What do you keep?

txanne · Jun 19, 2012

Being a general pack rat--I have a lot of nostagia to clear out. What do you consider the most important keepers?I have a large tote full of family pictures and card andalums I have posted all the cards I have ever been givenand I would grieve to give them up. What about pots and pans?Dishes?Do you live with paper plates etc?I have a colletion of Dvds--they have been my entertainmentin the past years.Bath products are an easy  decision. I am wondering ==did you store your things you couldnt part withor make the hadr decision to just get rid of stuff? I am so new--havent caught up with what each has done to make the move to Rving.I live in a 36fter now--so furniture isnt hard to get rid of-- All ideas will be appreciated--Thank you in advance. annie

sl1966 · Jun 19, 2012

I fixed your empty post and spelling in the title. <img border="0" align="absmiddle" src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif"><div> </div>

txanne · Jun 20, 2012

sl1966 said:
I fixed your empty post and spelling in the title. <img border="0" align="absmiddle" src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif"><div> </div>

Did I really screw up? Sorry and thank you--I was trying to get thisin the right spot--tired and hot--brain-damamge. Still fumbling trying to figure it out! My bad!!<img border="0" align="absmiddle" src="/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif"> annie

stude53 · Jun 20, 2012

Annie,

DVDs take up a lot less room than photos, so maybe you could get your photos scanned and put on DVDs to keep those memories, and make it easy to retain them.

Good luck,
Bob

rvwandering · Jun 20, 2012

If I'm reading your other posts correctly , you're thinking about getting a teardrop? You'll probably have a little corner in a cupboard where you can store your bag of photos and cards.

Like stude53 says DVD take up very little room unless you have hundreds of them. If so you'll have to trim your collection down to a few dozen of your favorites.

Cooking is usually kept simple. You can get along pretty well with a frying pan ,one large pot, one small pot and a few Corelle dishes.

Don't store anything except things with extreme sentimental value. Find a willing family member or friend who has a little extra room in their garage or basement. Storage fees really add up.

sl1966 · Jun 20, 2012

txanne said:
Did I really screw up?

Nothing major and no need to apologize. It was minor, but enough that it might cause some confusion.

Adding in my .02Ã‚Â¢

I've gotten rid of everything that's not important or can be easily replaced. For a frame of reference here's what I'll be doing with my plates and pans. My plates came from Ikea and are nothing special. They go. My pots and pans are all stainless steel iron clad, so those go on loan to mom or sis until I need them back. I've replaced all of it with lightweight titanium back packers cookware. It's lightweight and takes up a small footprint of space when stored.

Things like pictures, movies, and music have all been digitized and are stored on a couple of portable hard drives. I duplicated everything across my laptop and two external drives for redundancy. I have two books that are coming with me and the rest are in my Kindle.

I condensed all my worldly possessions (so far) into three large rubbermaid containers. At worst I might fill up three more when I'm done living here, but think I'll only take up 1.5 when I'm done. Now that I'm thinking about it one of them are only half full now so it'll probably be just 4 storage containers of stuff.

I can't part with my beagle so she's coming with me. I have a few other odds and ends that are coming along (clothes, air rifle, bathroom stuff, firesafe, ukuleles, & laptop).

txanne · Jun 23, 2012

Thanks everyone. I love the tear drop--but got to thinking about something:Tight spot turning--off road rough areas--a pull behind mightcause more problems than its worth--whereas a van--slide-inmight be a better thought. I have caste iron cook-ware--too heavy--also have a lighter set of BHG(in red-lol) that I will keep.Plenty of old quilts--- I have crock pots--roaster ovens--stand mixer--etc--I do have a hand mixer also-- I am discovering something that I can admit too--this isnot a throw in the truck and take-off kind of life--it REALLY takes alot lot of thought--transportation seems simple com-pared to how you will live and what possesions you Can livewithout--I live in an Rv now---and just thought I had downedmy needs-- Storage units have indeed gone sky high--small 4x8 is 65.00 a mo. wow--hats off to you that have done it and are on your way. annie

