What did you do....

[Gina D.]

Most fulltimers, I take it, are retired and had accumulated a lifetime of "things". I am not talking about TVs, Stereos, furniture and other household items that are easily rotated and generally retain no particular sentimental, or monetary value.

I mean things like.. the photos, the record collections, the nick Knacks and artwork, the babies bronzed boots.. grandmas ashes.. you know.. all these unique to you items that somehow you kept forever for the memory or other sentimental reason.

As I look around my house, thinking of things to scale down to.. not necessarily with any specific intent of fulltiming.. but in general to get rid of the clutter.. I see a house with no furniture or electronics, but boxes upon boxes of LPs and other musical memorabilia I spent decades accumulating.. collections of "things" I enjoyed and fondly remember the thrill of acquisition.... BUT, I'll never wear that Led Zeppelin baseball T again, but boy, I sure thought it was cool in 1977 and can't bear to part with it.

Frankly, if I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, I am sure most of it would get chucked in the trash or given to charity.. it's nothing that means anything to others.

Did you close your eyes and toss? Give it away? eBay? Is it stored somewhere because you may settle and have a permanent place to put it again? Self storage or a generous freind or family member with extra garage space?

How did you handle seeing it go?

[Bigfoot Mike]

Good question.

Our son offered us a 10 x 10 shed at his place. Not sure we are going to do that though.

We are thinking we will buy a 20’ cargo trailer and park it some where. Reducing all our stuff to just that is going to be a real challenge.





Our other option is to buy a shipping container and store it on my brother’s ranch.

[MarianA]

Gina,
One approach might be to see what of your "stuff" can be converted to some other format.

Old memorable T-shirts: cut the logos out and make a quilt. Functional, and you'll stay warm with more than memories!

Pictures: scan and put on CD, maybe with an index so you know that is Great-Aunt Sarah's house you stayed in when you were 8 (and the like).

LPs: there are turntables to plug into your computer so you can store your LPs as electronic files.

I'd also check to see what other family members would like some of the memorabilia. (Iused to send postcards to my mother when I traveled for work. She saved them and recently gave them back. It was a trip down memory lane and now she's decluttered that bit. Of course, now I have to deal with them...)

What other ideas do people have? I think a lot of us are at the point where we'd like to pare down on stuff.

Marian

[Frederick L. Simson]

I have close friends who are full-timing. When they left their 3000 square foot house in Michigan, they had a auctioneer come in to facilitate selling the majority of the stuff. They had a lot of antiques that they collected, and they said that having someone else do the actual getting rid of it was less painful.

They still keep a 100 square foot rented storage space in that area full of things they just could not bear to part with.

[peterh]

I think this would be the "deal killer" for our adopting a fulltimer lifestyle. Wile much -- even most -- of my time is spent doing things that require very little stuff, there are a few things I enjoy that do require stuff and space to do it in.

The woodworking in our Scamp is an example. I'm a consummate tinkerer who enjoys making things, and while there are smaller hand-held substitutes for the big tools I have in my shop (like the table and power miter saws) I'd still need a fair number of tools, fasteners, various scraps from previous projects, and supplies for the current project. I could fit it all in out 5th wheel and even have space to sleep, but where we'd eat and make meals would be a problem, and I'm really not sure the axle is rated for that kind of load.

If I gave up on tinkering with tools and such I'd still have a problem with books. Many of the books I read I can happily buy and sell used or borrow from a library, but I have a fair number of science, history, and philosophy/religion books that I refer back to and which would be hard to find or replace.

And books is heavy too.

--Peter

[Pete Dumbleton]

Books on the road are a problem when one is used to using a public library, but one learns to watch out for library book sales, garage sales, flea markets, etc., to stock up on paperbacks.

For reference materials, one would have to rely on the internet...

[Bigfoot Mike]

We are finding that many RV parks are offering FREE book exchanges.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Speaking of books, why not add a little fun in the book department. Check out this.

[Pete Dumbleton]

We are finding that many RV parks are offering FREE book exchanges.

