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Getting Started

Packing checklists

Start with the core list — it's the same whether you're in a tent or a 35ft coach. Then pick your style for a detailed, category-by-category list of everything that's specific to it. Tick items as you load; your progress saves in this browser.

How to pack

Six rules that make every list work

Pack by category, not by bag

Sleep, kitchen, clothing, light, safety. Categories make gaps obvious; random bags hide them.

One bin per category

Clear, labelled, stackable. The kitchen bin stays packed between trips so you only ever restock consumables.

Load last-out first

The shelter, mallet and headlamps go in last so they come out first at the site.

Duplicate the small critical things

Two lighters, two headlamp batteries, two knives. They weigh nothing and each one ruins an evening when missing.

Restock on the way home

Note what ran out while it's fresh, refill it before the bin goes back on the shelf.

Print or tick as you load

Not as you plan. The list only works if you check items off while they physically go in the vehicle.

Part one

The core list — every camper, every style

Fifty-odd items that belong on any trip where you sleep outside your house. Nothing here is style-specific.

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Documents & money

The five-minute category that saves the whole trip.

Sleep

Kitchen & food

Light & power

Clothing

Layers, not bulk. No cotton next to skin in cold weather.

Health & hygiene

Camp comfort

Safety & tools

Part two

Now pick how you're camping

Each style adds its own categories on top of the core list.

Don't forget

The most commonly forgotten items

Bedding at a state-park cabin
A mallet for tent stakes
Dish soap and a sponge
Enough drinking water
Rain layers when the forecast is clear
A can opener
Extra socks
Trash bags
Firewood bought locally
Cash for the honour box
Coffee filters
The tent poles (yes, really)