sl1966 · Jun 23, 2012

Thanks for reminding me. I forgot to mention that I have a 10" frying pan and a 4 qt dutch oven (for baking) which are both made from cast iron. Those are my two heaviest pieces of cookware that I will not part with. <div> </div><div>I know the further out from the city the cheaper the storage units are. I rented a 5x10 for only $25 per month that was about 25 miles outside the city, and that was during this bad economy.</div><div> </div>

judycmomx6 · Jun 23, 2012

I have to tell you, down sizing has been EXTREMELY difficult for me. But I have 6 grown children and a lifetime of "stuff". I just finally gave up trying to decide what stays and what goes and gave everything in my house away, including the high dollar furniture! I kept just enough kitchen stuff to cook in my 30ft. rv and that's it. I did keep some clothes and my jewelry making stuff and got a small storage unit. I will probably go back thru it down the road and get rid of more as time goes by, don't know. We all want to get on with our new mobile lives but it is a very difficult process for us girls to get rid of every single thing we have ever owned, after all we spend our whole lives gathering it! If you think you are a pack rat you should have seen what I got rid of! I got to the point where I was sitting thing's out on the street with a "free" sign on it, stuff was gone in an hour, two day's in a row. Anyway, good luck, and I hope you don't have the time of it that I did!

SirJoey · Jun 23, 2012

judycmomx6 said:
I have to tell you, down sizing has been EXTREMELY difficult for me. But I have 6 grown children and a lifetime of "stuff". I just finally gave up trying to decide what stays and what goes and gave everything in my house away, including the high dollar furniture! I kept just enough kitchen stuff to cook in my 30ft. rv and that's it. I did keep some clothes and my jewelry making stuff and got a small storage unit. I will probably go back thru it down the road and get rid of more as time goes by, don't know. We all want to get on with our new mobile lives but it is a very difficult process for us girls to get rid of every single thing we have ever owned, after all we spend our whole lives gathering it! If you think you are a pack rat you should have seen what I got rid of! I got to the point where I was sitting thing's out on the street with a "free" sign on it, stuff was gone in an hour, two day's in a row. Anyway, good luck, and I hope you don't have the time of it that I did!

<div> </div><div>Thanx for that re-cap, Judy! I can SOOOO relate! With 12 ROOMS of junk to get rid of, I too am finding it VERY difficult. I've been trying to sell a lot of stuff, without much luck. Problem is, I really NEED to get something out of the stuff, cuz my old antique motorhome needs a lot of work, my old 17-year-old truck has been in the shop for over 3 weeks, I'm flat broke, & on a very limited, fixed income! WHEW....<div> </div><div>I can see it ultimately coming down to what U describe, however.... sitting the stuff out by the road with "FREE" signs on it! It's not that I mind doing that so much really, it's just the need to generate a little "working" money in the process! <img border="0" align="absmiddle" src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/frown.gif"></div><div> </div></div>

judycmomx6 · Jun 23, 2012

Wow,12 rooms!? I thought I had it bad with 4 beds, a den and an office! We wouldn't have had such a terrible time but our house got rented out right away. I thought I was going to have more time to go thru thing's and such. But it ended up being only 3 weeks from buying the RV to having to be moved out. So I didn't have the option of waiting till stuff sold, I wish I would have, I probably would have made a small fortune. But that's o.k. anyway, I'm not real worried about material stuff anymore, I just want to get out of here. <div>Well, have a good night!</div>

