Wow, I can't believe how much "stuff" we just donated or threw away from our basement in the 5th wheel. Amazing how many things we brought along just in case, or thought we would eventually use. Wrong!! We moved into our 5th wheel on our driveway just over a year ago and have been living in it full time for a year including while the house was on the market. The impetus to clean out the basement started with the realization that next week's solar install is going to add 2 more batteries plus the solar panels so we needed more weight capacity as well as room in the basement for 2 more batteries.
In about 10 days we'll be back in the location where our storage room is, more stuff is leaving the 5th wheel and going in there which should be fun since part of our rationale for getting back to Washington 2 weeks earlier than we originally planned was to give us more time to shrink the storage room while we're in the area.
It's amazing how our mindset has changed in regards to stuff, we thought we were doing great a year ago when we got rid of so much, but it's even easier now
Purging, purging, purging!!!
el Rojo and Pam said
07:24 PM May 25, 2014
I know what you mean Ruth. While we are just starting out I already have 3 tubs in question. Our first purge came 6 weeks in.....we don't need 2 winter coats EACH! My thought was one to keep clean and one when I was helping Pam change the oil and stuff. Anyway were right behind you.
Hope all is well with you and Dale.
Red
cherylbrv said
07:38 PM May 25, 2014
Ditto! We're also in our next phase of purging, in hopes we'll be vacating by the end of next week. All the stuff we put on the side because we weren't sure about, is very easily being decided on now - mostly being given or thrown away.
Hdrider said
08:05 PM May 25, 2014
Yep, we purged before buying he new coach and we will be by our storage units in a couple weeks as well and will purge again. plus we are going to purge our storage unit. Well to be honest we have 2 and plan to get down to one.
Dog Folks said
06:22 AM May 26, 2014
I gotta tell you:
It never ends!
We have to purge every year.
It does get easier.
WestWardHo said
01:33 PM May 26, 2014
Must be the day for it! Another day another closet cleaned out! We do love this simple life!
Sherry
Barbaraok said
01:55 PM May 26, 2014
We've been fulltiming 8 years. Every year we make a least one, if not two trips, to Goodwill with things we don't need. Now it is often things we are just tired of - still wearable, but just not what we want, or we've gotten something new so something old is going.
Barb
Fergizmo said
07:39 PM May 26, 2014
Yep. We just got rid of our storage unit too. I am carrying 4 big bags of junk to sell at a flea market being held at the Good Sam Samboree in Moses Lake next week. It does feel good.
Have fun at AM Solar.
Jack Mayer said
07:23 AM May 27, 2014
Purging and rotating things is a constant event. We have been on the road 14 years, and like Barb we constantly purge things, take things to Goodwill, buy things at Goodwill and I repack and rotate tools and equipment. This all is NOT a one time event.
folivier said
07:44 AM May 27, 2014
We did purge over the winter and it was funny to see the stuff we took out. Portable fire pit? Didn't use it in 2 years so why carry the darn thing? Heavy coats? That's why we have wheels! An old laptop that probably doesn't work anyway? Gone! Why do we need so much clothes when I wear the same shorts or jeans everyday? Only need 1 set of dress clothes for church. Shoes? same thing, only got 2 feet so don't need that many.
It's fun to browse in stores but whenever one of us thinks we want something we remind the other that something has to go out first!
Wow, when I think back on all of the stuff we got rid of when we sold the house.......
Now if I could just get the wife to start working on the storage unit. Naw, we'll buy a house in a few years and need most of that stuff. I just remind her that by then the money we spend on storing all of that will have been enough to buy all new stuff. But that's her anchor and if that's what it takes for her to enjoy full timing, then I guess it's worth it.
I love this lifestyle!
Hdrider said
07:08 PM May 27, 2014
Because we are just a week away from being where our storage units are we have been having this conversation a lot it seems. We have 2 storage units, 1 large and one medium. One costs $85 per month and one $95. We have a car (2012 Prius) and a Goldwing Trike mixed in them along with a bunch of other stuff like hutches that we would NEVER spend that much money on again.
We figure we will be on the road if all goes well, at least 4 more years (but who really knows) so we figure if we got down to 1 storage unit at $95 per month and was able to store the car, trike and what pieces of furniture we consider expensive we would live with the $4560 we would spend on storage to hold the roughly $60,000 worth of stuff we would have in it. Plus we would have the trike and car to fall back on when in the area.
