Toughest to give up when going FT?

[Whirlaway]

I have a post it note on the kitchen cabinet that says, Full Time...do you really need this? I too love to read and the Kindle is the greatest!

When you start looking at all your "stuff" as could I walk out the door and never see, touch or have that again, it is very liberating. Like everyone who is full timing said it's all in your mind.

Lin.

[AIR-Quarius]

Me and Angel - the fellow I take care of, gave up the invitation to living on the street. Along with that we gave up having to live (because of this Airstream) in a square trailer.
We gave up being 'nobodies' - to be 'somebodies'.
I too own my own business as a mural artist, and the Airstream streamlines this to where can move anywhere. Even right to where we are painting- just like 'cool' contractors at a job site, now the AS acts as the office /home. So we gave up living in a house that would probably have at least one insane neighbor on one side,and a crack house on the other.
Angel gets 'a crazy check )' and together we make a modest living. Nothing spectacular accept for the great outdoors we look forward to. And this (what I call survival) style of living is adding years to our life expectancy.
Here's a story for you.
A scientist doctor took some simple bacteria- placed it into a culture and gave it everything it needed....and in turn it died off.
Then the doctor took some more of the same bacteria - and deprived it of everything, and once again it died off.
On the third attempt, he gave his bacteria a little bit. And then took away a little bit.
and then gave some more, and again took away some again. Doing this over and over each day- and in return, and to his delight the bacteria began to thrive and grow.
Thats the lesson we live by. We now have the great unknown to look forward to.... Don't have to worry above having a garage piled high with accumulation. Have the internet as a window to the great outdoors. And a lot of admiration from the kin folks from both sides. Out of living on the street we still have too many very nice coats hanging in the closet

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, Paula. Didn't you just buy another sewing machine off E-bay?

Uh huh I did, and as a result I'm unloading one - the tiny Genome will become a starter machine for a friend's daughter.

One IN, One OUT!

Paula

[deauxrite]

We have been full timing for two year. We have what we call the 80/20 rule. That is that 80% of the things that we own are superfluous, while the 20% is truly important. As a result we have, over the last two years, identified what is important in our lives and concentrated on that and at the same time eliminated the 80%. It has been a liberating experience for both of us.

We work at seasonal jobs that either do not require dress clothes or that provide uniforms.

We both love to read. Kindles and IPADS are perfect choices..we have one of each.

Jeanie crochets, I scrimshaw and make knives..by hand..tools are simple, small and stored in the truck.

Christmas decorations cozier of a very small ceramic tree that sits behind the sink in our 27' safari and stows under the bed for travel.

What do we miss? Jeanie says "bath tub". Me, I really do not miss anything from the stick built house. Life on the road is my dream come true and "things" are just temporary...the memories from our travels are my reward for doing without a few conveniences.

[solitaire]

Im retired on social security, live full time in a 31' airstream sovereign. find parks on my lap top. Must be flexable travel light no unnecessary clothes, tools, etc. keep costs down, i.e. no xmas decorations, satilite dishes etc. However love to paddle my canoe, fish, hike outdoors stuff. winter comes, I go south, summer comes I go north. etc.

[shinyteepee]

i have always lived as a minimalist, so i don't miss 'stuff'. i've been living full time in my 22ft for 6 months now, and the Only thing i miss is instant hot water.

[donh1]

Travel light and you want sink.

[Silver Threads]

John and I are on our way to fulltiming. We started off by selling our 3 bedroom 2 bath home to our oldest son, got rid of a bunch of "stuff", and gave most of our furniture away. We stored things like old pictures and memorabilia in a storage building at our sons house. We moved into a one bedroom apartment. We wanted to make sure that we could give up all of our luxuries and have no regrets before moving into the Airstream. I have to say, I dont miss the house or the bills that came along with it, and I am ready to move to a campground. We are awaiting an answer about a work camp job near the smokies, and if they call, we will be moving hopefully this week. It is still within driving distance from where I work, so for now, I will continue to work there and John will work at the campground. Our goal is to one day buy a campground and live in our Airstream and run it. We like to hike, ride bikes, fish, and sew, so we will make adjustments to make all these things work. I love reading about fulltimers and how they manage. Our most favorite thing to do is camp in the Airstream, I cant wait to get to do it every day! I may change my mind in a few years, but I really doubt it. I do believe it is meant for some, but not for all. Most of our friends and family think we are crazy and just dont get "it", but thats okay. You either love to camp or you like to camp, and for us, it is love.

[female.nomad]

I live full time in a 1962 16ft Bambi...so I could go on and on and on about what I miss the most because I had to dwindle my possessions down to what could fit into one, small coat closet in a house/apartment. I miss my huge book collection. I had a whole wall of books in my house, now I have a small bookcase built into my 16ft'er where I have books cram-packed. I also miss my abundance of shoes and clothes. I had shoes in every color and style to go with my plethora of outfit combinations. I've only got the bare minimum now (which is probably still more than I should) haha.

