Making a home in a box

[Coco]

I never thought I could lve in a 8x8 box but after two years I've discovered some nifty solutions to living on the road.

Two invaluable pieces of otherwise kitchen clutter I would not be without are an electric tea kettle and an electric skillet. An electric tea kettle? How stupid I originally thought. But, after some thinking I dreamed of hot water! 2 qts of hot water at that. Great for dishes, bathing the dog, washing hair and bathing ourselves. I even boiled eggs in it. And of course the electric skillet is self explanitory.

As far as storage my newest idea is to put a Rubbermaid cabinet in the box for extra storage. The cabinet can be screwed to the back wall where our precious 2 feet of personal space is located. It will be used for paper towels, toilet paper, paper plates and all that stuff we find ourselves stopping for a Wal Mart EVERY weekend, now one trip to SAMS every other month and voila!

Let us hear your nifty ideas.

 

[TeamCaffee]

Coco, I can add a little to that. We have a electric rice cooker and it amazes me everything I can do with that. We took out our upper bunk and Bob added a shelf there. We have a great place now for out books, DVD's that we have in notebooks, and also our cooking items. We found that keeping our DVD's in a notebook saves lots of room.

 

[LDB]

I have a couple of these and may add one more on the other side. They weigh next to nothing and don't sweat like metal boxes. A lot of stuff can be stored out in them rather than inside, especially things like extra paper goods etc.

http://www.minimizer.com/toolboxes.htm

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5507, 5508, 5509
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[greg334]

Leo,
I am wondering how they hold up in extreme cold - 0 degrees to -10 or more?

I had some special made polyethylene boxes that came fomr Rubber Maid that cracked when the temps were below -10.

So I have to ask has anyone purchased or used the hot water kettle that is removable form the base?

 

[Coco]

Greg

Mine is removable. It is Chef Choice available at JC Penney or Sears. It holds 1.75 litres and shuts off automatically when the water reaches the boiling point and then restarts to hold that temp. In addition, I don't keep the box it came in instead I keep the styrofoam, then I can just set the appliance in the styrofoam and it doesn't move and doesn't take up as much space as a box.

 

[LDB]

I was in Rockford, IL. last December. Tt got to -9 one night and was zero or below every night. For about 120 hours never got above 17 degrees and they did just fine. I'll never go back to a metal toolbox again.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5507, 5508, 5509
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[Dreamer]

One idea I had was a tackle box. You can buy them with multiple dividers, sometimes adjustible with several layers. Use it as an 'everything' box. Extra cellphone charger, batteries, screws, electrical tape, two sided tape, duct tape (never leave home without it..LOL), extra pens, air pressure guage, fuses, electrical wire, etc.

All the 'little stuff' that you'll wish you had, and cost way too much at a truck stop.



Dreamer
Forums Administrator


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Ability is what you're capable of doing...
Motivation determines what you do...
Attitude determines how well you do it. (Lou Holtz)
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[redytrk]

>
>As far as storage my newest idea is to put a Rubbermaid
>cabinet in the box for extra storage. The cabinet can be
>screwed to the back wall where our precious 2 feet of
>personal space is located.

If you will take a look at our truck at...
http://www.expeditersonline.com/dcforum/DCForumID2/1955.html
You will notice a small door at the front bottom of the freight box.
This is to give easy access to that extra 2 foot of storage space. Its great for getting at oil and the very smelly Power Service.Behind that is a large Rubbermaid used mainly for a clothes hamper. Then of course tools etc on shelves to the celing.

There is a 4X8 plywood baracade with a 4X4 bolted to the floor for the skids to butt against.

 

[davekc]

Coco said
And of course the electric skillet is self explanitory.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Easy for you to say!





Davekc
owner
21 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[ATeam]

An electric tea kettle for bathing the dog? That must be one small dog!

 

[terryandrene]

Dirty Laundry Storage was a headache for the Riddler and us until we started using the scented kitchen garbage bags sold in Wal-Mart and elsewhere. They each hold enough for a one day use, contain and odor that may be in the dirty clothes and can be put out of sight in the many avaulable nooks and crannies of a cargo van.

 

[TeamCaffee]

Is that kind of like a easter egg hunt when it is time to do laundry?

 

[Coco]

ATeam:

That dog would be a 4 pounder, we selected the travel size!

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Travel size? That sounds more like appetizer size. Dogs are crunchy and taste good with ketchup! :9

 

[are12]

Never thought of an electric tea kettle, great idea!! I usually just heat water in the microwave but I think I will have to invest in the tea kettle.

We do most of our cooking a crock pot. It is amazing what you can do in one of those.
I can even hard boil eggs in it!!

Arlene

 

[Coco]

I purchased a rice cooker on TeamCaffee's recommendation. I bought the Rival Rice Cooker with a vegetable steamer at Target for $10. I haven't used it to cook rice yet but the steamer is great. I was able to steam my potatoes and carrots in it then add them to my roast in the crock pot. The crock takes forever to cook veggies. That in itself makes it a great tool to have in the trucker kitchen!

 

[lisalewis]

Some storage idea's that have helped us:
Space bags...I can even use them with my dust-buster
Pop up hamper that you dont have to worry about breaking
And organizers that hook to the seats...holds odds and ends

 

[TeamCaffee]

I have used the space bags and love them. The problem I had was when I only wanted a certain size I could not get it. I would like to get the large ones for several things and do not want all of the little sizes. We do not like to take our coats out of the truck but they take up a lot of room and get dusty. I also thought about using them for some of our pads. They are just great for helping with the storage issue and also keeping road grime off of everything.

 

[Coco]

During our last trip home I decided something needed to be done with all the forms, log books, etc. I went to Office Depot and bought some plastic magazine holders. I placed four of them along the back wall of one of the overhead cabinets. Now I have a fail safe place to keep note books, envelopes and even the phone book from home,( a good thing to have with you). When I need something it's right there and not all over the cabinet or in a cardboard box to dig through.

 

[Redbird Girl]

You can also use the bags that your blankets come in I have my whole family save then the one with the zipper. works great for side boxes, keeps the stuff clean.


Redbird Girl-LIVESTRONG-LIVE LONG