Just thought I'd throw in a somewhat different perspective on the whole "getting rid of stuff" thing.
Unlike most (but not all) people here, we started full-timing out of necessity, not choice. I have weathered several economic downturns without batting an eye, but when the recent "Great Recession" came, my number was finally up. When my boss told me that he was closing the doors and my next paycheck would be the last (plus, it bounced), I wasn't particularly worried. I thought money would be tight for a month or so, but I'd be back to work in no time.
Nope, didn't work out that way.
For the following 3 years, I was mostly unemployed, but took what work I could get, generally paying 1/4 or less what I used to make.
It finally got to the point where I had to admit that next month's rent wasn't going to be there. Talked to the landlord, let him know the situation, and that we'd be out of the house ASAP so he could start looking for new tenants. Left behind a pretty bad-ass $2500 fridge to compensate for breaking our lease agreement. We parted on good terms.
Rented 2 storage units and squeezed all of our "most important" stuff into them. This was in June, so we drove back to the area that my wife is from, found a little county park with a $5 per night camping rate, and lived in a little, yellow 2 person tent for a few months.
When our tax refund finally showed up, we spent it, and a little extra on a 30 year old, beat up, 20 foot travel trailer. On the nights we cold afford the five dollars, we stayed at that same county park. When we couldn't scrape up 5 bucks, we had a few boondocking spots that we used.
Finally, after 3 years of no work, or low paying work, I landed a real job again. We continued to live in the old, beat-up TT to save money so we could repair the financial damage done during my "3 Years of Hell".
During this time, we had missed some payments on the storage units. I had kept in contact with the owner and sent what I could when I could, and each time I talked to him he assured me that our stuff was safe as long as I was working with him. When I called to let him know that I was ready to pay in full and pick up my stuff, he had no choice but to fess up that he had auctioned it off several months back.
Everything we owned, everything we considered "valuable". Gone. Not a damn thing we could do. And, yeah, my fault, I'm the one that got behind on the bill....
Anyway, on to the point of this long-windedness...
We packed a 3-bedroom house, filled to the brim, worth of "stuff" that we felt was important. Having lost it, I don't miss a single thing. My wife misses about 2 small boxes worth of pictures and papers. As for the rest? We replaced the lost items that we actually wanted to replace with newer/better for about $500 just by keeping an eye on Craigslist. It took me about 20 years worth of paychecks to get that stuff. Added up, I easily spent 6 figures on that stuff. I replaced the stuff I cared about for $500.
The other thing I'd mention is that my new job is a good one, and my paycheck is respectable. A little over a year ago we had bounced back to the point where we could have rented a pretty decent house (still have a little work to do on the credit score before I could get a mortgage at a decent rate, but progress is steady and faster than I expected). Instead of that, we both agreed, without hesitation, to devote those resources to a better RV. Sold the $1200 TT for $400, took out a small loan against my meager 401k, and bought my brother-in-law's motor home off of him for dirt cheap. Seems he lost enthusiasm for camping after my wife's sister decided to divorce his dumb ass and take the kids with her. So we're now in a 34 ft. motorhome, 15 years old, no slides, but it feels more "house like" than any of the houses I have lived in. Honestly, it's more space than we need. (Not that we don't use it all up....)
Losing all my "stuff" sucked at the time, but in hindsight, it set me free. It changed my life. 22 years worth of paychecks, countless thousands of dollars went into acquiring that stuff. And the more stuff I got, the more stuff I had to buy to store it and keep it reasonably organized. Maybe that's a couple hundred bucks for shelving in the garage, but at least twice it was a bigger house, bigger garage, bigger basement. All just to store "stuff" that I honestly rarely used, but wasn't willing to toss.
I have been set free from the American idea that happiness, tranquility, and peace of mind can be purchased at WalMart or Costco. Hell, I used to always think I needed the biggest TV on the market. I'm currently looking to get rid of the one I have in favor of something a bit smaller.
I may have started full-timing out of necessity, but I stick with it by choice. And I'm still working age, I don't even get to move around much. But at the end of the work day I get to go home to a place that most people consider a "vacation spot". I'm surrounded by beauty, and I get to sleep at night in actual dark, no street lights shining through my window.
At 43 years of age, and still shackled to one location by the necessity of work, I only have 2 regrets regarding full-time RVing. The first is that it took me 20 years to figure all this out, and the second is that if I hadn't blown all that money on "stuff" in those 20 years, I might be in a position to travel more....
One of my favorite books is titled "AWOL on the Appalachian Trail". It's basically a diary of a guy who decided to quit his job so that he could fulfill the dream of hiking all 2,000 or so miles of the Appalachian Trail in one go. He was successful. In later editions of the book, there is a section in the afterword where he answers questions that he has gotten. One of them, which I won't take time to look up, had to do with what the most important thing he learned on the trail was. His answer was that he came to realize that possessions are burdens. Just another pound on your back.
I agree. Amazon is full of cool stuff that I would like to play with. But once bought, I wouldn't want to throw/give it away. That results in the endless cycle of "bigger, better, more"... Not just more stuff, but more space, and more expense to store it and/or haul it around.
Yes. Possessions are burdens, not blessings. (With a very few specific and obvious exceptions...)
(And, yeah, I still have the 50 inch TV and satellite service, I'm not going totally overboard with this philosophy... ๐ )
