Emotional Baggage - How to deal with things you really don't need anymore

[Ballenxj]

As the title says, how do you deal with your possessions that have meaning, yet you don't really need to be packing it around? <br>I got the idea for this discussion here. (Thanks MrNoodly) https://vanlivingforum.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1277638026&amp;postcount=15 <br>-Bruce

 

[MrNoodly]

My ex-wife, who is still a good friend, has offered to let me store in her attic any cherished possessions I don't have room for in the van. Knowing those things are safe and that I would be able to visit them seems like a good solution.

 

[Ballenxj]

MrNoodly, That sounds like a nice solution for you. I don't think I could trust any of my ex wives like that. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" class="emoticon bbc_img"> <br>OpenMinds, No offense taken. (Not by me anyway)&nbsp; <br>I stopped participating in man organized religion many years ago for a reason. Doesn't mean I'm not Christian in my Heart though. I still believe, but not like they would have me do in their for profit houses. <br>Back on topic, I realize that I still have a few belongings to get rid of before I will truly be free to do what I want to. You know what I mean. Those possessions that you just cannot get out there with as their ownership feels like a responsibility you just can't seem to loose. <br>-Bruce

 

[rokguy]

<EM>I think I'm working the opposite way to most of you guys, in that when I was younger and didn't earn the bucks to buy possesions,&nbsp;I lived a very simply life in a small rented cabin with no vehicles beside my bicycle. I worked one day a week to buy food and pay my rent $50 a week. I lived this lifestyle for quite a number of years after my apprenticeship in Stonemasonry and was starting to question is there more than doing this.</EM><BR><EM>By luck I happened on an old wooden trawler for sale in the next bay, gradually doing it up and moving onboard from the cabin. I soon had to learn how to live with a battery and one small solar panel.</EM><BR><EM>Plenty a night I went to bed with no light or power left. My boat started to becaome my asset in that people saw what I was doing and wanted the same. there were 3 people how kept pestering me to buy it. &nbsp;I ended up selling the boat for 25 times what I paid for it. I loved the boating lifestyle but always wanted to put back something towards my trade, &nbsp;having all this new found wealth at 22 years old I started looking at various ways of building homes on wheels and built my first motorhome. (what a learning curve)</EM><BR><EM>I hit the road and found I wanted to work a bit while moving, travelling with&nbsp;this homebuilt motorhome started opened up so many career opportunities, first a big boatbuilding company exec. saw it at a RV park we both were staying at and wanted to offer me a job fitting out fancy motorboats. I almost excepted but didn't want to be tied to work in one spot. Then I was offered another job with an RV manufacturer but&nbsp;for the same reasons&nbsp;turned it down.&nbsp;After knocking back several other offers i started to think maybe I could go back into the trade I loved and combine travelling with restoring old buildings. (something I always though was a stactic job)</EM><BR><EM>One day I saw a ad in a small shop in a town of 400 people contract Stonemason needed to build entrance wall and applied. As it turned out this small town had wineries, B and B's,&nbsp;Vineyards everywhere and I sucessfully worked there for the next 6 seasons. lots of wealthy city slickers visited there and wanted the same for their homes. This is where I got started as a travelling craftsman 25 years ago and have been doing it by word of mouth even since.</EM><BR><BR><EM>So finally getting back to the point.</EM><BR><EM>My lifestyle now has allowed me to travel as much as I please, I don't look at what I do&nbsp;as&nbsp;a&nbsp;job and love doing it, I regard it as a form of art and charge accordingly. With this I have accumilated stuff I wanted but never buy new. My form of wealth is having 4 different ways to live on the road/water and still have a base.</EM><BR><EM>Even though I have stuff, I believe I have worked out a way (that suits me might not suit others) to futureproof my life in having a landbase.</EM><BR><EM>My&nbsp;three trucks&nbsp;are all 12v only self contained, my boat is the same, my old motorhome is my removeable cabin now. all these things have a purpose for what I love doing, weather it be sailing, old school trucking, working on the road and cycling.</EM><BR><EM>My land base is productive as a food source now I'm now harvesting sunflowers for biofuel&nbsp;as my trucks and boat.(all diesel powered) run on a blend.</EM><BR><EM>It is also a no cost storage facility for my yacht when I'm not living aboard.</EM><BR><EM>It is also a storage facility for my hobby stuff as I collect vintage Cannondale bicycles. </EM><BR><EM>Each truck stores it own gear, clothing, food, bicycle, tools, which greatly improves efficiency by not having to move stuff from one to the next. It is all assigned to its own truck.</EM><BR><BR><EM>The landbase doen't have one thing permanently attached to it, even my 2 storage sheds are ex box truck bodies.</EM><BR><EM>Cost wise this whole setup doesn't come in close to a friend of mine living in his RV at a RV park.</EM><BR><EM>As I stated earlier it wouldn't&nbsp;suit others but it works for me.</EM><BR><EM>Geoff</EM>

 

[my_vantasy]

I read these suggestions somewhere (this is going to be really embarrassing if I read them here and am repeating what you already know):

1) Give them to family or close friends who will take care of them, appreciate them, and allow you to see them

2) Take pictures of them and carry the pictures with you. You can look at the pictures whenever you need the comfort of the item or want to see its beauty.

It makes sense on paper, but I am not to that point yet, so I don't know if it actually works.

 

[MrNoodly]

I grew up in a white collar world, rokguy, so it never occurred to me to pursue one of the skilled trades. "Son, tradesmen are what we hire, not what we became ourselves." But I think I would have been much happier as a stone mason, cabinet maker or similar occupation. I might have made less money and had less social status, but I think I would have been happier. Too bad so many of us don't figure that out sooner. Fortunate for you, though.

