Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
We want to thank all of our members for their participation and input over the years, and we want to especially thank those that have acted as Moderators for us during our amazing journey living and traveling in our RV and growing the RV-Dreams Family. We will be forever proud to have been founders of this Forum and to have been supported by such a wonderful community. Thank you all!!
To get in the spirit of seriously researching RV living, and developing my "right mindset", I came up with an idea.
1. Wannabe researchers eventually come up to the "stuff" wall. How do we get rid of it, how do we let go of our attachment to things.
"The Get Rid Of It" campaign. I am starting to throw out one unneccesary thing a day. Just one thing every day. I have so much in my cluttered condo, stupid stuff too. Like the boxes from Apple. They're white, with that shiny apple on them, just gotta save them! No! Get rid of it! By focusing on one thing a day, you're not taking entire weekends to work on your closets. That can be a drag.
Now, if you're a long way off from pulling out of the driveway with the rig, start with things you absolutely don't need. When you throw out one thing a day, eventually you'll notice these holes, and the new space they bring, pretty soon you're wondering why you've had that iron in your house when you haven't ironed in 15 years! You start losing attachment to "stuff".
2. Thoughts on weight. You RV pros have got this down pat but allow me to share some perspective from backpacking.
A traditional backpacker will give no thought to weight and will bring the kitchen sink on a backpack trip. They're walking up the trail with 80 pounds on their back for one night.
A lightweight backpacker will look at their weights carefully, and make some compromises. If they want to carry a pillow, or a book on wildflowers, they will decide if their willing to take the weight and space penalty.
An ultralight backpacker has to be ruthless in regards to weight. This is the person trimming off corners of the map, and cutting off toothbrush handles. "Every ounce counts." These types travel pretty spartan, but they fly over the trail, and save their joints.
So with an rv, I know I plan on weighting everything and putting it into an Excel spreadsheet. Plastic containers, lightweight and nesting backpacking kitchenware. I do have some compromises though. My nature guides, my Le Crueset iron frying pan, do I want to take the weight penalty? That's the reason for weighing everything and being clear on how much weight I will be projecting to haul.
Of course, this all depends on your own personal style. If you got the class A and want to feel like home, carry the stuff you like. If you have to be more space and weight conscious, consider what compromises you are willing to make.
You can also do the "10 Minute Toss". Get a garbage bag & a timer. Set the timer for 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes, you go around your house & toss 10 items into the bag. You can toss anything that you are committed to throwing away. At the end of the 10 minutes, you close the garbage bag & take it out to the trash can. This can work well for folks who feel overwhelmed by the downsizing process, & just need to get started.
You can also do the "10 Minute Toss". Get a garbage bag & a timer. Set the timer for 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes, you go around your house & toss 10 items into the bag. You can toss anything that you are committed to throwing away. At the end of the 10 minutes, you close the garbage bag & take it out to the trash can. This can work well for folks who feel overwhelmed by the downsizing process, & just need to get started.
A word of encouragement to all that are still facing downsizing.
I can honestly say that I have not missed 99% of the stuff we purged from our ownership. Here is a huge positive that you will have coming in your future. I did not see this benefit coming my way. The freedom and mental relaxation from owning to much stuff. For me that freedom has made life more carefree.
Several of my boy toys required and consumed big chunks of time. The trade off to gain freedom is wonderful.
Here is a short list of what I don't miss:
Lawn mower, leaf blower, etc........7 hour per week
Boat - maintenance & varnishing 17,000 pound of teak........200 hours per year
Tools- that big red tool box........untold hours maintaining stuff
Multiple cars - one toad is easier.........Time and money saved
Not being head down, butt up in the bilge.........Priceless
So everytime you get rid of something you are gaining more freedom.
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Russ & Terri Ranger
Travel since July 2013
Home base: Buckeye,AZ
Wandering the USA & Canada in our Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40' PDT Motorhome
Travel so far: 49 States - International Travel -19 countries
We were like Barb, one room at a time. The best was the attic storage. When finished all we hade left were two boxes which the contents were later sold when we sold the house. The rest was one room at a time. By the time were were ready to go full time everything we wanted to actually keep fit into a 5x10 storage room. When the house sold we simply turned All of contents over to a consignment service. They sold everything including the garbage cans and some old brooms and mops, amazing what I thought we should throw out the consignment people sold.
Once we made the decision to simplify our life, everything else became easy. Guess that's the reason to simplify in the first place.
