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!!
I think everyone's needs are different. What we did was to fill the RV with the things we thought we needed and then sold, gave away, or trashed the rest. WE came pretty close to what we needed. Its been 6 years and we have never looked back.....good luck. Think carefully about long term storage....the costs escalate quickly. We figured that the savings in storage costs would easily fund new stuff when we leave the road. We got rid of everything not in our RV.
-- Edited by igotjam on Wednesday 27th of March 2013 09:50:09 AM
I think I started out with way to many tools. I like to do my own maintenance and repairs but it was out of hand. :) I've since paired down the tools I carry.
Ray
-- Edited by Raytronx on Wednesday 27th of March 2013 10:59:17 AM
As we keep sorting through stuff, garage sale, long term storage, gotta take it with us and the ever growing list of things to consider, can't make a decision yet, I know we're going to end up purging stuff right after we finally start our FT life.
Just curious for those of you that are FT, what were some of the first things you purged? What did you take along that you "absolutely had to have" and then quickly got rid of it?
To start out with ask yourself if you can remember the last time you used an item......if you can't or it was a very long time ago you probably don't need it.We got rid of so much stuff it's unbelievable and we still were leaving stuff for other's to take at RV parks all over.In our short 17 month RV experience we still ended up with things in the trailer that we would say" didn't know we brought that" as we were unloading it for the new owner.Cloth's ,books and tools seemed to be the biggest problem. '
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RVing probably not a reality any more.It was a good time while it lasted.
For us, I have found that we packed a lot of stuff in the RV that we didn't really need, clothes was the biggest over-pack. When you are downsizing from a walk in closet to an RV sized one, you can still fit a lot of stuff in there you will probably never wear! I try to put all the clothes I regularly wear at one side of 'my' closet, after 2 months or so, if I haven't worn something from the 'other' end, I get rid of it. As a full-timer, you only need maybe one or two 'good outfits', it's mostly capri pants and shirts or shorts and shirts. I kept 2 skirts and 2 dresses 1 nice sweater and 1 pair of pretty shoes. Now I use the empty closet space for hanging sheets and extra bedding, saves on other cupboard space. Shoes....how many can you wear?
Then there were the dishes, I brought glass casserole dishes, lasagna dishes, pot roast dishes etc! way too many dishes! I find it much easier to cook the meal in the glass dish, then transfer left-overs to a tupperware storage box, I only ever used one glass dish, so I got rid of the rest. Too many oven baking dishes too, most of them are now gone. glasses, coffee cups, all of these have been thinned out lately too.
I think you just need to live with the stuff a few months to know that you have too much still, it really depends on what you can live without.
If I can get hubby to realize that he doesn't need to keep all the DVDs, CDs and books he still has in the RV, we would have at least 3 more empty cupboards! I still have time to 'work' on him though, we are still static full-timers for now.
huggs kim x
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2016 Vilano by VanLeigh, 2012 F350 Diesel SD 6,7L long bed SRW
Staying at Greenlakes RV Resort nr San Antonio TX
Kim is way too busy planning to have a 'real' job!
Jay is a civillian Gov't Historian Randolph AFB TX (retired AD in '07 after 23 yrs)
Pertinent question for me haha. I am starting to purge in earnest. Clothes went first, then books and magazines and old papers. Having a bit of trouble with books. I love my books. Currently trying to sell some pieces of furniture and 'big' things. I am coming to the conclusion someone mentioned above- find a home for the things in the trailer that I'm keeping, and it will make the rest easier. Going to try online local yard sales for some household items. Also donating to local church thrift and charity orgs like epilepsy foundation etc. Finding it is really hard right now. Little by little. :)
I think books will be hardest for DH, even though we have Kindles. He has some work related books that are not available electronically that he wants to take.
Since we will continue our current professions on the road, I have to keep a few "business" outfits, plus the clothes for art shows and then the clothes for hanging around camp. I need to figure out a better way to layer and combine things from one dress code to another.
Of course right now, I'll just be happy to empty out the closet in our master bedroom, it's the only closet left to paint!!!!
I just wanted to comment on your DVD/CD and BOOKS, issue. We too had a lot of DVD movies that we wanted to take with us in the RV. So I bought one of those big CD cases and put all the movies in there and got rid of all the movie boxes. That saved a lot of space! CDs you can download on your iPod and for the books get a NOOK or KINDLE! Takes up WAY less space then all those paperbacks! :)
So happy to hear that you guys finally found your RV and are living in it now. I remember your very first posts when you were still in the "looking stage". Before you know it you guys will be on the road and official FULL-TIMERS! :)
First was my food processor, too heavy and I have knifes. I had saved about 20 of my favorite quilting books, when I came to the realization that books are just to heavy. I took them to Staples, had the spines cut off, scanned them with out Snap -scan and gave the books to the quilting lady's at the park we were at. They could take them back to Staples and have spiral bindings put on. I was able to scan all of them in one evening, while cooking dinner.
I just wanted to comment on your DVD/CD and BOOKS, issue. We too had a lot of DVD movies that we wanted to take with us in the RV. So I bought one of those big CD cases and put all the movies in there and got rid of all the movie boxes. That saved a lot of space! CDs you can download on your iPod and for the books get a NOOK or KINDLE! Takes up WAY less space then all those paperbacks! :)
So happy to hear that you guys finally found your RV and are living in it now. I remember your very first posts when you were still in the "looking stage". Before you know it you guys will be on the road and official FULL-TIMERS! :)
Nadene
Thank you Nadene
Yeah, it's been over a year since the 'looking' stage! Where does the time go?
Jay has a Kindle, it was one of the first things I got him when he knew he couldn't take ALL his books with him, he must have had over 1000! He is a Historian by career and also it's his biggest interest in books,DVDs etc, he had whole series' of historical books, they all seemed to weigh a ton! It hit him hard watching most of those walk out the door with someone else, poor guy! Unfortunately, he just cannot bring himself to let go of the two boxes we are still 'discussing'. I will more than likely just give up on that one, he took a big step letting the rest go. The DVD's are a different kettle of fish! We haven't watched one since we moved into the RV, I don't enjoy watching movies more than once (unless they are classics) but he just doesn't want to let those go, even the boxes they are in, he says they lose their value/appeal, if they don't have the covers? CDs are slowly but surely being copied over to his Ipod, only another 100 or so to go!!
In the end, it's going to be a case of doing the 'keep that/get rid of that' deal. Luckily, we still have some unused space/weight, so it's not a big deal, but I just know there will be 'souvenirs' we will want to pick up along the way, so we do need to keep that in mind.
huggs kim x
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2016 Vilano by VanLeigh, 2012 F350 Diesel SD 6,7L long bed SRW
Staying at Greenlakes RV Resort nr San Antonio TX
Kim is way too busy planning to have a 'real' job!
Jay is a civillian Gov't Historian Randolph AFB TX (retired AD in '07 after 23 yrs)
LOL Mike!! I guess you really DID do some purging!!
The new rubber teflon bakeware pans will probably make their way in here sooner or later, my Sister has been using them for years back home in England, I like them too.
A kitchenaid mixer? Allways wanted one of those, hubby got me a mixer once with all the fixin's, it sat on the counter for months taking up space, I finally gave it to my DIL. Couldn't quite make the argument for a kitchenaid after that
huggs Kim x
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2016 Vilano by VanLeigh, 2012 F350 Diesel SD 6,7L long bed SRW
Staying at Greenlakes RV Resort nr San Antonio TX
Kim is way too busy planning to have a 'real' job!
Jay is a civillian Gov't Historian Randolph AFB TX (retired AD in '07 after 23 yrs)
