We've been in Sweden for a month and a half now, but before that we lived in a campervan for a long time, 12 months in fact. Some habits seem to stay with us ... Here are some of the things we do when we've been in the campervan for a long time. Do you take any habits home with you from camping?
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Pull the lever on the toilet
Whatever toilet I sit on, I have a tendency to look for the lever - the lever on the RV toilet to open it. Oh yes, there is no such lever on other toilets ...
Be horrified when people let the water flow
From time to time, you can see people just letting the tap water run and run and run, while they keep talking. "Hey! Turn off the water!" I want to shout, because I'm used to having to save our 120 litres. But I bite my tongue ...
Stew excessively well in the fridge
When we come home from the grocery store with lots of bags, I stow them hysterically on the top shelf. Then the bottom shelf becomes empty. That's right, we have a much bigger fridge now ...
Save on the disc
I say that we can use the same glass or mug for this and that - to save on washing up. But then I realise that we have a dishwasher...
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Ama de casa says:
Haha! Recognise that with the dishes. We have become very good at eating directly from the packaging since we "got rid of" the dishwasher 🙂 ðŸ™'
I usually (used to) walk around and ooooo-a and note that it was convenient to have running water available nearby, and the toilet under the same roof, and also completely private. Tent life was quite spartan at times 🙂 .
Nowadays I can miss those who usually clean when we are out camping. Yes, we are hotel-camping... 😉.
04 January 2016 - 10:22
Ann-Sofie says:
Imagine the change when you have spent 8 years on a sailing boat......
We never throw toilet paper in the toilet, so when you go to a "real" toilet you sit there with the paper in your hand looking for the bin.....
There's nothing wrong with shouting at someone who lets the water run, is there? Fresh water is not so plentiful anymore.
We have become good at saving electricity. Nothing unnecessary that is on in stand-by mode, they actually draw a lot of power then with or lamps shining in spaces we are not in. On the boat, we have to produce our electricity ourselves with the help of sun, wind and diesel so thriftiness is more or less forced.
04 January 2016 - 10:33
Henny says:
You certainly appreciate the space and luxury of a dishwasher and drinkable tap water when you come home to your apartment. This also applies when "moving home" from a cabin in the mountains.
It will be exciting to live alone in a small motorhome this summer. Then it will be as you say, save on water and electricity, check carefully where you can shower and charge your stuff. Probably also where you can free camp without it being too desolate.
04 January 2016 - 10:54
JoY says:
I recognise myself in what you write about the toilet haha Letting water run and washing dishes under running water we have not done at home, so it is not something we "think" about anymore, just turn off the tap. Certainly we reused cups and glasses more in the motorhome than here at home.
And now that we are home, we have to "find" each other to talk. In the campervan, it was just to talk. I miss the small cosy area in the motorhome and can't wait to get out again.
A good start to 2016
Hugs
04 January 2016 - 11:21
Åsa says:
We had our own well in Sweden and a shortage of water, so I recognise the dismay at people letting the water run.
04 January 2016 - 11:43
Lena says:
Exaktamento, recognise everything (except the toilet lever we have a push button) laughing at myself many times after returning home!
When cooking at home in the villa, I look for the wrong pans, having used other pans in the kitchen tent during the winter (they are then stored down there over the summer).
I imagine myself that we stimulate the brain by living in different places and maybe it keeps the dementia away longer ha-ha ☺️?
04 January 2016 - 11:52
Frankie & Co says:
Ha ha, agree it feels familiar ? The power of habit ?
04 January 2016 - 11:57
Dryden says:
So. More people would need the spartan life in a motorhome, it seems, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with telling people to turn off the water tap or to save on dishes. I think the same way myself, but have also realised that I have become much more relaxed since I moved from my 2ROK with a hand dishwasher to the family home with a dishwasher. For better or worse. However, it sometimes feels like I do nothing but switch off ceiling lights after people. Why does it have to be lit everywhere if you are not in the room?
04 January 2016 - 12:11
Role o Carina says:
Yes, a habit that dragged home is that you like to take a beer 🙂 .
Stay safe in 2016
04 January 2016 - 12:38
Rania {Rania Maria Photography} says:
Answer: No comment in either spam or junk mail :/.
Thanks - I'm glad you appreciate it! But wow, what a trip - you must have really downshifted a lot. We really want to get a smaller motorhome and travel around in it. Now I have to read your blog! In terms of lifestyle, we have come quite far, but we still have an incredible amount of stuff so the clearing continues. We have taken a little at a time but I think it's time for a major purge soon.
04 January 2016 - 11:43
Mr Steve says:
As it is, there are no such "disturbances" in my life, so I can happily continue to live with my usual habits.
04 January 2016 - 12:15
Jennifer - Swedish globetrotter in Finland says:
Haha, so funny - it's so easy to get used to certain things and start going on routine 😉 But many of these are good to continue to adopt in everyday life! A clean fridge - why not? Not to mention being kind to the environment with less water etc! Bringing the camping life into normal life!
04 January 2016 - 13:28
Ditte says:
I don't have much experience of camping, but I do have experience of sailing.