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Paul & Kathy
2014 Phaeton 42LH
"When the time comes to look back, make sure you will like what you see"
This one of my favorite subjects. Since there is a definite, max. weight limit, as we approach it we must decide what is more valuable/important to us when deciding what to keep. Before I bought my truck I used to pull my Aliner with a 4 cyl car. I've gone through quite a bit of what some would consider extreme weight reduction efforts to accomplish this. For instance, I removed the rear seat, mounting hardware and rear seatbelt hardware. I replaced the rear deck cover with a lighter one. I removed extraneous bolts and brackets, including unused engine hanger and tie down brackets, and extraneous under hood items, like the under hood insulation, plastic engine covers (which only held in heat) and even went so far as to cut off excessive, unneeded bolt lengths, etc. I replaced my stock cast iron exhaust manifold with a light weight tubular header too. Here's a couple shots of the new back seat/trunk area.
All this effort saved a little over 200 lbs. This is quite a bit of weight on our little car, allowing us to increase the car's carrying capacity by an equivalent amount.
Since we just got a new (to us) truck I am considering similar weight saving items too. For instance My DW needed some step to assist her entering and exiting the truck as she has a bad knee. Instead of heavy running boards or nerf bars we decided on getting lightweight, yet strong and durable aluminum streps, saving. 50 lbs or more. I'm also thinking of building a lightweight camper top out of 1/4" plywood to our specs rather than but the pre-made fiberglass topper. Not only will this easily save us 100-120 lbs in weight but, we can custom design it to our needs (with a flip-up, wind deflecting top). We might remove the rear seats in our super-cab, giving us more storage room as well as a small weight savings. There's a lot of excess bolt lengths, and unnecessary components that could be removed too. I wonder if anyone makes plastic or aluminum bumper replacements?
When looking at RVs it seems many people value heavy weight components, such as tile flooring over heavy wood sub-flooring, heavy hardwood cabinets, marble counter tops, heavy glass shower doors, etc. It would seem to me that foam core composite counter tops, flooring, cabinets, etc. can be used to advantage (much like Trailmanors, Aliners and Chalet campers do) to reduce weight, and add insulation without compromising strength or durability. This will increase carrying capacity as well as improve fuel mileage. I'd certainly rather have 300lbs of solar system and batteries over 300 lbs of unneeded floor, cabinet and counter top weight. I purchased 2 light-weight 100 MPG, 60 MPH motorbikes for fun and basic transportation totaling only 300lbs for the pair. These little bikes will function as a fair weather, around town toad (in some respects two toads, as each carry each of us and a limited amount of cargo in different directions at then same time.) A couple bicycles (perhaps even electric bikes) would serve a similar, but more limited role for those younger, more athletically inclined folk.
Chip
-- Edited by Sushidog on Monday 20th of January 2014 01:42:57 PM
__________________
1999 National Tropical Class A gasser
Toad - 2.4l Chevy Cobalt SS with 400k miles and counting.
I like that idea real well, one room at a time. We have lived in this place for nearly 20 years so there is our stuff and we have become everyone else's storage and since all of our kids are scattered and to far for them to come in every weekend this is what I am doing and hoping by the time the house sells I am done.
I started by going through and picking out small things I really wanted to take in our new home, then I am packing away pictures, photo albums, baby books things I just really do not want to let go of but really do not need in the trailer. Since I own a cargo trailer I have been putting those items in there no storage bills. Then I had the kids tell me what big items they wanted and I put their name on it, now as I go through things I post in an album on Facebook that only they can see and give them 48 hrs to let me know if they want something.( each child has a tote with their name on it that I move their want items to) After that time I move those items to a for sale album open to the public and so far so good. Things are leaving and I really feel good about it, I was worried that I would panic because I have always been a packrat but so far so good.
Thanks
-- Edited by Dreamsopen on Friday 24th of January 2014 03:20:51 PM
As we begin our preparations for saving for an RV, we plan on moving into something called an efficiency apartment. The rent is generally pretty cheap, and the space available is roughly equivalent to that of a mid size RV. That make downsizing mandatory, and makes it easy for us to move right into an RV when we finally buy one.
Easier said than done though. Ham radio guys are packrats! we keep all kinds of cable, connectors, and various pieces and parts. Fortunately most of this stuff doesn't weigh much, but it still needs to be trimmed down. my downsizing project is going to be harder than hers.
