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| Camping gear isn't just for the outdoors. There are clever ways to use it at home. |
Camping today is a lot different from camping when I was a kid. It's possible to take everything you need and pack light. Dad used to fill a small trailer he hauled behind the car with gear. The trailer kind of doubled as a tent. Okay, it was a tent trailer. But he loaded it up with stuff and off we went for the weekend. If we were lucky we found ourselves exploring a national park in a few hours. Most trips we weren't so lucky. There was always a lot of traffic.
It was while I was remembering some of those bug-infested weekend trips that I wondered if people still suffer through that. There's nothing worse than trying to sleep in a bag on the ground with bugs landing on you all the time. It was too hot to close up the camper so bugs always came in.
Now it turns out you can buy special portable screen doors. You can hang them just about anywhere, including on the inside of a tent. You could even hang them in the inside of a van and leave the van door open. We live in an apartment and we're not allowed to make any permanent alterations to the property. We want to leave the door open but the bugs come flying in. So I looked up portable screen doors on the Internet and found a few.
All you have to do is attach velcro to the door frame and then hang your screen door on that. The velcro is attached via 2-sided tape, so it will come off easily when you need to move out. And if it comes off the door frame before then, you can replace it easily. So now we can keep the back door open and not have to worry about bugs. I may never go camping again.
We have a ton of electrical devices laying around the place. Smart phones, cameras, computers, a DvD player, and some things I'm not sure what they do any more. They all have plugs or USB cables. Charging all this stuff creates clutter but I realized that camping gear might solve some of my problems. You can buy solar recharging kits for all sorts of electronics.
These portable solar panels don't generate much electricity but they'll recharge your phone and laptop. I figured I might as well save a little money on electricity. And besides, sometimes when we travel we find ourselves in a place where there are not enough electrical outlets (like my mom and dad's guest bedroom).
Another cool idea is to use camping chairs for extra seating around the home. Some of these chairs are really comfortable. I admit to using one to watch TV a lot myself. I put my drink in the arm holder, sit next to the couch, and watch movies with the kids. They love having the couch to themselves and I'm not crawling with kids. I love 'em but I need my space.
And then there was the bet I won with my wife. I told her that camping food must be better than it was when I was a kid. I don't remember much about what we ate for breakfast. I think it was granola or something dry. But today you can buy meals ready to eat, freeze dried food. I tried a couple of brands and decided I liked Mountain House the best. They have a nice selection of breakfast meals you can eat anywhere.
The cool thing about freeze-dried food is that you can store it for emergencies. It will last for years and if you live in a town that loses electricity or is subject to flooding you don't have to worry about eating rotten food.
Speaking of flooding, if your water system becomes contaminated there are some water filtration solutions you should check out. Sure, you can buy a kitchen water filtering system but some of the camping stuff is pretty cool and it's more portable. If you're helping your neighbors or family with fresh water, keeping a couple of water purifiers around is a good idea. They're not too expensive.
BTW -- if you don't know the difference between a filter and a purifier, the water filtration systems clear out dangerous bacteria and the purification systems clear out viruses (which are smaller). If you're only looking for something to have during a flood situation, I recommend the purifier over the filter.