Toilet paper must not be thrown in the toilet, saving on dishes, water and electricity and keeping things tidy are things I thought about in the first few hours at home. But it has soon disappeared. Yes, not the idea of saving on electricity and water because I do that at home too.
04 January 2016 - 13:57
Jeanette says:
en: Yes, an extra backup is a must! I have lost a lot of pictures once due to a hard drive crash. Something you do once and then learn the hard way.
Oh yes, when I lived in my folk bus, my whole life was a tetris in getting the few things in the car again after, for example, cooking. Everything had its place and you had very few possessions that you cared for tenderly. I take that experience with me in my apartment today:)
04 January 2016 - 15:11
Maggan and Ingemar says:
Yes, you really do recognise yourself here. You don't have to live in a motorhome for long to get into the habits you have there. It was the same when we were in our cabin, which has neither running water nor electricity. Yes, we have running water, but it comes from a large canister that we fill. In the kitchen I have to open the cupboard under the sink and step on a pedal (like in the boats in the past) to get water. It never fails .... when I get home, I open the cabinet under the sink and put my foot in 😀 Same with the electricity, I run around and turn it off .... but to be honest, I have had the candlesticks lit in the evening and soon they will be gone. We are a bit of habitual people and certainly it is good with all the aids and unhindered with electricity / water..... but not wrong to save on what can be saved on. What I do more at home than in the motorhome is to watch TV..... many more programmes 🙂 Now I start to long for our car again.
04 January 2016 - 15:13
BP says:
Hahaha! Think how environmentally conscious you can become after a year in a motorhome! Environmentally conscious in a double sense;-)
Even if we don't go camping, it doesn't take more than a few weeks to get used to "old" habits. It takes much longer to "put them on" again...
The idea of letting the water run while brushing your teeth, for example, is something I sometimes catch myself doing. Starting to get better at not wasting water...
04 January 2016 - 15:35
admin says:
Ama de casa, yes haha, you think a little differently when you don't have a dishwasher... 😉 Living spartanly sometimes is probably good so you appreciate the amenities!
Ann-Sofie, you really have experience when it comes to this!!! And you are sooo right. It is easy to use far too much electricity and water. When you live in such a way that you have to economise, you understand how much you spend in a completely different way. Perhaps many people should have that experience?
Henny, it is probably good to live more simply sometimes, then you appreciate the luxury when you have it! It will be interesting to hear what you think of the new small motorhome when the season starts!
JoY, haha, the thing about "looking for each other" was quite funny. It's true as you say, in the motorhome you are so close to each other that it's just to talk straight out 🙂
Rania, ok too bad the comment didn't show up! I have problems with that sometimes, especially when I fill in the website address for some strange reason... It's easy to accumulate a lot of stuff, but nice when you're clearing out. Motorhome is highly recommended! 🙂
Åsa, it is also completely unnecessary (and inappropriate) to waste water in this way...
Lena, haha, I like the idea of keeping the dementia away! ??
Frankie o Co, hard at work too, the habits ?
Dryden, you definitely have a point. We really do waste unnecessarily! When you have limited water and electricity you learn to save, more people should have that experience!
Steve, living in just one place has its advantages 😉.
Rolle and Carina, haha, yes that habit is easy to bring home! It can be like that for us too, but now we have started training... it usually helps us away from those habits 😉.
Jennifer, you are absolutely right and I think I will start with your slogan that you just established "bringing the camping Life into normal Life" 😉.
Ditte, boating is probably just as economical as camping - if not more so! But saving on electricity and water are of course good habits in ordinary life too!
Jeanette, great (and funny I guess?) experience! Today's motorhomes are more comfortable, but you still have to economise.
Maggan and Ingemar, haha, I laugh when I read about the pedal under the sink! Guess you feel as stupid as I do every time I look for the lever in the toilet 😉.
BP, at least I have become aware of electricity and water consumption in a completely different way than before, and that's a good thing! It's nice to have unlimited electricity and water, but you don't have to waste it unnecessarily.
04 January 2016 - 17:23
Lennart says:
I recognise myself!
RV life is healthy.
One of the things they learn is how to economise on resources.
04 January 2016 - 17:56
Matts Torebring says:
We ourselves are probably the same, at home as when we are in the motorhome. Always well packed no matter what, saving water, cleaning up after ourselves and even after others, even though we don't need it.
But I don't forget when we got "button phones" in the late 70s, maybe early 80s. When I came home from work one evening, I picked up the phone and dialled the number on the calculator on the desk next to me. Talk about habitual movement from work.
Well, I forget to shift our Hyundai, which has a Spanish gearbox (Manuel), when I come from the motorhome, which has an automatic gearbox.
04 January 2016 - 20:45
Anja says:
So true!...and so many funny comments! Great comment/question for everyone!
04 January 2016 - 21:22
Motorhome Helge says:
How many times have you stepped on a non-existent pedal on the floor to get some water after being on holiday with your caravan?
04 January 2016 - 23:26
admin says:
Lennart, I agree, you learn to manage resources and you realise that they are not infinite 😉.