[KerriO]

We've been fulltime for about two months now, and I have to say that (so far at least), adapting to the simpler and smaller living has been far easier than I thought it would be. I do also miss my huge collection of books. I can't part with a single book I've read, so they're all in storage now, and to eliminate the danger of hoarding books in the airstream, I've switched to a Kindle. Other than that, I'm not really missing any "things". I do really really miss a hot bath with bath salts on a cold night, though.

[sinjin]

Originally Posted by rebelstand

Ouch... you mean I wouldn't be able to take my 150 books.....that just might make me cry...

I gave away several thousand books when we moved out of our styx and bricks this summer. But I did keep at least 150 that I did think I couldn't live without in storage. I love my kindle.

We have some family christmas stuff in storage.

Giving away/selling stuff was hard at first but after awhile it was very freeing. I felt lighter and lighter as time went by. We've been full-timing for just over one month now. Haven't missed anything yet.

[bc_seattle]

Originally Posted by female.nomad

I live full time in a 1962 16ft Bambi...so I could go on and on and on about what I miss the most because I had to dwindle my possessions down to what could fit into one, small coat closet in a house/apartment. I miss my huge book collection. I had a whole wall of books in my house, now I have a small bookcase built into my 16ft'er where I have books cram-packed. I also miss my abundance of shoes and clothes. I had shoes in every color and style to go with my plethora of outfit combinations. I've only got the bare minimum now (which is probably still more than I should) haha.

Ok I'm a recent convert.... K I N D L E. Great product for readers tight on space. BC.

[shinyteepee]

i keep my shoes in my truck bed [under cover], and actually have spaces in my 22' that aren't being used. i've always been a minimalist, so it was an easy transition. i still kept most of my dvds, cds and books, and for additional one: Local Library! :}

[JourneytoRet]

We did the "fulltime" for about 2 years while working a Contract job. Wife and three kids homeschooled. Biggest complaint? WiFi & Phone which were essential for job and homeschooling over the internet. Not sure Airstream meant for their equipment to be used every day for 2 years either. Splendide washer sprung a leak in the drum, how the heck did that happen other than it ran about every day for about 6 hours. Some of the campgrounds really didn't care for us living there (mostly kid-related stuff) for an extended time. One required us to move every 2 weeks even if it was one spot over.

But like some have said before, simplicity brought its own joys. After we bought a house, and it's been over a year ago, we still tend to sit together as a family in one room! And the kids still want to go camping.

One day perhaps, when the kids are grown up and on their own, the wife and I may hit the road again...

[alexj]

I really dislike taking showers in a camper

I have however joined a local gym, and bribe myself to visit the gym by taking my shower after exercising

[kb0zke]

We had over a thousand books in our house. A very few are with us in the coach. The rest found new homes. Some went to our kids, some went to friends, some were sold, and some (not many) went to the burn pile because they really were worthless. That was probably the hardest part for two librarians.

We still have too much stuff with us, but now that we have a year of traveling full-time under our belts we have a better idea of what we can get rid of. We have some things "stored" with our kids. The idea is that if we ever return to a S&B we may want those things back. Until then, they have the use of part of their inheritance.

[dvb]

Yes, I concur on framed arts and prints...looking to acrylic framing.

[KJRitchie]

Maybe my 56" BATV (big ass TV) and DVR. The only way to watch TV.

I can imagine my reading would pick up going full time so there is the Kindle and iBook apps. Can't see ever buying books ever again even living in brick and mortar; too heavy and take up too much space and once I read one I don't want to keep it to read again same with DVDs. I can rent several movies for the price of one DVD too.

Personal affects such as family mementoes will have to be stored either in a facility or a family members house until we are ready to settle down. Everything else that I can't put in the Airstream or truck is outta here.

Kelvin

[DreamStreamr]

Watched Downton Abbey last night (new season, Woot!) on our 19" tv, connected through really nice sound in our camper. Said to Debbie, when we build a house, I hope our sound is this good. There are so many things about living in the Airstream I'm gonna miss. Oh wait! backwards.

What do we miss from the 3K sf house with another attic over the detached 640sf garage? A truly comfortable chair. Workshop space. Space to entertain family, friends. Access to all those really great books collected over a lifetime. Big two-person shower (Emigrant Springs State Park near Pendleton OR has family showers, btw.)

That doesn't seem like a whole lot to miss, really. We stored some of the books, our backpacking gear (we go back and borrow it occasionally,) photo albums. It's fun to visit our stuff every now and then, and leave without taking more. Someday we'll unpack it all. We may find out what we didn't need to store at all.

I most look forward to having a well-organized work bench, a great ham radio setup, and a couple of very comfortable places to sit while reading.

[rmkrum]

Our 22' has a work desk in the rear with the head for the Yaesu 857 and the speaker mounted in the corner. Yaesu main unit and power distribution mounted in wardrobe forward. Antenna feed-thrus terminate in fridge compartment top door area.

You can take the shack with you. A few portable wire antennas, a 2 meter whip mounted to the solar panel bracket, and an AT-120a on a lift and lay mount on the roof for fast deploy. APRS via a TT-4 built into the forward end of the overhead cabinet on street side.

Hardest part was fishing cables from desk under wet bath and kitchen cabinets.

You can have your shack with you with a bit of cussing and wire running....

KE4GNK, KE4RNU


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