Smart,,, who knows, probably not but t seems right for us.
bjoyce said
07:27 PM May 27, 2014
Dave & Diane: You win the storage contest. We still have a storage unit because we don't get much time to clear it out or make the pile smaller. (It has not been a priority.) But no car or trike in ours.
NWescapee said
09:29 PM May 27, 2014
Well, we just added up the weight of the new batteries, less the old ones, solar panels, inverter, etc. We ended up with more solar panels than we thought we would, but due to both of us working from home, that's what we determined we needed.
Time to keep purging!! Dale had already decided it was time to get rid of his Black and Decker workmate table, he brought it along for his work but over the past year has figured out how to use a smaller table and therefore decided it was time to get rid of it. After dropping the 5th wheel at AM Solar, he went to put the work table in the back of the truck, they asked what he was doing with it, he replied that it was on it's way to Habitat for Humanity and well, long story short, we ended up just leaving that work table there for the guys who were happy to take the donation off our hands.
When we leave AM Solar we're headed for a state park where we will once again take everything out of the basement and rearrange and purge. I agree it's a never ending process, but after spending the first 2 months on the road constantly purging so we could finally sell my car and then still continuing to purge, leaving stuff at donation bins in at least 6 different states in the first 5 months, I really didn't know that 6 months later we would still have so much to get rid of, I must say it gets easier every time!!!
Hdrider said
12:11 PM May 28, 2014
Dang it Bill!!! Why is it we always win the contests we don't want to win LOL!!
kb0zke said
06:25 PM May 29, 2014
We're still purging. We did a major purge prior to the auction, but we weren't able to get through everything then so some things went with us so they weren't sold. Now we're going through those things, purging some and consolidating the rest. If we had to suddenly take everything out of the house it would all fit in the coach now. When we went to the park for the auction the coach was so full that we could hardly move and the Jeep was packed.
Wow, I can't believe how much "stuff" we just donated or threw away from our basement in the 5th wheel. Amazing how many things we brought along just in case, or thought we would eventually use. Wrong!! We moved into our 5th wheel on our driveway just over a year ago and have been living in it full time for a year including while the house was on the market. The impetus to clean out the basement started with the realization that next week's solar install is going to add 2 more batteries plus the solar panels so we needed more weight capacity as well as room in the basement for 2 more batteries.
In about 10 days we'll be back in the location where our storage room is, more stuff is leaving the 5th wheel and going in there which should be fun since part of our rationale for getting back to Washington 2 weeks earlier than we originally planned was to give us more time to shrink the storage room while we're in the area.
It's amazing how our mindset has changed in regards to stuff, we thought we were doing great a year ago when we got rid of so much, but it's even easier now

Purging, purging, purging!!!
Hope all is well with you and Dale.
Red
It never ends!
We have to purge every year.
It does get easier.
Sherry
Barb
Have fun at AM Solar.
It's fun to browse in stores but whenever one of us thinks we want something we remind the other that something has to go out first!
Wow, when I think back on all of the stuff we got rid of when we sold the house.......
Now if I could just get the wife to start working on the storage unit. Naw, we'll buy a house in a few years and need most of that stuff. I just remind her that by then the money we spend on storing all of that will have been enough to buy all new stuff. But that's her anchor and if that's what it takes for her to enjoy full timing, then I guess it's worth it.
I love this lifestyle!
We figure we will be on the road if all goes well, at least 4 more years (but who really knows) so we figure if we got down to 1 storage unit at $95 per month and was able to store the car, trike and what pieces of furniture we consider expensive we would live with the $4560 we would spend on storage to hold the roughly $60,000 worth of stuff we would have in it. Plus we would have the trike and car to fall back on when in the area.
Smart,,, who knows, probably not but t seems right for us.
Time to keep purging!! Dale had already decided it was time to get rid of his Black and Decker workmate table, he brought it along for his work but over the past year has figured out how to use a smaller table and therefore decided it was time to get rid of it. After dropping the 5th wheel at AM Solar, he went to put the work table in the back of the truck, they asked what he was doing with it, he replied that it was on it's way to Habitat for Humanity and well, long story short, we ended up just leaving that work table there for the guys who were happy to take the donation off our hands.
When we leave AM Solar we're headed for a state park where we will once again take everything out of the basement and rearrange and purge. I agree it's a never ending process, but after spending the first 2 months on the road constantly purging so we could finally sell my car and then still continuing to purge, leaving stuff at donation bins in at least 6 different states in the first 5 months, I really didn't know that 6 months later we would still have so much to get rid of, I must say it gets easier every time!!!