Packing And Nearing The Ut Oh Moment

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RoadtripsAndCampfires

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CO at the moment
We are still working on the cargo trailer build but stopped to pack it.  My thinking is I need to know what fits now and what needs a place.  What can't go?  What will we choose between?  What's the final layout for the cupboards?

This weekend the last of the walls will go up, the floor was laid last week.  We have 2 vents ready to install behind the refrigerator and we can't hook that up until we finish attaching/sealing the frame.  Windows are still being masked and painted.  We wanted a black aluminum rectangle window frame against the white outer shell.

Trying to find my notes on the fuse box/circuit breaker I know I have buried under the other hundred pieces of paper with notes scribbled on them.  Oh yea - and which AGM battery?  

My bedroom has everything that is going in the back of the pickup.  This is where it really becaomes obvious that we have some things to give up.  Out of 8 fishing poles I've given up one so far.  Is that progress?

The bookcase in the bedroom is now empty and outside waiting for a garage sale.  The basement is almost empty but damn if the washer didn't overflow today causing mschief.

And oh, those photos and videos are still waiting transfer and disposal.
 
Real tricky for sure. I'm in the process and honestly think it will take a good year for me to do.

Hardest for me is kitchen stuff. I have no oven and like to eat well. Also know it will cost less, not more, and be astronomically more healthy, to prepare my own foods than to buy prepared foods.

The fishing poles things suggests that you still have emotional attachments to the things that bind you. Do those emotional attachments still pay off? Are there things you own that it would break your heart to get rid of?

I imagine most of what anyone owns would in the long run be well worth abandoning.
 
Dingfelder,

Glad to hear someone else is without an oven. I'm going to get a Coleman Camp Oven. My only other choice is to swap out the stove and I REALLY don't want to do that. Its been done once and whoever did it, trimmed the door frame to get the stove in and I KNOW I'm going to have a draft in that area so will have to double up on the weatherstripping in that area.

I also like to cook and paring down my kitchen stuff has been hard as I plan to pack a portable bbq and need the tools for it

I'm getting down on dishes, with just two of us in the trailer, I don't need many.

Got to have a tea pot and coffee pot as I love my tea and my traveling companion likes his coffee.

I'm taking 2 fishing poles and so is he and we'll have our tackle boxes, but they can go in the truck when we get a canopy for it.

Bikes are essential if we're near shopping and don't want to use the truck.

We're going to get together soon and have a strategy session. I've told him what clothes he'll likely need and I've already been sorting and packing what I'm taking.

This is off-topic but here goes. I had a guy living here who is a hoarder. I evicted him the day we brought the trailer home (long story)

Since he's been gone, we've sorted nearly everything he left here and found what I need to put in the trailer and 7 tents

I have a tent, so that's going--even though the trailer can sleep six if I drop the bunk above my bed.

I know we'll need boots as well as shoes and I've got mats for the floor as its COLD. Boot cupboard has spare battery and a few other things in it so footwear will have to sit by the door.

We're going to build storage bins in the truck bed for the things we don't use often and I'll find a bike rack somewhere.

I'm the organizer, he's just the driver!

But escaping the too big 4 bedroom house he's in and the dead end construction job he has does appeal to him. Work and home, try to get the chores done on the weekend and NEVER having time to himself is wearing him down. Time for a change. My change factor is my hometown is growing too fast and I don't like it any more.

IF we can get everything done that we need to, I hope we can be out of here by next fall. I'd love to go sooner but with the few repairs and paint the trailer needs, I doubt we'll get away before then

In the meantime we'll prepare, big thing is tracking the trailer registration and getting it licensed and insured. If I can't get the registration, we're not going anywhere
 
It's a long road, isn't it?

I find myself throwing lots of stuff away, but I still have so much. I'm somewhat of a hoarder too. Not old newspapers and worn-out socks and such, not that bad, but just stuff I've found useful. For instance, I really love my great big breadmaker. Did I say big?

Then there's all the tupperware, and as much as I have, I've used almost all of it to fill the freezer with my batch-cooked meals. I love to cook like that and have a variety of healthy foods always on hand -- but that whole habit has got to go along with stacks of tupperware. And all the pots and pans and cooking trays... I bought a Rand solar cooker but during the summers here we can have forest fires for months on end, blocking out the sun ... so now that's a big white elephant.

Some great jackets and sweaters and on and on ... getting rid of almost everything you own and have worked hard for is hard!

You know what's not going, though? My unicycle and all my safety equipment. To hell with it, everybody's gotta have something goofy.
 
I just finished sorting about 10 bags of hoarder clothes. My friend Mark and his girlfriend won't need to buy many clothes--especially jeans, for a LONG time and my room mate Rob won't need t-shirts or swimming trunks. Found myself a GREAT pair of one piece flannel pajamas I can wear layers under to keep warm in bed and lots of hoodies to keep my head warm.

I've gotten down to basics with pots and pans, but the cooking utensils are an issue, too many I really want but won't need

Freezer in my Dometic is small but I could cook some soups and freeze them, with me its Rubbermaid containers, got rid of most of my Tupperware years ago. (small kitchen in house) 3 baking pans, 4 cutting boards, a few good knives room mate Tyler sharpened for me. I'm getting there. Good Luck with your clean out. I'll be doing more tomorrow

Cheers
Lois

PS. Also found towels and face cloths, which I will need and the trailer came with 4 bottles of hand soap
 

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