Four Essential Cleaning Tools For Campers

Picture your house after a night of pizza and beer with friends: the floor needs polishing; the kitchen counters need disinfecting; the dishes need washing and drying; the sofa sheets need changing; the toilet needs some scrubbing. The list is not comprehensive, but you'll get the idea: Aftercare is a must in any occasion.

Going on a camping trip isn't an exemption to aftercare, even if the campsite is too huge to be called your own domicile. If you have a thing for camping, at least consider the space that you occupy in the campsite as a vacation home that you and your family want to revisit every time you feel the need to unwind. Brace yourself for some cleaning action and add the following items to your must-bring camping checklist. Mother Earth and the other campers will appreciate your good deed of tidying up the place.

• Disposable gloves. If the idea of getting your hands soiled and slimy makes your stomach churn, stuff your camping bag with a pack of disposable gloves that you can use for a number of sticky situations like wet food preparation and garbage segregation. Because water supply is limited while camping, feel a notch cleaner by bringing disinfectant alcohol and hand sanitizer with you. These do not require you to rinse your hands with precious water and you'll get to enjoy almost the same clean feeling.

• Whisk broom. This is a good choice for two reasons. First, because it has a shorter and smaller handle than that of a full-length broom; a whisk broom can fit nicely in your camping van. Second, a whisk broom enables you to do several types of instant and small-area cleaning activities. You can use it as a duster and fabric grain refiner for your clothes or as a regular sweeper of spilled bones and food on the ground. Pair your whisk broom with a portable dust pan so it's easy for you to transfer the small rubbish that you've collected to the proper trash receptacles.

• Garbage bags. You'll need garbage bags for your dirty laundry and other mess that you don't want scattered at the campsite. The use of garbage bags, however, extends beyond cleaning. First, you can use garbage bags as containers. Not everything that you throw in there has to be trash. Second, you can use garbage bags as a makeshift rain coat or as a waterproof cover for virtually any stuff that you have that needs to be kept dry. Third, you can use garbage bags as insulators. Just place them under your sleeping mat or wrap your feet with one to enjoy a cozy respite from a chilly night.

• Leaf rake. The name says it all. You use this to rake leaves. If you have your tikes with you, bring a child's leaf rake. It's portable and while your tikes are reaping some fun from using the leaf rake, the child's leaf rake serves the same purpose as the regular rake. Raking allows you to prevent leaves from covering and eventually killing the grass on the campsite. (Don't strain your back, raking wet leaves though.) It also allows you to achieve that well-maintained, spic-and-span look of a campsite that's ready to welcome the next batch of transient occupants.