Closing in on my escape!

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RaiderJohn

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Hello Everyone, I hope this is finding all of you as well as possible in these tough times. I’ve been following this site for probably 4-5 years learning as much as I can. I retired about a year ago, just signed a contract to sell my home and will be closing on September 14. I can’t wait to get going, but I’m now in that time of deciding what to keep, what to get rid of, storage, sell, it’s even more difficult than I expected. I imagine it’s different for everyone on how to make these decisions. Do you have any suggestions on how to make this a bit easier and less confusing?
 
There have been suggestions for marking out the space your vehicle will take up, then organizing it with what you think you will need and going from there.

Most of us start out with way more than we need, and keep paring down. ☺️
 
greatest untapped resource in the United States is the reference librarian at your local public library. Tell them what you are trying to do and what resources would be available for you to help with the decision process. Check with local consignment shops if they won't take your stuff to sell then it's probably worthless. And remember if you decide to put stuff in storage you are buying it back every month. Took me nine garage sales to get rid of everything and I have been culling the remnants still over the last 10 years. a big challenge seniors face is nobody wants their stuff when they're dead
 
Make a few test runs in the meantime and that will help a lot to figure out what you actually have to have vs want to have. Once you have the basic bones of your build down you can fine tune as you go. Good luck on your adventure!

Cheers
 
Do you have any suggestions on how to make this a bit easier and less confusing?
If you have kids, tell them that your excess stuff is up for grabs. Anything they don't want is yard sale material, and anything left over goes into the dumpster.

Keep only what is useful for van living. If you eventually end up in a dwelling again, you can acquire all the stuff you might need at yard sales or thrift stores. Paying for a storage unit is false economy, 99% of the time.

Details on your finances, rig, where you live now, etc might change things a bit...
 
Sell almost all of it and set aside some of that money to purchase items you later realize will make your van life more comfortable.

It is a whole lot of work to downsize so make everyday count this summer in order to accomplish it.
 
get rid of damn near all of it, sentimental attachments and all and YOUR NEW adventure and new chapter of life IS ON the road as you deem fit.

let it go, let it all go, let it go.........if you want this :)

future is future, past is past. keep useable life items required for how you are on the road, after that, crap means just that....crap! focus on new adventure and new items you will require, like fitting in a kayak cause you wanna do that, or a nice bike rack cause you love that, or hike gear to suit this near life on the road.

think future at all times! best of luck forward!!
 
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