 

[Seraphim]

What's stopping you from learning? If you enjoy it, then learn how to do it. <br><br>I did the college bit, then the Marine Corps, then tried an office job as loan officer. Lasted two years and became an unskilled laborer of sorts.<br><br>My brother went the opposite direction: became an electrician, got his electrical engineering degree at age 50. Magna Cum Laude.&nbsp; Found a job he liked better.<br><br>Don't lament the past; work towards the future. No matter how little of it you think you have left. Enjoy what there is of it.<br><br>

 

[MrNoodly]

I didn't mean to sound like I was lamenting. Envious, maybe, but not lamenting. That's why I'm making the life change now. If I don't need a certain income in order to maintain that white collar life anymore (house, etc.), then I can afford to work for nothing or for peanuts while I learn new skills. Anyone out there wanna teach me welding?

 

[AltTransBikes]

"Anything that is given can be at once taken away. We have to learn never to expect anything, and when it comes it's no more than a gift on loan." --John McGahern, The Leavetaking

 

[user 423]

Good topic. I've never owned much and don't worry about losing what I have. When I hit the road in '02, the only concern I had was finding a place for safekeeping old family photos. They were left with one of my sisters but she has failed to follow through on her promise to have them copied. We later had a falling out and she has refused to even let me have them scanned. I'm not sure if I hired a lawyer and filed a civil suit it would do any good.

 

[Ballenxj]

One of my daughters took all my old photos to Montana. She lived out there for a short few years, then decided she didn't like it there. She put all those old irreplaceable family photos, photos of my old hotrods, wedding photos, etc in storage out there till she went back to get them.<br>&nbsp;Well, that was more than a few years ago, so I can count on never seeing them again. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/frown.gif" class="emoticon bbc_img"> <br>-Bruce

 

[Seraphim]

The older we get, the more we realize they are just things, and it's the memories attached to them which are important - not the things themselves. We've been making passes through the house, getting rid of things. There is nothing I regret getting rid of...

....except that '79 Honda CBX I got rid of in the early 80s. Wish I had THAT back.

 

[user 423]

<p>Yes, the CBX was awesome! Closest I've owned was an '83 CB1100F. The one I really would like to have now though would be my '70 Triumph Bonneville.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

 

[Ballenxj]

You too slowday? I had a 67 Triumph Bonneville in the late seventies. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/wink.gif" class="emoticon bbc_img"> <br>-Bruce

 

[user 423]

Yeah,I had a '69 TR6 first but it got stolen and then got a new '70 Bonnie. Great handling bikes. Much later I owned a '73 T140 750 with a 5-speed. Switched to a Suzi GS850G then a GS1100G, then a&nbsp; Sportster. I played with the CB1100 for a short time but got too many tickets. I've got an '82 Honda GL500I bagger now. If things go right I'll be riding it to AK this summer.

 

[Ballenxj]

Interesting slowday, I always liked the TR6, but never got one. I did have a 78 Triumph Spitfire. That car handled like it was on rails. <br>I also had a 78 Suzuki GS1000. You know, the one with the white stripe on the tank? <br>I had a long history of riding bikes, but now don't have any. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/frown.gif" class="emoticon bbc_img"> <br>-Bruce

 

[user 423]

The Spitfires were cool although I was into MG's and had a MGB that was also a '78. I visited England in '88 and my 20 yo cousin scared me half to death with his souped up Spitfire. He had to show me how much better than an MG it was on the local twistys.<strong><img rel="lightbox" src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" class="bbc_img"></strong><br><br>I sold my GS in '91 so haven't ridden much for a long time since I've had orthopedic issues. The GL500 was bought really cheap last winter and with a little work it's now in good shape. I've never made the AK trip and with gas so high a bike that gets 50mpg makes it affordable for me. With lots of camping anyway. <br>I'd be riding up with a friend who has the exact same bike and a complete parts bike is available so spares can be Fedexed in case of a breakdown in the middle of nowhere. Since they are 31yo bikes that's a real possibility!

 

[Ballenxj]

Isn't the GL500 a variant of the CX500? Those little Silver Wings are reputed to be super reliable. <br>-Bruce

 

[user 423]

Yes,the GL is a later version of the CX with an improved ignition and different styling. They also made a 650, the last year in '83 I believe. They're generally reliable like most of the Japanese bikes but do have some quirks related to the liquid cooling system. A leaky water pump seal can dump coolant into the oil. Mine has 26k on it so hopefully it will be OK.<br><br>This is my first water-cooled bike but the PM is just like that on a car. It has a Pro-Link rear suspension with a monoshock which is a new feature to me also and rides really smoothly. It has half the HP as my previous road burners but moves out fast enough for me. It's a pushrod motor and is a little noisy but it's a shafty so it's pretty smooth overall.<br><br>PS: I had a friend that lived on his '79 GS1000, riding year-round. It had like 79k on it when he sold it.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I've traveled fulltime on motorcycle years ago when I was still able and really enjoyed it. Have also used a Celica fastback, a stationwagon, as well as a couple vans I built. Also, lived aboard my sailboat for 5yrs (long since sold). Now, with the 2nd motorhome, one on a Toyota frame and this one a 27' Gulf Stream. Even spent about a year on bicycle.

I've never gone in for storing posessions, as it can be costly and/or heartbreaking in the longrun. The times I've had a house base I collected antiques, tools, and was generally a packrat when it came to re-usables.
I'd sell or give away everything when the travel itch got to be too much to handle sitting still.
There's always more STUFF out there if I decide to settle again.