The Stuff

Moving out of a house and into another house is very different from moving out of a house and into a camper. When you move from house to house, you typically just box everything up and then unpack it. However, when you move from a house to a camper, you know from the beginning that not everything is going to be moving with you. This type of move necessitates a whole new way of thinking.

We were moving out of a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house on about 1/2 an acre and into a 28 foot travel trailer. Clearly, we couldn’t take it all with us. We had to start taking a good look at all the stuff that was in our house. Initially it was all this stuff that made our house so full that we felt we needed to find a larger one to move into. Dave Ramsey talked about “stuffitis” in his first book Financial Peace. Nathan and Marissa talked about the constant need to get rid of stuff with their donate box on Less Junk < More Journey. This was it. It was our time to let go.

We divided all of our possessions into three categories: take, store, and sell. If it was essential, needed or used on a daily/weekly basis, or brought us joy & there was room for it – we would take it with us in the camper. If it was sentimental, seasonal, or brought us joy & there wasn’t room in the camper – we would pack it away in storage. If it wasn’t essential, sentimental, and it was replacable – we sold it.

Once we had the criteria for making our decisions, we dove into our rooms and closets of stuff with determination. It’s surprising to realize how much of the stuff you have in your home that you can really do without. Clothes, books, music, games, home decor, sports equipment, holiday decorations, etc. were pulled from dressers, shelves, cabinets and closets for multiple consignment sales in the area. Furniture and electronics were listed and sold on Facebook. You name it, we were selling it. Our stuff was turning into cash, and it was freeing!

The camper was packed with clothing, toiletries, school supplies, cookware, dishes, and groceries along with a couple of non-essentials for each of us. It was neat and tidy. We even had storage space that we didn’t fill when we first set out. Everything there had a purpose and a place. We were keeping it simple sweetie!

We began to fill our storage unit with things that were seldom used in the back. The walls were lined with the pieces of furniture that we kept. Boxes were labeled and piled as high as possible. Dressers were put toward the front containing seasonal clothes for easy access. It was shocking to see how quickly it filled up even after we had sold so much. In the end, we had a 10×10 poorly packed unit as well as a 10×30 climate controlled unit which had been organized and reorganized. Still, it was a lot less than when we had begun this journey, and we are continually trying to whittle it down even more. Our current goal is to eliminate the 10×10 unit and consolidate our remaining possessions as we persist in selling off our stuff.

As we have started living in our camper, we are discovering what works best for us. We may wind up getting a slightly larger camper. We may be able to reduce the size of our storage units from two to just one that’s even smaller than our largest. Who knows? We can tell you this. When the year started, we were looking to increase the square footage of our home by 500 to 1000 square feet. Now we have less than 625 square feet of living and storage space. The more we let go, the more free we feel!