Full Time RVer

“The one who dies with most toys, wins!” So goes the ‘materialist’s maxim.’

For those who would take up the road to fulltime RVing, unloading clutter from their lives is a necessity, unless they can somehow bring everything along. For some, it almost becomes a chicken and egg thing: Do they take up RVing to rid their life of clutter, or do they rid their life of clutter to go RVing? For most it is the latter, but surprisingly, some are taking up the RV lifestyle to simplify their lives, and getting rid of possessions is part and parcel.

Recently, the Arizona Republic visited with a family who are leaving the “traditional” house, garage, and storehouses of possessions behind to live for a couple of years in a travel trailer as an experiment in family closeness. Elizabeth Dahlberg put it this way, “We would walk in our home after being up at the lake and just be overwhelmed with everything we had. You almost feel like you’re drowning. You’re so overwhelmed that everywhere you look there’s something to clear off the counter.”

Some interesting tips surfaced in the story that fulltimers and those who’re working toward the goal can apply in their own attempts to lighten up on the possessions. “A wedding memento, vacation souvenir, piece of clothing or art and so on loses its emotional power, as do most things,” said Judi Culbertson.

Culbertson is the author of The Clutter Cure, a book on getting your life simplified. She adds, “And as soon as you don’t feel that emotional tug when you see them, it’s time to say goodbye. Emotionally, that keeps you ready for new adventures.”

Another ‘clutter expert,’ and author of The One-Minute Organizer is Donna Smallin. Her comments also appeared in the Republic story and bear some thought by those seeking to minimize possessions.

“We fill our lives with stuff because we’re trying to fill a void, perhaps emotional or spiritual, she said. And although she applauds people who crawl out from under all their stuff to explore deeper connections to spirit and family, she cautions them to check the bad habits that led to their cluttered lives.

“Smallin suggests starting with two questions before bringing anything new into the home: ‘Do I need this, or do I just want this?’

“Most things are a ‘want.’ Even then, people should consider whether there is something in their home that can be repurposed to perform the same function or whether the desired item can be borrowed.”

One RVing couple we know sold their relatively small (900 square foot) home a couple of years ago. Since then they’ve been laying out $65 a month for a storage unit to save some of the things left over from their sticks-and-bricks life. Slowly though, they’ve pared down those things, and plan on having a big garage sale in a few months. After that, it’s ‘bye bye’ to the storage unit rent–and the extra clutter. They will tell you, that even living in the confined space of an RV, keeping down the clutter of “stuff” brought home is a constant challenge. But they add, it’s a fight well worth it.

Photo: frozenchipmunk on flickr.com

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.