Also, many astute camp hosts in NF/NP CGs have a 'put one-take one' box. I always hold onto a few I've read for exchange purposes.

[Gina D.]

Yes, my favorite campground up here does that.

I never have a book to leave tho!

[Carol Christensen]

Speaking of books, why not add a little fun in the book department. Check out this.

WOW! I've heard of BookCrossing but never thought to check out the website. I exchange books sometimes when traveling but now I can register them before I release them into the wild. You've made my day.

[Pat B]

One little thing that turned out surprisingly well for us - color co-ordinate as much as possible. For example a lot of our clothes - for both of us - were shades of gray and shades of blues including socks and underwear. That way, when either laundry started piling up or we came across convenient laundry machines, we could always make up at least one large load.

It might be a mix of gray and dark blues and the next time it was a mix of lighter blues and gray load. (Don't bother taking anything white - coin-operated washers and dryers aren't usually great quality.) Being able to do laundry fairly regularly really cuts down on the amount of clothes that you have to haul with you.

Have fun!
Pat and Jim

[Gina D.]

I carry natural shades of grey on my head...

Slap me if it starts to turn blue!

[peterh]

For reference materials, one would have to rely on the internet...

The Internet is a great -- and often reliable -- reference for some things, but if you're looking for in-depth information on, say, the two types of chlorophylls used by most terrestrial plants and how they move an H+ ion around to get as much out of the solar energy they've collected as they can and how the ion path correlates the to the wavelengths of light and the quantum spacing of the collector chlorophylls . . .

Well, you get the idea. When you're looking for something that specific Googling it will not deliver the answers you're looking for, but find a good biology/botany reference, a physics book and a book on organo-metallic compounds and then you're in business. These are exactly the references I pulled a few weeks back while reading an article about a new solar panel concept being developed at Massey University. It's things like that -- things that draw on an understanding of physics, chemistry, and biology -- that fascinate and inspire me.

And that's why big, heavy books on obscure subjects reside in my library.

--Peter

[Sebastian H]

It's hard getting rid of things and when I moved from a house into a fifth wheel, I thought what I had in the 5th wheel was the absolute minimum for day-to-day living. I also rented a large storage unit and large safe deposit box. More expensive stuff was listed in local papers, bulletin boards, and craigslist.org. Most things were sold in yard sales. I always had a table or back of a pickup filled with things that were free to whoever wants them. Being six miles from the border, this stuff always goes.

After living in the fifth wheel full time for a year, I realized how much I never used, so I trimmed down at bit in the rig and REALLY went through the storage unit. That got me down to a 5'x10' storage unit.

Moving into a Casita last year, full time, forced me to trim down even more because there WAS NO ROOM! Even so, I have not used everything I have with me so I have been dropping things off at thrift shops or giving it away to people I come across. When I get back down south to my storage locker this winter, it will get weeded out even more so I can just have a 5'x5' storage unit and the safe deposit box and I think that will do it. It just feels so good simplifying one's life. I use to be so possessed by my possessions. One hears, "I could never do that (whatever) because I have so much stuff." So their "things" rule their lives? Talk about a ball and chain!

I do a good deal of silver work so have to have tools and supplies with me. I'll never get down as far as some. Then there is the outdoor gear, reference books, kayak, LITTER BOX, etc.
When you weed through your stuff, put on some good, upbeat music and I bet you will end of getting rid of more things than you would have. How can one not if they are smiling and moving to the music. Stay amused
Sebastian

[Pete Dumbleton]

You might have some second thoughts about your safe deposit box. When I had to produce some stock certificates because the company was acquired by another, I had to get a whole bunch of papers notarized to permit a friend back near the bank to enter my box. I now carry all my papers, especially titles, because what if one needs to trade out a truck or trailer on the road.

Real Full-Timers TWT (Travel With Titles)!

[Sebastian H]

Pete

You're right, I also travel with titles and some other important papers since I full time. I'd never assume what's in one's safe deposit box.