might already have a roll somewhere. In a van or RV they are especially great because they are a non-slip grippy material. That makes everything on top of them less likely to move. It also helps with the vibrations from the vehicle which is something we had never really thought about before moving all our stuff in! Plus they help prevent all the rattling and clanking that everything will make once you start moving.

We have the bottom of all of our cabinets lined with these liners so that all the containers inside don’t move. Then we also use them to stack our bowls so a bowl, then a small square of liner, then another bowl and then another piece of liner.

We have this portable 2 burner camp stove and love it! But because it’s portable it means we have to store it somewhere. So when we’re not using it we put it in the drawer above our fridge. On top of the stove we put a piece of drawer liner and then on top of the liner goes our 2 pans.

In between the pan and glass lid is another piece of liner to prevent the lid from breaking hopefully! It also makes it so much more quieter!

Velcro and Magnets

Velcro and magnets are seriously a game changer in a van or RV! You can attach almost anything with a small piece of velcro or a magnet.

Magnets work well in a van because you can use them against the metal of the van. We use magnets to hold up our black out curtains to the edges of the van and it works so well! We also use magnets to hold up our bug screens so we can keep our doors open without getting eaten alive. Magnets allow us to easily take the bug nets down though when we don’t need them!

Velcro is another option that works really well! We use velcro to keep plants on our countertop. Velcro allows us to easily take them off to water and then put back. But they don’t fall off while we’re driving so we don’t have to worry about moving them before hitting the road!

We also use velcro to hold our dust pan and a small step stool inside our toilet cabinet as well as the remote for our string lights to the side of one of the upper cabinets. It just means there is a place to put everything so we don’t loose the remote or just toss the dust pan on the floor of the cabinet.

Wall Hanging Baskets

Because space is precious hanging baskets or containers on the wall is extremely practical but also can help make your van or RV feel homey! We have this set of 3 wall hanging baskets that are so useful! We use the largest one to store fruit in our kitchen. Before we got it we kept fruit in the sink and it wasn’t a good long term solution. We are able to fit so much fruit but it makes the kitchen wall really colorful!

The medium sized basket holds things like plastic bags, trash bags, extra sponges, and extra microfiber towels. It’s on the door of our sink cabinet so it’s easy to grab. Those aren’t items we reach for multiple times a day but when we do need something it’s easy to access!

The smallest basket is in our toilet cabinet. There we store a small spray bottle with vinegar to sanitize our Nature’s Head composting toilet after each use. We also store an extra bottle of vinegar in the basket so if the spray bottle needs to be replaced it’s right there. It’s really practical and means we have everything we need right there while being stored in a permanent way

We also have this hanging basket hung on the side of the cabinet right at the sliding door. It’s where we store masks, our headphones, and other random items that need to be put away but we don’t want to lose forever. It keeps them contained and also looks really nice!

Read More: Guide to Insulating Your Van

Hooks for Hanging Things

Hooks are another van must have! They are so great for drying things like our towels after we shower, hanging up our keys so we don’t lose them or hanging any other items that we can’t just toss on the floor.

We have these black ones that look really nice and then these cup hooks that blend in with our cabinets more. Hooks are really nice because you can use them for so many different purposes but you can also keep things hung up whether you’re set up at an amazing camp site or if you have a long day of driving!

Gate Latches for Drawers

If you have drawers you need some kind of closure similar to a latch. We have one large drawer above our fridge. It has a lot of stuff in it so it’s pretty heavy. We put a roller latch on it but we’re finding it wasn’t working the same way that it was for our cabinet doors because of the weight of the drawer and how it’s latched.

So we installed this hook and eye latch to one side. It’s really easy to clip in it or unlatch it to access the drawer. But now we never worry about the drawer flying open if we take a sharp turn especially because that’s where we store our stove and propane.

Hopefully at least one of these is helpful for you in your van or RV! If you have anything else you do to make everything not move while driving definitely let us know in the comments! We are always looking to make things easier!