How we keep our van clean (with our dog in tow)
First published in August 2023 and last updated in October 2024.
Van life can get pretty messy. Van life with a dog even more so.
While our adventures are absolutely worth some dirt and grime, I still value a clean space. Here’s what works for us to keep our home on wheels in order.
(Related reading: I previously wrote an article about keeping our house clean before we hit the road, if you’re curious about the stationary home side of things. And you can find our favorite cleaning products here.)
Our biggest cleaning struggles in full-time van life
The exact messes we deal with in Hermes depend a lot on where we’re parked. (Think dirt road in a rainstorm versus soft summer grass versus a dusty parking lot and so on.) These are the top three culprits regardless of surrounding environment!
Sand and dirt and mud on the floors
We have three creatures going in and out of less than 70 square feet of usable space. Of course we track things in! Despite our best efforts, we almost always have some sort of dust, dirt, plant matter, or lint on the ground.
Dog hair all over, especially on the bed
When I first adopted Scout I really, truly thought she didn’t shed much. Then we moved to an apartment that had tile floors instead of carpet… and I realized the soft surface had just been hiding all her loose hair. Oops.
Our van is a small space with plenty of crevices for fur to get lodged. We love snuggling in bed, so our blankets are especially prone to collecting heeler hairs.
Occasional bad smells, mostly on surfaces
I largely blame our cattle dog for this one. On rare occasions she’s expressed her anal glands in her crate (and once on the passenger cab chair ). Sometimes she carries a classic wet dog smell. If she rolls in something gross and then leaps on our bed, all bets are off. You get the picture.
On the human end, we also have a high concentration of (sometimes sweaty) shoes in a small closet. If we aren’t careful the scent can permeate into our hanging clothes on the rod above.
How we stay on top of messes in our small space
This is what we prioritize to keep from living like Pig Pen.
Floor: Keeping our van’s laminate clean
Keep an entrance mat in front of the sliding door
Our door mat doesn’t catch everything, but it helps a lot. We mostly go in and out of the sliding door (even if getting out to pump gas or fill up our freshwater tank after a drive) and leave our shoes on this rug before stepping onto the laminate or cab floor.
Knock shoes off, wipe our feet, and towel Scout outside when needed
While we love our door mat, we also try to make sure it doesn’t have to work excessively hard. Removing obvious messes before we set foot inside does wonders, especially where Scout’s muddy paws are concerned.
On that note… always have an extra towel!
S/O to the Hitchhiker’s Guide for this piece of eternal wisdom. We each have a bath towel—but we also have a designated “ground towel” we use to wipe the floor after showering or to dry Scout’s fur. It comes in handy way more than I would have initially thought.
Sweep with a small broom a few times a day
I often wear socks so I can’t feel any grit beneath my bare feet—and so I can take them off before getting in bed to avoid tracking anything under the covers. But we also sweep at least once a day to try to keep dirt at bay.
Given that there’s not much floor space and we can usually just brush things right out the door, this actually doesn’t take very long. I’d estimate it to be about a 30-second to minute-long process.
Scrub the floor every few days
Further perks of a tiny space: A single disinfectant wipe (I like Seventh Generation and Everspring for being gentle on Scout’s paws when she walks on the surface afterward) can clean our entire floor. I enjoy scrubbing before bed, first thing in the morning, or when get settled into a new camping spot.
Cab: Keeping our van’s cab chairs and dashboard clean
Dust the dash at least once a week
I’m still a little shocked at how dusty Hermes can get. I’d always associated dust with uninhabited spaces—behind tall shelves, atop rarely walked on floors, that sort of thing—but we’re in our van every single day moving things around. Turns out the front dashboard, cupholders, and side door pockets are still prone to accumulation!
Once or twice a week I take a damp soft towel (sometimes with natural disinfectant spray) to scrub everything down.
Vacuum with a small cordless unit once every few days
While I prefer simply sweeping and then scrubbing the hard floor, we do have a handheld vacuum that works pretty well for our van’s cab chairs. The narrowest attachment is nice for sucking up sand out of the little fold where the bottom meets the back.
Update summer 2024: Our cordless vacuum broke a few months back and we never replaced it. Turns out it wasn’t as big a necessity as I thought. Or we’ve just really embraced the “van life dirtbag” thing all these months later.
Bedding: Keeping our van’s blankets and pillows clean
Use dirt- and fur-resistant bedding from Slashop
Our sheets and duvet cover are from Slashop (affiliate link). They’re made of bamboo and don’t need to be washed as often as other materials, which is a huge perk when going to a laundromat can take up an entire day of van-life adventures.
I’ve been impressed by how simple it is to wipe Scout’s hair, dried dirt, and other lint off just with my bare hand. Once in a while a piece of fur still finds a way to get on my pillow, of course, but in much smaller quantities than I remember with our old bedding at the house. Consider us huge fans!
I am so obsessed with our duvet cover that when it got torn on the washing machine’s agitator this past summer I didn’t even think of replacing it. I sewed it (I am not a seamstress, but enough, anyway) and the fabric’s been holding up wonderfully.
(Slashop gifted us our sheet set and duvet cover. All opinions are my own! If you’re interested in trying any of their bedding, you can use code pawsandreflect for 25 percent off.)
Keep an extra throw blanket on top of our bed
We also drape a hardy eucalyptus throw over our bed when we make it each morning to catch initial dirt, muddy paw prints, and whatever else comes up throughout the day. This way we don’t have to think about always wiping our feet perfectly before we get on and off.
Bathroom: Keeping our van’s shower and toilet clean
“Flush” our toilet with a vinegar-water mixture after each use
We lightly spray down the surface of our composting toilet after each use to prevent odors. This is a nice, quick way to keep things from accumulating between the full rinses we do whenever we change out the compost bin (usually every month and a half or so).
Wipe the shower floor before each use
Our shower cabinet is tiny, so it takes just a few seconds to run a wipe or towel along the aluminum floor to catch any leftover hair, dirt, or other debris clogging the drain before we get clean.
Smells: Keeping our van from getting stinky
Hermes gets great airflow especially when we’re in spots where we can open the back and side doors. Because of this we don’t have too many issues with bad smells… but some of our fabric surfaces can take an aromatic beating from time to time.
Use a dog-safe fabric deodorizer
We have a natural lavender scented spray with antimicrobial properties that we use primarily in Scout’s crate, on the cab chairs, and our shoes, though it’s good for really any surface as needed.
And… accept this lifestyle comes with extra mess!
Our cleaning routines feel pretty effective and sustainable—but I’ve also had to embrace the fact that living on the road means dirt is inevitable. It’s one of the trade offs of van life.
And if burs or wet grass stains or muddy paw prints are the price I have to pay in order to enjoy remote public lands and mountain sunrises and off-leash play with my dog? It’s worth it.
When I maintain the right mindset, it turns out I can handle being a lot more gross than I’d have previously told you.
