Needs, Wants, and space constraints of full timing

[boomlasec]

Hi all,

I recently moved in to my Traveling Cloud and I am curious to hear what people felt they needed and packed into their trailer as opposed to what you really needed once you hit the road.

I am looking at liquidating my apartment, from furniture to nick knacks, and I am finding there are so many little things I think I need, from books, to glass sculptures (I love glass, but can it travel well?) to paperwork and shoes. I have far too many shoes...and books, though I now have a Nook.

Even as a single person, I have filled up my camper with things I just feel I can't part with. Aside from storage, what are my options, and what is really the best use of space?

[m.hony]

Furniture- you might have room for one chair in the empty space up front between the couch and dinette- that's all.
Nick-knacks- pick a few and Velcro them in place.
Books- we all have too many books in our trailers- go Nook.
Glass sculptures- same as nick-knacks.
Paperwork- in the cabinet behind the dinette.
Shoes- in the bottom of the wardrobe, storage under the couch, and storage under the couch arms.

[boomlasec]

Yah, I guess my question was not so much "where to put it" but really what is it that I need, versus maybe what I think I need. Of course a lot of this is dictated by lifestyle and personal circumstances, like how many people are living in the trailer with you, for example, or maybe how much the trailer is towed.

I am keeping kitchenware pretty slim, for example, in favor of long-term paperwork and filing I can't easily dispense of and would need access to often. Anything digital, of course, can become digital, like books and music, but even then I am finding it hard to part with my music CDs. I've got a whole flipper of those. Wondering how I can pare them down without throwing away the jewel cases and art work?


I don't have a couch (I have recliners instead), so there's a loss of space right there. I am also in a cold climate, so more space is taken by bulky coats.

[SteveSueMac]

Hmm - a CD suggestion is either use iTunes to download albums (including their artwork) or convert your CDs to MP3s and take digital photos of the artwork so you can store it all on an iPod or other device.

Similarly with paper files - most can be scanned and stored digitally on a hard drive or even a cloud (google gmail/docs for example).

Only you know best what you MUST have with you, but perhaps it's best to start by thinking about what you can really do without. Odds are we're all carrying stuff we could do without. :-)

[SteveSueMac]

Perhaps these links could help too:


http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-...ean-out-164435

http://m.dummies.com/how-to/content/...f-clutter.html

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/clutter/but.html

http://nickyhajal.com/how-to-get-rid...timental-mind/

[boomlasec]

Indeed, clutter. Some is obvious, like magazines. Gone. The not so obvious, however, is stuff that would cost more to replace or store. Storage at say, $75 a month for a year. $900 could buy me a new bed and bookcases but if wasted, if I really don't *need* them, the money is gone. Doing the math, it seems more prudent to sell things.

Two things come to mind: Do I need more tools for the rv? What are the essentials here? AND is it really worth it to pay for storage for more irreplaceable things, because after all, it is just stuff.

[Lily&Me]

Plan a long weekend.

Take what you think you need, for indoor living and outdoor adjustments & repairs.

Bring a pad of paper, to make a list of additional things you need & want with you.

Set near the door anything you decide you don't need, to take in when you return.

Get out there and enjoy!


Maggie

[biere]

George Carlin has a few things to say on stuff. Youtube should have it.

The sites listed above should also have some good ideas on getting rid of stuff. I call it simplifying.

I chose a kindle because I wanted a backup way to read my stuff if my kindle died. The kindle program is on my computer and works just fine. I got a bottom of the line kindle and will just get the same thing when this one dies.

Music is on an mp3 player.

Artwork and pictures of collectables and cool stuff I own all goes into the computer for the screensaver program to scroll through. I actually look at more of my stuff now than I did in the past when it was all packed away.

Clothes are what I wear the first week. I used to have a few weeks of clothes and towards the end it was the dregs that I preferred to wear instead of messing with laundery.

Since I don't have an airstream yet it was easy enough to just wear out some of the clothes and not replace them.

But overall it comes down to keeping the best stuff and deciding how to get rid of the rest.

My computer has lots of stuff scanned into it for paperwork and what not. Originals are mostly gone unless it is something spiffy like a birth certificate or something else that is not of use once scanned and then printed out on plain ol printer paper.

Tools are a problem, I worked as a mechanic. But I am going to most likely pare it down to stuff that is specific to the tow vehicle and trailer and some other commonly used stuff.

An example is a jeep wrangler. Lots of sites list commonly needed sizes and if you carry only what is needed for that wrangler you often leave half a socket set at the house.