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6 Tips to Maximize Your Truck’s Storage Space

Your truck may be your home away from home, but it doesn't quite have the same amount of storage space. No garage. No walk-in closets. No room for a "junk drawer." So, if you're not careful, clutter will take over your sleeper, making it harder and more stressful to find the things you need, when you need them.

And if items are stored haphazardly in cabinets, you're not only wasting space, but you're also having to deal with annoying rattle noises as cookware or dishes or silverware shift around while the truck is in motion.

How can you organize your truck's storage space to make things easier to find and ensure a quieter ride? Veteran expediter Linda Caffee offers these six tips.

1. Look for multi-purpose opportunities.

A full cookware set takes up too much space. So, Caffee recommends carrying a rice cooker instead.

"A rice cooker cooks really fast," says Caffee. "And you can cook a wide range of foods in it, such as salmon and hamburgers. You can also store items inside it, like cooking utensils, which frees up space."

The microwave is good for storage, as well. "That's where we put stackable things like plates, bowls, and hot pads," says Caffee.

2. Use the entire cabinet.

When you have tall cabinets in the sleeper, it can be difficult to stack items in a way that makes full use of the space.

"The problem with a lot of the sleeper cabinets is that they are deep," says Caffee. "A lot of times when you try to stack stuff in there, it's hard to find what you really need. And you don't use half the space that's available."

What's a solution? "[Husband] Bob installed a shelf inside the cabinet so I can stack boxes easier and get more in the cabinet without it getting cluttered," says Caffee.

3. Get organized with baskets.

The idea here is to be able to find what you need, quickly and easily, so you're not having to rummage through things and create more work for yourself.

"Before I started using baskets for storing clothes, I would stack things in front of each other and couldn't find stuff in the back," says Caffee. "Now, we have certain baskets for certain clothes, so I don't have to tear it all apart to find something. I just lift out the right basket, get out what I need, and put it back in."

To maximize space typically available under the bunk, Caffee recommends using clear baskets so you can quickly see and access the items you need.

4. Keep items from shifting.

You're familiar with e-track to secure a customer's load, but what about keeping your own jar of peanut butter or bottle of olive oil from moving around in a cabinet in the sleeper?

"It's amazing how much stuff moves while you're driving. If you open the cabinet and stuff falls on your head or on your foot, you want to hurt someone," says Caffee.

Her advice: Use bungee cords. She also uses a tension rod, similar to what you would use to hold up a shower curtain, inside the freezer to reduce risk of frozen foods falling out onto your foot after they've shifted around during the trip.

5. Eliminate Rattle

Instead of regular dishes, carry paper and plastic plates, utensils and cups. For one, you don't have to wash those dishes, which saves you from having to haul extra water. And you don't have to listen to dishes, glasses and silverware rattling as the truck travels down the road.

An interesting tidbit: One of Caffee's hobbies is pickling vegetables, which requires using glass jars. So, to keep those jars from rattling, she uses large hair ties, also known as "scrunchies," which creates a soft buffer around the jars.

6. Store food in sealed plastic bags versus a hard container

Instead of storing food in plastic containers inside the fridge and freezer, Caffee recommends using plastic baggies. "This way, as I use those items, as the baggy gets smaller, I have more room. Plastic containers take up a lot of room."

The Bottom Line

Clutter in a small space can create a lot of stress. And if items aren't stored properly, they can cause a lot of noise, too. So, use these six tips to free up more space inside your truck, boost your productivity, and keep your sanity!