Since my Divorce, I have been taking account of my life, turning 50 this June. Though I still have three to five years left to retire… sooner if the golden handshake is offered. I am taking steps now to get my life in order to full time it in my 23 Safari.
I was listening to Dr. Wane Dyer on the cable the other day, Dr. Dyer, who wrote a book (Your Erroneous Zones) that had an impact on me in my early 20s, I consider a positive force in this world.
At any rate, he discussed a study that we only, mostly, use about 20% of what we own day to day. The other 80% just really sits there. Looking first at what I wear, I had to agree, I have a wall to wall closet, with a small section that is used regularly and the rest are mostly items that I have not worn starting from the late 80s till now.
Shoes? The same. Collections, books (I now own a Kindle, so my attachment to my access to these books are lessened.), and I can go on and on. Vehicles, bikes….
Self examination asks why do I need to hang on to the 80%? As Dr. Dyer points out, we are not our possessions, things that can be taken from us by disaster, thieves or even the government should not determine our value as beings, or our happiness. There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way. My life situation is proving this every day.
The result has been freeing. The duty to insure, protect and care for most of these things can be very stressful. This weekend will see more “things” go to charity. Sounds too simplistic? I now believe less is more.
If you are in doubt whether you need something before disposing of it, place the item in a box. Put the date on the box and place the box in a closet. If you come back to the box in a year without using the item, you don't need it.
Once I got my AS and really knew I wanted to full time in it, I too looked at my worldly possessions that were so important in another light.
How much can you pack in an AS? I think your 80/20 rule is valid even
for the AS. The first couple of years I brought xyz "just in case" I needed it. Now every year at the end of the season, I pair that stuff that I had to have and did not use out once again. I am sure everyone else does this too. However it's all about mindset getting ready to walk away from everything and hop in your AS for an extended time.
Priceless.
__________________ Life Is Not A Dress Rehersal It's okay to have too much fun WBCCI #8701 * NEU UNIT Gracie...A Liver & White GSP
I have four large (and heavy) boxes of record albums. I also have four turntables to play them on.
I have not played a vinyl record since we moved from Toronto to Montreal in 1985. We moved back to Toronto in 1991. I wish I got airmile points on them!
I think I need to review something here!
But as for my collection of 170 old tube radios, I need ALL of those!
__________________ ♫ The road to a friend's house is never long. (Old Danish Saying)
Serious food for thought; we, too, are divesting ourselves of a lifetime of "treasures" that we don't really need. As a matter of fact, we don't even want them anymore. Traveling in Lucy (our AS) has made us come to this epiphany. Our New Year's resolutions for 2009 are to travel more in Lucy, and to get rid of "stuff".
__________________ SuEllyn & Brian McCabe WBCCI #3628 --- AIR #14872 2005 25' Safari FB (Lucy) with HAHA 2005 Suburban 2500 Quadrasteer (Olivia) & 2004 Suburban 2500 Quadrasteer (Daisy)
I really have been trying to reduce my excesses and today as I was shopping with a friend she told me her moto-one thing in tow things outThat's on way to shop. I do go throught my clothes twice a year and off they go to the mission if I haven't worn them. ! I would bravely like to say its all just tuff but it still hard to part with the rocks my kids painted for me or the baby clothes they have no interest in:>
My brother passed away a few years ago at the age of 40. Like many of us, he worked very hard to achieve the American Dream. All the bills he struggled to pay, the seemingly important decisions he turned over in his mind over and over again, worry over his credit rating etc, etc... But when all was said and done, all that was left of his material life was a small shoe box which contained photographs, a ring and watch, a wallet and keys to locks that will get along without them.
In the end, we are only survived by memories of what we give of ourselves to others, and not the things we leave or possess.
Michael
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Click hereAirstream Posters & Tee's byMicheal Joseph Depraida WBCCI No 8892 | VAC | KC2TQU
Last edited by ArtStream; 04-03-2009 at 04:41 PM.
Reason: correction
When I retired from the Air Force in 1984, they packed me up and moved me to my "retirement Home place" All that is STILL in crates stored in my barn. The Wife WILL NOT let me get rid of it.... never been looked at again. All that Oriental crap and European Antiques. Maybe its better unpacked......
Currently, if I didn't have box after box of tools, we would have two closets of "stuff", the remainder of my toy train collection, and our furniture. Furniture consists of 5 small tables, including dining room table, a chair, sofa, love seat, and bed.
I have been full timing in my Trade Wind for three years. The only "stuff" I miss is all the books. I hate to get rid of a book. Even living in a 24 ft narrow body camper, I have a lot of stuff I don't use all that often.
Reminds me of the story about two men discussing the deceased at a funeral. The first guy asks the second guy "how much did he leave behind?" Second guy replies "all of it".
__________________ "If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base and sordid creature, no matter how successful." Letter to his son Kermit, quoted in Theodore Roosevelt by Joseph Bucklin Bishop, 1915
I'm afraid, after all of our "past lives," that the rule will have to be closer to 5%-95% for us. We've been trying to sell off some of our thousand or so academic books (yes, that's thousand) on Amazon. At the rate we're selling them, I figure we'll slim down the load in about a decade -- and still have many boxes of them left over for, well, reading, I guess.
Lynn
As it came to pass in December last year I fell victim to the economy. My wife three children under the age of four are all living full time in our AS, it still need TLC, as the furnace needs to be replaced and the fridge needs work. We were in our 12 x 24 storage shed working on the sale items today, we were amazed at the 'stuff' we collected and that needed to rethought of do we really need it. Still we are blessed with children that really don't understand the perdiciment that their parents are in.
I should point out that we have parked the AS at a friends house and we help with electric and food when we can, another blessing. Hopefully the sale items will bring enough to get things fixed or atleast close to it.
All i can say is thank god for friends and family!
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Gary
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. Henry Ford
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