Deciding to live as RV nomads is relatively easy. But winnowing your stuff down and knowing what not to pack for full-time RVing is the hardest step of the journey. Here’s how to get started:
If you haven’t worn it in six months, donate it. (Image: iRV2 member lynch763)
Downsizing for full-time RVing is a shocking process. I never thought I was a consumer until I started taking dusty boxes off garage shelves and emptying my closet to begin downsizing.
When everything was laid out on the floor and I had no room to walk in my home, I couldn’t believe the items I was hanging onto. Here are some lessons I learned while ditching these boat anchors.
Things you haven’t used for six months or more
There’s an old rule that says if you haven’t used a piece of clothing in a year, get rid of it. That’s well and good for conventional living but for tiny house living you need to speed up that timeline. If you haven’t worn something in your closet at least once every six months, donate it.
The same goes for cooking utensils, books, and even non-perishable food. All of those things can be bought somewhere along the way if you need them.
The only place this rule doesn’t apply is your toolbox. You hope you’ll never need to use that roadside emergency kit or jumper cables but you’ll be glad to have them if you do.
Single-use utensils
The kitchen utensils you carry seem like such a small thing but each one takes up space and weight. Although new culinary gadgets are fun to have on hand, most only serve one purpose.
That Smore maker, kiwi peeler, and pineapple corer should all go in your Goodwill pile. If your Grandma lived without it, so can you. Only carry items that can be used for two or more purposes.
Round storage containers
Squeezing conventionally round dinner plates, cookware, and food storage containers into an RV galley cabinet is like trying to jam a square peg in a round hole. But if you stick to square shaped containers, your cabinets will be much cleaner and objects will be easier to locate.
Many items you can pick up on the way. (Image: iRV2 member 2Labs)
Duplicate items you can get anywhere
It’s good to be prepared, but if you can get a common item at every other hardware store or auto supply, why carry the extra load? It takes up room for other more important things and puts you in danger of having an overweight RV.
Holiday decorations
I’ll be the first to admit that I have a Ziploc bag full of Christmas décor. But one bag is all I will allow myself to carry. It fits a couple of precious ornaments, our stocking and not much else. If you feel like getting festive for a holiday, you can always go buy more cheap plastic Chinese made crap at the dollar store, then donate it when the big day is behind you.
Original documents
RV living is great but the lifestyle can sometimes put your possessions in harm’s way. Hurricanes blow over RVs and RV kitchen fires aren’t unusual. Scan important documents that prove your identity and put them on a password protected USB drive in your emergency evacuation bag. Then transfer the originals like your birth certificate, social security card, marriage license, etc., inside a secure storage unit or safe deposit box, not in the RV.
You never know how little you can live with until you actually try. Decluttering to full-time RV is tough but if you give yourself enough time to go through the process you’ll learn how to talk yourself down each time you want to take an unnecessary item on the road. Once you know what not to pack for full-time RVing you’ve overcome the biggest hurdle and are now ready to roll.
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Rene Agredano and her husband, Jim Nelson, became full-time RVers in 2007 and have been touring the country ever since. In her blog, Rene chronicles the ins and outs of the full-timing life and brings readers along to meet the fascinating people and amazing places they visit on the road. Her road trip adventures are chronicled in her blog at LiveWorkDream.com.
Very informative. I adopted the therory, way before rving began……if there is dust on an item in my cupboards or closet, it probably isn’t needed. Donate!
Absolutely true. Had not thought about square plates.
Spent four months in Mexico (Yucatan primarily) and realized on return (8th trip) that I had worn two pair of pants, three shirts, one pair of shorts, and a swim suit for 95% of these trips. We shall finally ruthlessly prune our wardrobe for our 19′ Roadtrek.
The same goes for a lot of the tools we carry with us. These tools can be bought anywhere in US, Canada, or Mexico. Basic electric drill/bits, screwdrivers, Vise Grips, etc are essential.
