Don’t Struggle To Find Things With Our RV Basement Storage Ideas

We traveled, lived, and worked full-time in a 43′ RV for more than 20 years. We loved everything about living full-time in an RV. But, like any other lifestyle, there were some things that caused irritating, time-sucking issues. For us, one of those issues was finding our stuff. We grew tired of searching for tools, parts, and supplies in our RV’s storage compartments. So we set out to implement some of the best RV basement storage ideas we’d found.

We did pretty well overall, so we wanted to share our method here on our blog. We even made a video about it!

What is RV Basement Storage?

An RV basement is a compartment (or several of them) located under the main floor of the RV… thus the word “basement” is used, even though you can’t walk down there. RV basement areas are intended for storing anything from tools to recreational items to seasonal clothing to supplies to… well… just about anything.

Some basement storage areas are “pass-through,” which means that the compartment goes from one side of the RV to the other and can be accessed from either side. Some basement storage areas even have slide-out trays like the ones we had in our Newmar Mountain Aire, which make it super easy to access stuff.

The slide-out trays in our RV basement storage compartments were very helpful in keeping our RV basement well organized, and provide easy access.

Depending on how much you travel, and if you’re a full-timer like we were for a couple of decades, you may have a LOT of stuff to store in your RV’s basement. Or very little. As full-time RVers, our rig was quite large. This meant that there were numerous storage areas both inside and out, so we had to get organized to avoid going crazy searching for things when we needed them. It’s incredible how many small cubbies and other hidden places there are where things can get squirreled away.

Part of the process of locating what we wanted when we wanted it involved putting our best RV basement storage ideas into practice… and then fine-tuning them further. Basement storage areas, after all, tend to be large. And being full-timers, we carried pretty much everything we owned.

If you live in a sticks & bricks house, think about your cupboards, basement, attic, garage, and anywhere else you keep things stashed. We needed to carry a lot of what you have stored in those areas of your home in our RV’s basement storage.

How Do I Organize My RV Basement Storage?

Here are some of the best tips we have for organizing your RV basement storage areas, whether you have pass-through storage, slide-out trays, or both. Some of these tips can even be used inside your RV’s living areas, too.

Use Clear Plastic Storage Bins

Clear/translucent plastic totes are fantastic for organizing your RV basement storage areas. Not only can you see (somewhat) through the sides of the bins, but containing many small items inside a single bin makes it easy to slide one bin out of the way, allowing you to get to the one containing the item you need.

Plastic bins are also great for holding liquids like cleaning items, motor oil, and other fluids so that any spills or leaks (pump & spray bottles tend to leak some due to changes in elevation when driving in the mountains) will be contained in the bins.

You can use plastic bins of various sizes, which are widely available at any Walmart or other big box store or from Amazon.

Translucent plastic storage bins of various sizes are key to organizing RV storage areas.

These bins are part of our all-time favorite RV basement storage idea (which we’ll get to shortly). They work nicely, and they’re easy to move in and out. You’ll just need to choose the appropriately sized bins for your RV’s basement storage area.

This is a 30-quart version:

Sale

Rubbermaid Cleverstore Clear 32 Qt, 6 Pack Stackable Plastic Storage Bins with Lids, Great for Closet and Laundry Storage, Organizing in the Home

• Tight-fitting lid.
• Recessed handles.

−$15.50 $67.50

Buy on Amazon Price & availability info updated 2026-03-16 at 07:45.

Or, if your basement is large enough, you could use something like this 53-quart version:

Sale

IRIS USA 54 Qt Stackable Plastic Storage Bins with Lids, 6 Pack - BPA-Free, Made in USA - See-Through Organizing Solution, Latches, Durable Nestable Containers, Secure Pull Handle - Clear

• DIMENSIONS: 22" L x 16.5" W x 13" H. Spacious home organizer ideal for storing clothing, board games, tools, craft supplies, or seasonal decorations...
• MADE IN USA: Proudly crafted in the USA using quality, durable materials to keep your belongings safe and secure.

−$10.01 $89.98

Buy on Amazon Price & availability info updated 2026-03-16 at 08:17.

Smaller or shorter bins can also be useful as you plan your RV basement organization.

