Fulltiming - and keeping my stuff!

[Kevin D Pem]

No relatives that want to house sit? They can disappoint you but if you don't feel like ending your trip, you can always clean house later when the rig continues to be your happy place.

 

[Neal]

No relatives that want to house sit? They can disappoint you but if you don't feel like ending your trip, you can always clean house later when the rig continues to be your happy place.

No.

Selling stuff is so much harder than buying it! I hate it and I think one thing that I really enjoy about the RVing is the simple life. Not overwhelmed with stuff. I like my "stuff" at times and big screen TV but in total it all adds stress probably more so than the enjoyment of it. I keyed in on this many years ago when I went to a ski lodge for a long holiday weekend. It was just a big studio so a bed, a kitchen area, a bureau, bathroom and I thought wow, this is exactly what I want. Simple, has it all, low stress. My house is more of a storage unit than a place to live and I am the storage for family.

 

[MapNerd]

for what you can't sell easily or quickly enough and don't have a reason to hold on to, consider donating it and taking a write off on your taxes. Standard deduction increases may have changed whether or not you still itemize or not, but your accountant will be able to advise. If you can't sell it, can't donate it and write it off, don't wanna give it away and don't want to carry it around, put it in one of your boxes.

Once most things are sold, donated or packed, you'll know if you need to rent a unit or if it makes sense to store by the box. My sister in law stores most of our stuff but for things we want to be able to get back at a moments notice, we store by the box at a facility that will ship it back to us. This allows us to swap things in and out of storage on the road.

 

[ARD]

Just finishing my 3rd year fulltiming and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. My biggest regret is the 12 vaults of stuff ready to be shipped anywhere in the world which is costing almost $600/mo.

I gave tons of stuff away, but my house sold quickly and the rest went into storage. It is like a cloud hanging over me.

If you are serious about fulltiming, I would get rid of everything and be totally free. @Jabber Jaw had best advice ...start early if this is the route you take.

Regarding the house... if it makes sense to rent it and gives you a little monthly cash flow, then get a property management company and rent it. You so don’t want to have to deal with renters while you are on the road. If you are not attached to the house , I’d sell it. It’s a seller’s market. ? But you already know all this. I’m sure you will discover what feels right for you.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

No.

Selling stuff is so much harder than buying it! I hate it and I think one thing that I really enjoy about the RVing is the simple life. Not overwhelmed with stuff. I like my "stuff" at times and big screen TV but in total it all adds stress probably more so than the enjoyment of it. I keyed in on this many years ago when I went to a ski lodge for a long holiday weekend. It was just a big studio so a bed, a kitchen area, a bureau, bathroom and I thought wow, this is exactly what I want. Simple, has it all, low stress. My house is more of a storage unit than a place to live and I am the storage for family.

what they say is you don't own your stuff your stuff owns you.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

No.

Selling stuff is so much harder than buying it! I hate it and I think one thing that I really enjoy about the RVing is the simple life. Not overwhelmed with stuff. I like my "stuff" at times and big screen TV but in total it all adds stress probably more so than the enjoyment of it. I keyed in on this many years ago when I went to a ski lodge for a long holiday weekend. It was just a big studio so a bed, a kitchen area, a bureau, bathroom and I thought wow, this is exactly what I want. Simple, has it all, low stress. My house is more of a storage unit than a place to live and I am the storage for family.

I fear Amazon.com stock is about to plunge if word of @Neal's new "simple life without stuff" thoughts get beyond RVF!

Seriously, though, it doesn't matter whether one plans to full-time in an RV or just gets up in years and wants a smaller place, "stuff" is a big issue. We're starting to deal with the same thing.