After almost 10 years of fulltiming and now 3 years of part-timing, I disagree with what you laid out. First, you will often have things that are only used during summer or winter – the 6 month rule goes out the window. I have a jacket I may wear only 1 week a year – that week that it gets really cool in AZ. I should do without – NO. Trick is to find a comfortable RV that suits your lifestyle. Figure 1500# per person for fulltiming and then start looking at rigs. If you have to go with less, do so, but if you can go for more – DO IT!
We are 4 to 6 months away from full time rving. I started last month selling everything we do not use everyday locally. Now I have moved on to eBay and Mercari to sell the rest. I donated food and shoes to churches as well. We are just so excited to declutter then downsize our living right now so when the time to sell the washer and dryer and princess beds we will know it is time to start our next
adventure. Thanks for the advice
If you count 1500 lbs per person, what are you including? Everything not included on the rig when you took delivery? What about those weight robbing things like washer and dryer, larger battery bank, solar… well you get the idea. We plan to carry the bulk of our tools in the PU bed, also the genny and assorted gear for rig set up. If we count everything we are thinking of including the solar and batteries and W&D we cross the mark right around 3000 for us both (estimated). Take those items out and we are down near 2200. Are we underestimating our load out?
We are preparing to be full time – We have a good sized 5th wheel, but our rig has about 3000# of available weight. That would be anything and everything we put in it from the full LP tanks, tools, cloths, food, grill, chairs, etc. You get the picture and out tow vehicle is limited also. Start with an empty RV and go from there. I can tell you, it will be a challenge for us!
Hello Vanessa. Did you get on the road yet? How about an update?
This article starts your thinking, however written by a man…..obviously. Focus on tools, WD 40 ….really. While we need tools, we also need a coat in the Winter and a few kitchen gadgets that you may use in a regular dish you make…..
I cringe every time I see the “6 month” rule for clothing. There’s the bathing suit you only wear a few times a year or the shirt and tie and dress shoes you only wear once every 2 years. Believe me I hate lugging around stuff I rarely use but I’m not buying brand new stuff at Nordstrom every time a wedding comes up. I agree many people have way more clothes than they actually need but there are certain items you just need to hang on to. I had a whole rack of dress clothes in my sticks & bricks. I hung on to two dress shirts, two ties, one dress pants and donated the rest.
I agree, we will be full time in the spring. My husband is a full time truck driver. There is stuff in my kitchen that I haven’t used in a long time and will in the future. You need to pack every day clothing, but you might need to go to a wedding or funeral. I’m not going to buy new clothes every time. Dress and pants don’t take up that much space. We have alot of space under the bed. I plan on using it wisely. How do I make up my mind on if my great grandma’s quilt comes with me or give it away. My great grandparents water cooler crock or grandpa’s milk cans? It is so hard. I know I must give the furniture to family, but the smaller stuff is so hard.
I suggest not using plastic clothes hangers like the ones shown in the article picture. A good bump will snap them and leave you with a pile of clothes on the floor and no useful hangers.
Everyone has seasonal clothes. I have a plastic tub, about 18″ x 24″ x 30″ that I keep in the under rig storage area of the RV. In spring, I put all my thermal shirts, socks, long johns, gloves, jackets and extra sweatshirts and jeans in the tub. In late fall I switch, putting my shorts, light weight socks, and such in the tub. This frees up a lot of space in the closet and chest of drawers. In the process of the bi-annual swap I also weed out stuff I haven’t used during the past season. A Rule of Thumb, whenever you buy a new piece of clothing, that should be coupled with getting rid of some other old item. Same rules apply to all the other stuff in the rig. Just how many camping chairs, ice chests and folding tables do you have spirited away under the rig? Are you hauling along 3 or 4 gallons of windshield washer fluid, and 6 quarts of motor oil, that you can buy at any gas station you pass?
So what I actually need to take is pretty much all I take except one item and that’s my dog…I leave the spruce at home…works for me and the dog.
Leave the wife leave 60% of the stuff.
Really disappointed to read encouragement to purchase single use “Chinese made plastic crap” at the Dollar store. This behavior certainly does nothing to keep our environment clean and healthy.