Rolling along/ lessons from VanLife

Inspiration comes from the most unexpected places...
My dad was here, travelling by van. One day he asked to do some laundry. I figured he was just storing clothes in a suitcase, but his van has these little compartments by the ceiling. He started rolling up the clothes to fit them in.
So I was inspired to try in in my drawers. Game. Changing!

All my gear, inc shoes fits in one drawer, where I used to use two.
Then I put jeans, casual pants, and knits (summer and winter) in another drawer.
I used to hang all my non gear, non sleep clothes, but would just keep the current season out. Now just my work pants, skirts, jackets, and blouses are in the closet. So all of my clothes will be accessible all year
ETA black thing on top is cycling shorts. Can't roll them!

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2 years ago

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Watch out for the new season of Marie Kondo takes a van across America !

Tanya

How clever of your Dad, and of you to adapt the idea! It must be great to have access to your full wardrobe. I think I have seen several people on the forum, including Angie (but not completely certain) store knitwear etc. rolled in the drawers.

Anonymous

Yaaas Shevia
I knew people rolled clothes for packing, but didnt realize it made that much difference.
* sleepwear drawer not pictured cause it's just a sea of catburglar black

Irina

Good idea and I’m speaking from my own experience - most of my sweaters, lounge pants, sleepwear and some jeans are rolled in the drawers. I’ve been doing it for a few years and like it. This method saved space, makes clothes visible and sweaters got less wrinkles.

MsMaven

This month I'm gradually switching summer tees for wool and cashmere sweaters, moaning that I have to iron or steam the latter. I put them away so carefully folded . . .

So I'm going to try the rolling method. Of course, I won't know until next spring how it works out!

lozz_oz

Your Dad was probably doing it before Marie Kondo too!

I use that technique for lots of items and like the space it saves, less wrinkles and mostly the ability to see everything at once.

Stagiaire Fash

How does he stick them in the compartments? People who use drawers look down at a stack of clothing. Mine are on shelves, so I look at the side of a stack and see a snippet of each piece that’s in it. I’ve thought about rolling, but unless my things are bulky enough to take up the whole height of the shelf (most aren’t) I figure I’d just be putting “tubes” of clothes on top of each other where I now put “planks” on top of each other.

Ms Maven, when we moved, I used a flip fold and was amazed by how much more I could put into containers, even when I had thought I was folding neatly previously. Depending on your success with rolling, you might want to give one a try (or do 50% each way)

Kate

Ha, I like tubes and planks, SF! I roll the things that lend themselves well to it, mostly sweaters, and soon, socks, when I redo the sock drawer. My husband, who loves to iron and fold, for which I am eternally grateful, taught me how to fold tee shirts. My tees are now tight little planks, just like they were flip folded. You can pack a lot in that way.

Jessikams

Cute kitty!

Thanks all! I mostly have 2 tubes on top of each other. The heavier weight things are towards the back and at the bottom.

Zaeobi

Aha, I've been doing this for my pyjamas, loungewear & gym clothes for a while now - but I 'stand' my rolls up in the baskets (so they occupy more space heightwise than widthwise).

For my bigger drawers, dividers/ partitions have been useful for keeping my rows of tubes in place. You could probably DIY your own with cardboard, but you'd just need to make sure they're a snug fit (otherwise they flop around each time you remove something).

Kaelyn

I've learned SO MUCH from people who live in vans and RVs. My ex brother and sister in law did that, and my mom is looking into it (eventually; right now, she's just enjoying her new motorcycle) so I've picked up a lot about the culture. I'm a big fan of rolling clothes to store them, too--I often do that when packing a suitcase, and I roll some things in my drawers all the time.

I haven't watched the new Marie Kondo show on Netflix yet but it's on my list! I'm waiting for an evening where my fiancée and I both have some downtime to start watching it because she enjoys her philosophy and tips, too.

Somehow, even though I've seen rolled garments in drawers, it never dawned on me that this technique would allow for way better access until I saw your shelf/compartment photos!

Jenn

I Kondo-fold for my drawers now, but I used to roll items when I had cubbies in my closet. It's so much easier to pull items out without disturbing the whole pile and leaving a mess in your wake. And yes, more efficient too!

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rachylou

Hmm. I roll jeans; maybe I should try rolling everything…

all! I've actually only seen very short Kondo snippets, but did read her book! Actually I kinda Kondo folded first before rolling, from what I can remember of seeing her. I folded the arms in, then folded in half to make the ends a bit more even.
Whether I keep this up during my busy season is another matter...

Joy

I roll my jeans and just about everything kept in drawers or baskets on closet shelves. Next is sheets kept on linen closet shelves and dish towels wrapped with a coorderating dishcloth. Highly recommended.

Need to try that with my sheets and towels!

My plan for visitors is a rolling cart for the bathroom, stocked with rolled towels on the bottom shelf, because I think it’s easier to see how many of each kind there are that way. I figure they can put their dopp kits on the middle shelf and stuff like toothbrush, hairband, etc that might otherwise land by the sink on the top shelf. It hasn’t been tested yet.

Helena

Distracted by your cute furbaby!!

Looks great!

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