Although we do not own an RV yet, we did take the plunge, through the motivation of many here, to 'start' clearing our lives of clutter. So far over the past two weeks we have gone through the kitchen, den and one bedroom.  It is amazing to see what one keeps that they have never used, forgotten they had, or wonder what the heck was it ever used for!
Anyways, what became comical was that by doing this over the Christmas season, we found that while donating things to charity (such as dinnerware, glassware, utensils, etc) some of our Christmas gifts were dinnerware, glassware, utensils, etc. I said "Yikes!" all the stuff we have given away has just replicated overnight!
With all this in mind, for those FT RV'ers, how do you handle this with friends and family. Do they know you already to know not to 'gift' you things that will just clutter up your RV? Did you have to tell them 'thanks for the thought and gift and you really shouldn't but if you feel compelled, a gift card is better...', etc. It is a touchy subject since there will always be family members that just have to send you a gift but how do you politely tell them that it won't do. 
In a house all we do is put the gift away, never to be used and like us, be given away at some point in time. In an RV you really can't just put it away, you are really limited in space.
Just wanted to throw that out there as some of these minor things in a stick and brick home brings on more significance in an RV...


-- Edited by rjenkins on Tuesday 29th of December 2009 07:56:11 AM

Although we can't full time for 3 more years yet, our kids are already thinking ahead and not gifting us with things we will have to get rid of. *Consumables* is our pet phrase now! They gave us a Netflix membership, gas cards, popcorn (a staple in Steve's diet), great imported coffee beans and a new grinder, cheese basket, insulated travel mugs, and money towards a new travel router for our aircard!

Since we are currently in the midst of serious purging, we tried to institute the rule of "no presents".  Although it wasn't strictly adhered to, I think we got our point across.  The number of gifts was reduced drastically.  And what we did get were mostly focused to RV life. 

Some other good gift ideas are gift certificates for services and entertainment, such as movies, massages, manicures/pedicures, amazon.com (we both have kindles but they sell pretty much everything nowadays), dining out, and cash!  Not only do these not take up room, but they are easily mailed; some can even be sent electronically, making it easy for both parties. 

My mom, who loves to shop, doesn't care for the gift cards, but I think that will change when she has to start mailing the gifts!

-Connie

The message goes something like this -We are planning on selling or otherwise getting rid of almost everything we own now and are moving into a 300 square foot home. Also we already have just about everything we could want or need, so please don't burden us with more "stuff". Your good wishes and love are all we need or want. If you insist on getting us something, we would suggest a donation to the charity of your choice in our name. How's that?

To add to all of the excellent ideas --- how about giving gift certificates/gift cards from pet stores for grooming and pet supplies. Petsmart and Petco are two national chains that probably can be located in many towns across the country.

As always the RV Dreams family did not disappoint in great responses. We too have always requested nothing but thoughts in your prayers and to cherish the real meaning of Christmas not the marketing means of Christmas. However as you all well know, some people feel absolutely obligated. I loved all the recommendations, from good wishes and love, to donate to charity to gold plated air compressors. Thats priceless!!!! Have a safe and Happy New Year everyone....

I told family that we were full timing in two years, so my parents got us Motorhome magazine to help us with research :)

Or a membership to Passport America or similar....

Can you say RE-GIFT.

We expressed most of the above and still ended up with a couple of items that we did not care to take with us so a daughter and grandson ended up with an extra gift{regift]

With our family most everyone did really well. The only ones who don't seem to get it is my mom and her husband. They got the kids way too many toys. I wanted to bang my head on the wall, I really don't know what else I can do to make her realize that we have 4 people living in an rv, we have no room. My mil is really good. This year she got our daughter some special gummy vitamins that we like her to have, but can't really afford to keep her on because they are so expensive. And she got our son an MP3 player and some cd's for it and some computer games and a couple books. The biggest reason we are doing this is to teach our kids that life isn't about what you have it's about helping others, so I would say if you get gifts that you don't need or don't have room for, just find a family that does need it and give it to them. I like that better than donating to goodwill or something. Just because you can see exactly where your help is going. Not that we don't donate to goodwill or other charities, but when I have the chance I would rather just give it to someone who needs it.