Matts, haha, that thing with the button phone and calculator was funny 😉.
Anja, sometimes it's great fun to read all the comments!
The camper van Helge, haha, after the comments here I have realised that there are several people who have stepped on that non-existent pedal 😉.
04 January 2016 - 23:52
Veiken says:
We don't camp, but I am almost hysterical about not wasting water! Living in a house and paying for it, while it's great to have access to the clean water we have!
I have apparently become really environmentally conscious in my old age! 🙂
05 January 2016 - 4:36
admin says:
Veiken, it is wise not to waste water unnecessarily. Resources are not infinite, even if we humans tend to think so...
05 January 2016 - 5:58
anita wag agrimanaki says:
I have never lived in a motorhome so I have no idea. However, you are a person of habit and when I come to Sweden, I sit there with the toilet paper in my hand and look for the bucket where it should be thrown ... and if there is one, people will not be so happy when you throw the toilet paper there. (in most parts of Greece you do not flush the toilet paper) You probably automatically become a little more economical with water when you live here. No running water while washing dishes or brushing your teeth! It is so unnecessary that clean drinking water is wasted, so why let it just run away?
05 January 2016 - 7:09
Birgitta in Umeå says:
We recognise ourselves so well. We have a primitive little cottage on an island in northern Sweden where we spend May-September. Dry toilet outside, cold water comes in a black hose through the forest. The kitchen outside. We have all your routines. But we have to go home to Umeå once a week to shower.
So 8 months of the year (the cottage and Greece) we do not throw the paper in the toilet and it is difficult to change.
Birgitta, direct from Paleochora, southern Crete.
05 January 2016 - 7:16
admin says:
Anita, I recognise the toilet paper thing from when I've been abroad sometimes... And of course it's stupid and unnecessary to use more water than you need!
Birgitta, oh, yes, there are many months in the year! Understand that you bring your habits home then...!
05 January 2016 - 8:15
Goatfish says:
We lived in a caravan for some time. Not for months at a time, but all in all it was a lot and a lot "on the road". Of course, it went perfectly well, the equipment is superb. But a completely different environmental approach. Not only that you get drinking water and fill it up, there is a grey water that has to be awakened manually.
We slept very well in the double bed in the caravan, but when we came home, everything was so BIG!
And I recognise this with the shower, toilet and fridge. I think I'm pretty environmentally conscious even now, I've also lived in a villa, so.
05 January 2016 - 8:39
steel city anna says:
People who let the water just stand and run are among the worst things I know! The husband and I had one of our first arguments about it 🙂 also goes crazy on his large number of glasses and cups, there will never be a car holiday for me anyway, I can already see how annoyed I get 😉.
05 January 2016 - 9:24
Göran says:
but pretty good habits to bring home too, for the sake of the environment!
05 January 2016 - 12:17
admin says:
Geddfish, I recognise that everything is so big when you get home. Like what do you need everything for? It's true that we live in an abundance after all ...
Steel city Anna, haha, if he's the one doing the dishes by hand, maybe he doesn't use as many cups? 😉 I agree, why waste water unnecessarily?
Göran, yes it is!
05 January 2016 - 16:03
Lanclin says:
So funny post with subsequent, equally funny comments, ha ha! 🙂
I'm also a person who goes and turns off the water for people who are slacking off. I also usually go and close the fridge door for those who leave it open while "they're just fixing something" :/ and turn off lights in rooms that no one is in. Is it not part of the reflexes you are born with, to switch off when you leave a room?
05 January 2016 - 17:19
admin says:
Lanclin, yes extra funny comments really! 🙂 I do not know if it belongs to the reflexes directly... maybe someone who taught you? 😉
05 January 2016 - 18:24
solveig rhann says:
Fun read and spot on Freedom...we will be out until mid April so we are in the spar system....
06 January 2016 - 8:13
Stina says:
I recognise that, but not from camping life, but from Thai life such as ......
.... not throwing toilet paper in the toilet until I find out that it works in Sweden.
...don't think right-hand traffic
.... don't drink water from the tap, etc 🙂 .
06 January 2016 - 14:24
admin says:
Solveig Rhann, oh how wonderful that you will be out for so long! Have a good time on the trip! 🙂
Stina, yes I can understand that! It must be exactly the same... habits that settle 😉 .
06 January 2016 - 15:48
Elisabeth says:
The habits last for a few days, in both directions. There is a lot we do with our "spinal cord".
06 January 2016 - 22:55
admin says:
Elisabeth, the power of habit is strong! Although I think my "pull the lever on the toilet" has been going on for a long time now... much more than a few days 😉.
07 January 2016 - 8:48
Anna, New York - My Bite of the Big Apple & Travel on a Cloud says:
Great to read! I have never lived in a motorhome or caravan. However, we had a croft for many years, where we brought our own drinking water and then you had to skimp a little sometimes.
Have you written a post where you show around in the motorhome? I am curious about what is there, what the beds look like, etc. 🙂 .
30 January 2016 - 23:54