Use Bamboo Mats

Many of you have seen us using our bamboo mats to lie on when we’re working on our RV maintenance or a DIY project. We also used these mats to line the bottom of our RV’s basement slide-out trays. Not only did they protect the carpeting of slide-out trays or pass-through storage compartments, but they also made it easy to slide a large storage bin out of the way to access an item.

Bamboo mats not only protect the carpeting in the storage compartment but also make it easy to slide the bins in and out.

Bamboo mats aren’t expensive, are helpful in multiple ways, and are available in various sizes & styles. While these aren’t the same ones that we had (we bought ours a couple of decades ago!), they’re the closest we could find to what we used.

iDesign Formbu Bamboo Mat Rug Runner for Bathroom, Kitchen, Entryway, Hallway, Office, Mudroom, 34" x 21", Natural Wood

• BAMBOO FLOOR MAT – Elevate your home for functional beauty with the iDesign natural bamboo rug and floor mat; water-resistant with a non-skid...
• WATER-RESISTANT – Great as a bathroom runner or hallway runner rug, it’s made of natural bamboo with water-resistant coating and a fabric border...

Buy on Amazon Price & availability info updated 2026-03-16 at 07:30.

Store Small Items in Ziplock Bags

Gallon-sized Ziplock bags are perfect for keeping smaller items organized. You can write on them with a Sharpie, noting the contents, and then store the bags in your plastic totes. Ziplock bags of various sizes are generally available at your local grocery and big box stores, or in larger quantities at places like Costco or on Amazon.

Use Printed Lists of Bin Contents

This is undoubtedly our #1 favorite on our list of best RV basement storage ideas!

We mentioned in our original basement organizing video how we’d use packing lists inside our clear plastic bins, noting the contents of each bin. We hand-printed these lists and placed them inside the bins, facing outward, so that we could, at a glance, see what was inside each bin.

We used printed lists of the contents in our clear storage bins for years. But we used to hand-print them. Later we raised our standards to a new high with an awesome new technique that offers multiple benefits.

Over the years, we refined that system in a way that ultimately served us amazingly well. Instead of hand-printing the lists of contents, we created the lists on our computer and printed them out. Small change? Not really. This is actually a very significant change. And not just because it looks better.

There’s more to these digitally printed content lists than meets the eye! These were a real game-changer for us.

Whenever we needed an item, we’d simply pull up the list on our computer, type what we need into the search bar, and just like that… we’d be shown the exact location of the item, including which storage area of the RV’s basement we needed to go to, and which bin in that storage area held the item we’re looking for. Even the tiniest of items are easy to find in this way.

And since we had all of our bin lists included in one master document (with each individual page of the document showing the items in one particular bin), a single search of the entire document could find anything in the basement, regardless of which bin it was in. For example, if we needed to find a small PEX fitting for a project, we’d simply type “PEX” into the search bar, and the exact location of our PEX parts in our RV basement would be revealed.

Here you see our bin contents lists computerized and searchable for very easy access to absolutely anything we had in our RV basement storage areas.

Now we could go directly to the right section of the basement and to the correct bin, where we’d find exactly what we needed, even if we hadn’t seen that item in years. We didn’t even need to remember what area the bin was in, because our computer’s memory did that for us (which is good, because OUR memories aren’t getting any better, LOL!).

Now everything can be found quickly and easily with a quick search of our computerized database.

FREE BONUS: If you’d like to use our master list and edit it with your own items, here’s a Microsoft Word version that you’re welcome to use as a starting point.

Another benefit of using computerized lists is that when items are added or removed from a bin, it’s extremely quick and easy to update any list and reprint it. The same applies to lists that become outdated or damaged. We can print a replacement in a second.

And if you’d like to see both our original and follow-up videos, we’ll include them right here for you to see.

Conclusion

As long-time full-timers, we found that organizational skills were absolutely critical to our life on the road. With just the tips we’ve noted above, we could quickly find and access any item we needed, saving a lot of time and potential frustration. That includes the frustration of running out to buy (or ordering online) a replacement part or supplies that we already had onboard but just couldn’t find.

We hope some of our favorite RV basement storage and organization ideas are helpful to you, too!

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