Being fairly new to this caravan life I thought I would share some of the ...................ooops I forgot that moments that I'm sure we all have

Like when you go to make a sandwich and have no margarine or want to have a fry up and have no cooking oil or like on my first test trip I went to set up the TV only to find the remote was still at home and the TV auto tuner only worked on the remote

Life is full of these "senior moments" and rapidly becoming "senior" myself (much faster than I would like)

I determined that I would make up a spreadsheet where I could tick off the items that I needed as they were loaded before a trip away in the van. There follows most of the things on my list.

dishcloth, mugs, ashtray, egg cups cutlery, rubbish bags, kettle gas, kettle electric, glasses (drinking) toilet brush, noseweight tester, Tin opener, Brush & pan, water containers, fire extinguisher, gas cylinder, sleeping bags, cushions, pillows, hook-up cable, kitchen knives, grey water bin, tools, jack, tyre pump, awning, camping chairs, table, map book, kitchen roll, Washing kit, shopping bags, spare bulbs, Wine, spare fuses, Small torches, Heater, slow cooker, candles, string, , clothes, radio, music, rain clothes, first aid kit, battery tester, pen and notebook, towels, toilet rolls, smoke alarms, camping stove, matches, w\u liquid, tea towels, ext lead, spare batteries, camera, tripod, TV +aerial, tv remote, Spare van keys, spectacles, medicine, shoes, laptop, toaster, cooking oil, food, margarine, clock, pots and pans, satnav.

Please feel free to copy this list and add to it to help remove those "senior moments" Before you get to site

Wine or beer Nev don't forget

Erm, you missed CORKSCREW! Would be the first item on my list! and bottle opener! I bought hubby a swiss army knife for christmas last year in case we ever forgot.

Wine is in the middle of the list and strange as it seems almost all wine nowadays comes in screw top bottles except the bubbly where with a small amount of help the cork comes out all on its own

When I was there it came in 5L plastic containers

I make a spreadsheet to check we've got everything and change it for 'long time away', 'short time away', 'cold weather' etc. I've even (very anoraky) boxed the items to show where the items should be in the lockers etc. as we leave a lot of things in the van. Before we leave I go round all the cupboards and garage to see if anything looks like it should have been packed................................basically ignoring the list!! Once in the car I check for the millionth time "passports, tickets, money, phone". When it comes down to it, everything else you can buy if necessary!

Hi Hob
that brings back memories of forgetting over the years we have forgotten
the cat or at least he thinks we had
in date credit card luckily didn't need
Pillow
tea bags
dish cloth
washing up liquid
and the most embarrassing was the small amount of smalls id packed, because in callender they don't sell them, i was washing...

Sorry carnt be to careful

I do smalls in the shower every morning too Aaron, but we have a camping washroom rule that nothing but your feet or the shower flip flops touches the floor, so I won't be using the grape treading method - although I can see the attraction :)

I eat Marmite by the bucketload and can't always find it, so have to make sure to take a few huge jars.

Microfibre towels are a godsend during prolonged wet weather and we always take them. I would rather use a dry one of them than a damp normal towel and they dry so fast.

The old man says he won't go awasy again without a windbreak, not for us, for use with his Cadac Safari! I am a veggie so another one of my rules is no meat cooked in the van!

The ironic thing is that when we camp in Britain we tend to take loads of food with us, so we don't have to find a shop. When we go to France for 3-4 months we take virtually nothing to eat - just something to cook the first night and things that are harder to find:
curry paste
mango chutney
baked beans (for comfort emergency!)
Tetley teabags

We did invest in a halogen oven so if we got really desperate for a meat pie, we could make one!

Now I know why the guy in the next shower is wheezing and spluttering like a steam engine that's due a major refit. He's treading his longjohns.

I love the microfibre towels, ok they do feel like you are drying yourself with a shammy leather but the are very light, dry quickly and don't take up much locker space.