TJ

 

[Tip&Tina]

I really believe fulltiming is in my future. I'm out in the MH this week and it's my happy place. I love the simple life, I love the traveling, the freedom, everything the RV lifestyle grants us (other than when things go wrong, that part sucks). I don't know though that I could part with my belongings as some have. My "plan" as of this 10 second time slice is to only FT for a few years, we'll see where that leads me. My options are:

1. Sell house and put belonging in storage. Question is how much will it cost to store that much stuff? Is it worth selling the house or using as storage?
2. Rent the house, furnished or unfurnished is the dilemma
3. Sell house and all belongings, start over in the future. I somewhat like this idea as it closes one chapter and reopens another for another day. Just the waste of money is the sad part.

Very timely...we just got back from a road trip to see my Mother in Chicago. LSS: She called me begging for help. She admitted to being a Hoarder (Yes, one of "those"), and she is. I know it; I've seen it. DH had not. She said she needed her whole home cleaned out of the stuff piled up because she couldn't clean anymore. Good enough for us to drive 800 miles one way to help. We planned on 2 weeks.

We arrived on Sunday, September 13. All we had was a bed to sleep on because every available space was taken up with "stuff" that she called invaluable, antique, precious, and worth a fortune. We saw junk. We ended up cleaning out her garage so she could get her minivan in and she decided that she would go through the house and didn't need us to help her. GRRRR....

In short, we pretty much wasted our time. We drove home this past Sunday. We could have made a huge dent in the junk sitting around us. She just couldn't give up the stuff she has hung on to for so long.

She has 9 vacuum cleaners between 3 floors; 13 brooms, 3 brand new TVs in boxes, 2 snow blowers, 2 whole house generators. She had 13 bags of weed and feed for the grass (small yard), 14 bags of crabgrass killer, 12 bags of insecticide for the outside. She has 7 extension ladders hanging and sitting around her property. It looks like a trailer park....very distressing. This is scratching the surface of what we saw in the garage. The house is worse...

We donated to Goodwill 14 chandeliers that were just sitting in the garage. Every inch of every space has "junk" on it. There is not a spare inch of space in her home.

My point to this story? We've been downsizing for the past few years for FTing; I've gone and cleared out all personal items if we decide to sell so a Realtor can come in at a moment's notice.

We, at a previous home that was small, kept stuff in a storage locker for 6 years. I forgot what was in it. It cost $60 per month. When we opened it to look in and decide what had to be moved to our new home, we decided that most of it was worthy of donation to Goodwill. Money down the drain...learn from our mistake.

My Mom also has a rental property. Her renters are now living rent-free due to the Covid rent forbearances. They said they couldn't afford the rent and she can't evict them. She still has to pay insurance and taxes on the house. That is the risk of being a landlord. Plus, when on the road, you will have them call you at midnight to say a light bulb went out and they can't change it-believe me they do! Another renter she had put concrete down the toilet due to a disagreement with my Mom when she moved out. $3000 repair. People like that don't care about credit or what you can do to them after. Sell in an upmarket, bank it, and go FT.

 

[AbdRahim]

The different perspectives are very enlightening. Getting rid of stuff? Hmmmmm! Difficult indeed. I could never go full time while my wife is alive. She hates the very thought of such a thing. Should I outlive her, I am leaning more to the small house with RV garage. I feel the need for a base to return to which I can return. A place to wash and work on the coach, or live if the coach ever needs body work or any other repair lasting more than a week. The difficulty there is trying not to become a hermit in the new community.

I wander if I could convert my 2 story house into a one story with RV garage. That way I keep my great neighbors. That would probably cost as much as buying a new one in a warmer climate.

 

[Neemer]

This thread made me recall a routine by George Carlin in which he talks about “stuff” as only he could. It’s on youtube if anyone wants to look it up.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

This thread made me recall a routine by George Carlin in which he talks about “stuff” as only he could. It’s on youtube if anyone wants to look it up.

No matter how you are afflicted as a "stuff slave" there is someone else with more of a problem. or maybe they have less of a problem than we do but we can't see it. Point is it is real easy to write a comedy skit on this subject.