Interior Design & Storage Solutions
First a little explanation....
There is not a lot of space within the cab of a semi truck, especially for storage. With a baby on the truck this makes the use of that space to it's best ability essential so that you don't have clutter anywhere that could possibly cause harm to the baby. It also makes it easier to function more effectively within the truck because everything has it's own place. This is probably funny coming from me because I am or have been somewhat of a messy person.
The majority of truckers (men by themselves) do a fairly decent job at utilizing this space. Men seem to have a fairly natural instinct in figuring out what is needed and what is not. They have one weeks worth of clothes, enough food for a week - usually something simple, some snacks, plenty of fluids, what they need as far as business paperwork and the rest of the space is used up for entertainment. What this entertainment is usually depends on the trucker. I have seen trucks with televisions, game sets, computers, etc. Also included is whatever items you have to use for cooking if you have them. (side note: with a baby you will need to be breast feeding or have access to some device for warming up formula and possibly storing it.)
Of course when you add a women into the mix suddenly the truck fills up with a lot of unnecessary items. I know because I am guilty of this myself and I have seen many other women, even those out by themselves have a lot of unnecessary items in their trucks that they don't use. These items include: An over abundance of clothes, an over abundance of food, utensils you never use, gifts, etc.
There is not a lot of space within the cab of a semi truck, especially for storage. With a baby on the truck this makes the use of that space to it's best ability essential so that you don't have clutter anywhere that could possibly cause harm to the baby. It also makes it easier to function more effectively within the truck because everything has it's own place. This is probably funny coming from me because I am or have been somewhat of a messy person.
The majority of truckers (men by themselves) do a fairly decent job at utilizing this space. Men seem to have a fairly natural instinct in figuring out what is needed and what is not. They have one weeks worth of clothes, enough food for a week - usually something simple, some snacks, plenty of fluids, what they need as far as business paperwork and the rest of the space is used up for entertainment. What this entertainment is usually depends on the trucker. I have seen trucks with televisions, game sets, computers, etc. Also included is whatever items you have to use for cooking if you have them. (side note: with a baby you will need to be breast feeding or have access to some device for warming up formula and possibly storing it.)
Of course when you add a women into the mix suddenly the truck fills up with a lot of unnecessary items. I know because I am guilty of this myself and I have seen many other women, even those out by themselves have a lot of unnecessary items in their trucks that they don't use. These items include: An over abundance of clothes, an over abundance of food, utensils you never use, gifts, etc.
Ideas:
Water |
I normally store my gallon water bottles between the passenger seat and the door. This keeps them out of the way. Alternatively, you could store them underneath the bunk. There are a couple of different options for getting water for your truck.
You can buy the gallon jugs from the truck stops which will run you about $2.50 a bottle. The same gallon jugs will cost you $.99 from Walmart. Another option that Walmart offers are these refillable gallon jugs. They are $.99 for the bottle and first fill up. Every refill after this is $.37. However, in recent years the refilling stations have been hard to come by and not properly maintained. |
The most recent alternative that I have switched to using, because it is by far the cheapest option; is to filter truck stop tap water using a Brita water filter.
We refill our gallon jugs at any tap in any truck stop or customer's location and then filter it into the jog and pour it back into the gallon jug. It is a lot of extra work, but worth the effort. Note: Filtering the water, becomes an everyday task in warmer weather. |
Cold Storage
Note: This effectiveness of this segment is solely reliant on the weather being below 32F or 0C
In trucks without a cooler or fridge, perishable items can be stored in a bag outside the window. In the picture to the left is a half gallon bottle of milk. Other perishable items can be stored in the tool box outside. Also, we have discovered that certain foods do not need to be refrigerated despite what they say on the packaging. Butter and Parmesian cheese can both be safely stored inside the truck for at least couple of weeks before going bad. |
Toiletry Supplies
Grocery list
I tried for the longest time to find a practical way to put my grocery list somewhere other than the dashboard.
I've tried
-magnetic pads: they fall with the bumps
- keeping it on my phone or ipad - i can never remember it's there and they are just too slow when your in the store in a hurry.
-random scraps of paper: always getting lost.
so I asked myself for the longest time: what is the solution?
Then I remembered how my Mum used to do it. You open the bad in half and tied the ribbon to some place in your truck where you can find it.
I've tried
-magnetic pads: they fall with the bumps
- keeping it on my phone or ipad - i can never remember it's there and they are just too slow when your in the store in a hurry.
-random scraps of paper: always getting lost.
so I asked myself for the longest time: what is the solution?
Then I remembered how my Mum used to do it. You open the bad in half and tied the ribbon to some place in your truck where you can find it.
Home made fridge magnets
If you have a fridge in your truck you can bring some color into your truck by using fridge magnets - which oddly enough seem to be incredibly hard to find these days if not way over priced. Anyway, if you can't find any or your cheap - like me, you can make your own! All you need is something relatively solid like chip board or a picture on cardboard and then you can purchase magnetic tape at your local craft store. Cut the tape to size and then stick on your fridge.
Picture or Quilt Hanging
It is very difficult to hang anything in the truck because the makers of trucks seem to favor a plastic with small bumps in it that is supposed to feel like leather, there is also artificial leather which is nasty and sometimes fake wood on the dashboard. Oh and everything is a nasty mundane shade of grey and almost nothing will stick to it (I have tried glu-putty, tape safety pins....). Here are a couple ideas.
Solution 1
Attach two hairties to the corners of the blanket or quilt. Use a piece of industrial strength sticky velcro wrapped around the hair-tie and then stick it to the wall.
Solution 2
Purchase a swivel hanger with pegs from Wal-mart and use the pegs to hold up a picture or quilt.
Christmas Decorations
For decorating the interior for Christmas click here!
For decorating the exterior, because I have personally not tried it, here are some links I have sourced:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4531354_decorate-class-8-truck-christmas.html
http://voices.yahoo.com/decorating-vehicle-christmas-4841272.html
For decorating the exterior, because I have personally not tried it, here are some links I have sourced:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4531354_decorate-class-8-truck-christmas.html
http://voices.yahoo.com/decorating-vehicle-christmas-4841272.html