One of my favorite things about living in a small space is how fast I can clean it. Our R-Pod 192 takes me about 20 minutes for a solid once-over, and if I’m doing a real deep clean—every surface, every corner—I’m done in 45. The right products help, but honestly it’s mostly just the math of less square footage. Here’s what’s lived in our cleaning cabinet long enough to earn its keep.
Bar Keepers Friend
This is the one I’d keep if I could only keep one, and I use the liquid. It works on the shower, the toilet, both sinks inside, the outdoor sink, and the stovetop—inside the burner grates and out. That’s a lot of ground for one product. What I like most is that it’s gentle enough that I never worry about scratching anything, even on the surfaces I’m not totally sure about. A little goes a long way and it doesn’t require much elbow grease to see results.
Dawn Platinum Powerwash
This stuff just works, and it’s the best thing I’ve found for cutting grease. I use it in the kitchen, on the stovetop, outside on the RV itself—and once, memorably, on our dog’s paws after he found a patch of bacon grease someone had dumped on the ground near a tree at our campsite. If you’re reading this: please don’t throw your bacon grease outside. He was thrilled. I was not. It also works well on the window screens and the range filter when those need a pass. The spray-and-wipe format means there’s no measuring or diluting, which is exactly what you want when you’re cleaning a small space and just want to be done.
Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds
This one earns its spot because it does almost everything. Dilute it and you’ve got a cleaner for floors, counters, dishes, laundry—the list is long. I reach for it especially when we’re doing dishes outside or boondocking, because it’s biodegradable and I don’t have to think twice about where that grey water is going. A 32-ounce bottle lasts a long time because you’re never using it straight—a little diluted goes a long way.
Microfiber Cloths
I keep a stack of these and they do most of the work in the RV. Counters, surfaces, the dinette, the dashboard—microfiber picks up dust and grime without needing much product at all, which matters when you’re trying to keep your supply stash small. They wash and dry fast, so you’re not waiting around to restock before the next trip.
Windex Wipes
The mirrors and windows in an RV get grimy faster than you’d think—fingerprints, condensation, dog nose prints if your dog is anything like ours. I don’t bother with spray and paper towels anymore. The Windex wipes are pre-moistened, they don’t leave streaks, and they take up almost no space. One wipe per mirror and you’re done.
Broom + Swiffer Wet
The floor routine is simple: sweep first, then wet mop. I use a regular broom for the dry pass and a Swiffer with the wet cloths to finish. No bucket, no wringing, no mess. In a space this size it takes maybe five minutes total. For tougher jobs—when we’ve tracked in real dirt or the dog has had a day—I use our Intervac, which is built into the R-Pod. More about that here.
Antiseptic Wipes
I use these on counters, but they pull a lot of extra duty too—the floor near the door where dirt tracks in, the toilet seat, light switches, door handles. They’re the thing I grab when I need something clean quickly and don’t want to think about which product to reach for. One canister lives in the bathroom and one in the kitchen.
Happy Camper Toilet Treatment
If you have a black tank, you need something in it, and this is what we use. I use the powder—you just drop it in, it dissolves, and it controls odor reliably without anything to measure or mix. One treatment per tank flush cycle. It’s not a glamorous product but using the wrong thing—or nothing—makes RV life a lot less pleasant in a hurry. If you want the full rundown on how we handle the black tank and everything that goes with it, I covered it all here.
RV Cleaning Supplies for Small Spaces: Less Is More
Cleaning an RV is genuinely one of the easier parts of this lifestyle, and I think that surprises people. You don’t need a full cabinet of products. You need a few things that work, that pull double duty where they can, and that store small. Everything on this list fits in one tote under our dinette, and that’s exactly where it lives between trips. And while you’re at it, if you’re heading into spring and haven’t done your seasonal check yet, I put together a full spring cleaning and maintenance checklist that’s worth a look before your first trip out.
Quick heads up: this post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a small commission—basically road trip coffee money. It doesn’t change your price, and I only link to things we actually use in our R-Pod. If you’re newer to RV life and figuring out what’s actually worth buying, I put together RV shopping lists with the true essentials, a few upgrades that make life smoother, and the stuff that survived the “do we really need this” test.