19 DIY Ideas For Easy RV Improvements That Save Money

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Are you an RV owner looking for ways to upgrade and personalize your RV? Here’s a list of 19 RV upgrades that you can do to keep yourself busy and improve your RV. Some ideas are free to do and just require your time. For the others, you can order everything you need online and have it delivered!

Table of Contents

1. Make a DIY RV Spice Rack For Your Wall- 6 Easy Steps

If you have an empty wall area in your RV kitchen, why not create a magnetic spice rack? It’s an easy RV mod to do, can be done in under 1 hour and you can order everything you need online for delivery!

Measure your available wall space.
Order the stick-on metal tiles. We used the distressed ones and they matched our appliances.
Order the magnetic spice tins and labels. You can also get nice glass ones with magnets in them. We chose the tins since we worried that if they detached while driving, the glass would shatter on our tile floors.
Clean the wall surface well with rubbing alcohol.
Starting in a corner and working your way out to counter edge, stick the metal tile onto the wall. Make sure you are ready to stick them before you press them down because the adhesive is very strong!
Place labels on the containers, fill them with your favorite spices, and attach them to your new magnetic spice wall!

The tiles are easy to clean (so you can mount them near your cooktop) and are pretty inexpensive. The spice tins hold about 1.5 oz which is the size of a standard spice container sold at most stores.

RV Lifestyle Tip: Buy some self-stick removable labels (dots worked for me). When you have large quantities of a spice that won’t all fit in your new container, put a dot on the top. This will remind you that you have extra of a certain spice and keep you from buying duplicates.

2. Make Custom RV Drawer Dividers- Easy RV Upgrade

We wanted to use a pantry drawer for bottle storage space but worried that the bottles would rattle around and break during travel. That’s when we discovered these easy cabinet dividers. Since you cut to fit, they will work in any drawer or cabinet and they’re completely customizable!

RV Lifestyle Tip: Line the bottom of the drawer with non-skid before you insert drawer dividers to keep bottles from sliding around.

3. Remodel Your RV Bathroom For A Noticeable RV Upgrade

It sounds like a big job, but we have friends who remodeled their RV bathroom in just a weekend!

RV bathroom remodel before — Photo Credit- M. Hooper

It can be as simple as changing a faucet, or in this case on this Tiffin Phaeton, a complete remodel. They painted the cabinets, replaced the countertop, sink, and faucet, and installed stick-on subway tiles.

RV bathroom remodel after — Photo Credit- T Hooper

Job well done!

4. Create Your Own RV Wine Cellar

Many RV’ers store wine bottles under the bed, but we didn’t want to have to lift the bed every time a new bottle was needed. We didn’t have room for a wine cooler in our RV, so we had to look for some creative solutions.

We had a drawer that was tall enough to hold wine bottles, but didn’t want to use cardboard boxes to store them in. Roaches and bugs love cardboard!

That’s when we found these cool plastic racks and instead of laying them horizontally to hold wine bottles, we set them up vertically. Works great to keep wine bottles separated and keeps them from breaking during travel!

5. Organize RV Closets and Drawers

Even though we live in a small space and try to stay organized, it’s easy to let our closets and drawers get cluttered.

Since you have to social distance, this is a great time to organize. Plus, it doesn’t cost anything and you might find some hidden treasures that you forgot all about!

Tip: Drop off unwanted clothing and blankets at local dog shelters or homeless shelters. You don’t have to go in and they always need help, especially now.

6. Pack Away Winter Clothes in Vacuum Bags

If you are fortunate enough to be in a warm climate as we are, why not pack away your winter clothing? Even if it’s still cold where you are you can get a start on reducing some of your winter gear.

We pack ours in vacuum sealer bags to keep them clean and reduce the amount of space needed to store them.

7. Organize Your RV Basements With An Inventory List

You would think it would be hard to lose things on an RV, but I can tell you it is not! It’s particularly difficult to remember where we put things in our RV basements. That’s when we came up with the idea of creating an RV Inventory.

