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Does the thought of spring cleaning your rig to get it ready for travel make you dread warmer weather? If so, we are here to help! We have touched base with full-time Airstreamer and organization expert extraordinaire Ramona Creel to ask about her top spring cleaning dos and don’ts.

Spring cleaning an RV — where do you start?

Spring cleaning overwhelms a lot of people. This happens not because the work is especially hard, but because trying to scrub down your entire home (or Airstream) all at once is guaranteed to cause stress. Instead, break your space into sections and tackle one at a time — bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, living room, outdoor compartments. And if tearing an entire room apart in a single sitting is too much, feel free to subdivide those areas into even smaller segments. For example, “clean the kitchen” might morph into several bite-sized tasks, like “defrost the freezer,” “clean the fridge,” “clean the oven/stove,” and “wipe down the cabinets.”

What’s one of the biggest mistakes people make?

This is a sort of addendum to my first tip. Understand that you may not finish your list off in a single 24-hour period (especially if it’s been awhile since you did a serious cleaning), and that’s okay. There is no law out there that says you have to be finished by sundown, and do not worry if it takes a little longer to get it all done! Rather than stressing yourself out (and ending up exhausted) by attempting (and failing) to clean every area of your life in one day, consider spreading the job out over several hour-long or even a few hour-long sessions. Set up a schedule that lets you complete your seasonal to-do’s over a week rather than one day. You will find the work a lot easier and more enjoyable!

Do you recommend cleaning out as you clean up?

Of course! Spring cleaning isn’t just about getting rid of dirt! It’s about clearing away the clutter — letting go of the old and making room (both literally and figuratively) for the new. As you move through each part of your rig, take a hard look at your belongings — are you holding on to stuff you don’t need? Don’t use? Don’t care about? Well, now’s the perfect time to correct that problem! I’m a fan of systematically emptying your storage spaces one-by-one and evaluating their contents, taking the opportunity to rid yourself of anything that isn’t beautiful, useful or loved. Even a relative minimalist like me still finds things to clean out each year. My philosophy is, “if you don’t end up with a big box of things to give away or sell, you’re doing it wrong!”

How do you keep track of problems you discover?

Along the way, you’ll find any number of “issues” that need addressing in your RV — stuff to fix, stuff to modify, stuff to renovate, stuff to buy. Do yourself a favor and keep a pad of paper by your side for recording these to-dos as they occur to you. It’s a lot easier than trying to remember a million chores and errands after the fact!

Is deep cleaning a once-a-year activity?

I understand why spring is a traditional time for cleaning. You’ve been locked indoors all winter, the weather’s finally turned nice enough to open your windows, you can air things out and get a fresh start. But you don’t always have to wait for the Easter bunny to get your rolling home in order! I like to see my clients do a seasonal cleaning each time the weather changes from hot to cold and back again — that means twice a year. The piles don’t pile up quite so badly when you tackle them more often!

Great tips for helping you tackle your clean-out/up with ease! As a “traveling organizer,” Ramona works her way around the country in her Airstream, helping clients regain control over their time, paper and space wherever she stops! If you need her assistance with your next spring cleaning project, contact her!