We decided that we would mentally number our RV basements starting with #1 under the drivers’ seat and work our way around to each of the cabinets. Then we pulled everything out of each drawer and listed them on the sheet and assigned them to a drawer.

That keeps us from buying duplicate items and also makes it easy to find things when you are in a hurry. Plus, it doesn’t cost anything to do!

8. RV Spring Cleaning

Now is a great time to begin your spring-cleaning routines on your RV. We’re dusting, polishing and cleaning every surface of our RV, both inside and out!

Pull stuff out of your cabinets and, if you haven’t used it in a long time, consider donating it. This is also a no cost improvement that can help reduce your cargo weight and save on fuel and tire wear!

9. Catch Up On RV Maintenance

We’re also using this social distancing time to catch up on RV maintenance. Do you have an RV maintenance checklist? If not, you can download our free, no obligation checklist that you can customize for your RV!

10. Replace RV Interior Carpet On Slides

We never liked having carpet in our RV on the slides and could never get it really clean. We wanted to replace it, but needed to learn about what options were available.

Since we have a Class A RV and have more carrying capacity and we’re not overloaded, we could have replaced the carpet with porcelain tile. We decided we didn’t want the hassle of installation, or the extra weight and possible stress on the slides.

That’s when we found the lifetime laminate products at Home Depot. It looks great with our existing porcelain tile and was very easy to install. It’s also water proof, and light weight.

It took about 5 days to remove the old carpet and install the new tile, but what an improvement! Here’s some pictures.

Carpet Removed — Carpet out, preparing for new floor covering

New RV vinyl floor — New RV Vinyl Floor Looks Great!

11. Digitize Your Travel Photos

Got boxes of old photos of your RV travel adventures laying around that you never get the chance to enjoy? This is an excellent time to organize them and have them digitized!

We sent ours off to ScanCafe and they did an excellent job! We don’t have any affiliate with them and don’t get paid to recommend them. They just did a great job for us and they were reasonably priced. Plus they offer photo restoration services to fix old or damaged photos.

photo in need of repair — Photo Credit ScanCafe

Once your photos are digitized, they make great screen savers or get yourself a digital photo frame.

12. Decorate Your RV With Personalized Artwork

Now that you have sorted through your RV travel photos, pick out some favorites and have them reprinted and framed. You can replace boring RV artwork with personalized photos of your adventures.

Tip: Print a few extra photos and rotate out the pictures as the seasons change. You can even have photos made into artwork that look like paintings!

Check out Canvas Pop

13. Reseal Your RV Roof

The sun is tough on RV roofs and the rainy season is just around the corner. This is a great time to reseal your roof to be ready when we are able to travel again.

14. Wax Your RV Exterior

Your RV should be waxed at least once per year, if not twice depending on where you store it and how much you travel. This is a great time to pick a cloudy day and start in one corner and work your way around putting on a good coat of wax!

15. Polish Your RV Wheels

This one requires some elbow grease and it will take a couple hours per wheel, but you will really see a difference!

16. Replace RV Mirror Cameras

Are your side view cameras not as sharp and clear as they used to be? This is a great time to replace them. We did ours in just a of couple hours.

Fix Your Foggy RV Side View Cameras and Save Money!

17. Install RV Cameras

It’s great to know what your pets are doing while you are out and it’s very easy and inexpensive to find out! All you need are these small cameras made by Wyze that you can order on Amazon. You just plug them in and can stream them to your phone.

You can also install multiple cameras that face outside your RV and act as a security system.

18. Make Your RV a Smart Coach

Now is a great time to install Alexa or learn how to make your Amazon Virtual Assistant more helpful. We use ours to remind us of calendar events, set timers and reminders and even turn on and off lights. You will need an Echo device and a few smart plugs, but it’s very easy to learn how to make the most of your virtual assistant!