txanne · Jun 24, 2012

BOY---isnt it something!!I breathed a sign of relief when I readall of your post. A year ago I hauled 5 pup loads to the localcharitable resale shop--5 now I am lookingaround and shaking my head. It is emotionally over-whelming also--sooooI am going to concentrate on what I will livein--FirstTackle the baggage later--cant handle that right now.Sounds like a plan. I have 4 caste-iron skillets-1lidded dutch over and 1 caste-iron pot-These to me are camp-fire necessities. They stay. And I too am on a fixed income--Cant pull this heavy headed 36 footeraround--aint even going to try and back it up--Have it wrapped around a tree--pole--or you and your vehicle LOL I have access to a motor-rized Rv--needs so much brake work--gas-guzzler.Looked at a USED UPS extended cab van--lots of miles.Geezzzzzzzz Thanks for your comments--they are helping--I am not the onlyone trying to figure this out. annie

blars · Jun 24, 2012

For DVDs, you can reduce the amount of storage space by taking them out of the boxes and puting them in cd albums.  Usually the paper insert is removeable and can be saved if wanted, and DVD boxes are cheap if you ever want to sell a DVD.

txanne · Jun 24, 2012

blars said:
For DVDs, you can reduce the amount of storage space by taking them out of the boxes and puting them in cd albums.  Usually the paper insert is removeable and can be saved if wanted, and DVD boxes are cheap if you ever want to sell a DVD.

I had forgotten that--You are so correct!WOW And I have seen those and I think you can now get a flatwall hanger type.You are hero of the day.LOL I didnt even have an antenna for along time and so I developeda huge collection.Its my winter occupy me--thing. Thanksannie

Les H · Jun 24, 2012

I'm going to show this thread to my wife. I have moved dozens of times, pretty much starting over each time, so, while I do accumulate things, they often go just as quickly. There is NOT ONE THING that I have had for more than 10 years. My wife never lived more than 3 miles from the home she grew up in, and only moved 3-4 times before I dragged her across the country, going from north to south. When we got married, she had everything for a 3 bedroom house, and I had everything for a 2 bedroom apt and a shed and shop. Our last house was a bit over 2000 sf, crammed full. We now live in a 1200sf mobile home and have 2 sheds, so we are going in the right direction. When the youngest finishes school in 3 years, we will go full time, ready or not. Lots to do in a few short years. We even have a vehicle " collection" that would need to be addressed. Then, there are the " collectables" ...... Sigh

She · Jun 24, 2012

Im chucking everything but the basics. Not much of family..actually none so I have very few pics of family. More of my pets...getting off topic here. I will be work camping and renting a 25 buck storage room a month. Winter stuff goes in when summer comes out and trades in the summer. One pan one pot and one plate,one cup,one fork...etc and etc. the only thing that stays are my 2 dolly's. Yes sometimes girls don't grow up and need their dolly's LOL. Also clothes will changed weekly from storage except I dont have a lot of clothes to begin with. I don't have 20 pairs of shoes. 3 pairs of sneaker and loafers. I don;t like material stuff I loathe it because you need to clean them. AND I hate cleaning.

VanTrekker · Jun 24, 2012

I feel so liberated after getting rid of a lot of earthly possessions.  I store a few in Dad's garage.  Eventually I'll do the little 5x10 thing. The things that I store outside the van are mainly tools, a couple of bikes, some clothes, and a very few family trinkets. I carry my DVD collection on board by putting 240 or so of them into an album for storage.  It takes up the space of a large scrapbook.  Not bad...  The funny thing is I never really have time to watch them! Now that time has elapsed, it feels normal to live with a lot fewer possessions.  <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

Trout · Jul 5, 2012

Anne, you can get terrabyte sized hard drives at Staples.  Just one could hold all of your movies and photos.  They are the size of a paperback so mot much room.  The originals can be kept (or passed down) to family members for safe keeping.  There were a few things I hadn't used in over 6 months.  These were the first to go.

Trout · Jul 7, 2012

y-wave,  The best device  came from my sister   2 nephews!

adi · Jul 7, 2012

Ã‰Â£-wave said:
What do you use for converting dvd/blueray to digi?

Handbrake is probably the easiest to use for getting a DVD to a movie file on your computer. Unfortunately for blu-ray there is no one-step application, when I was doing this for my library to had to rip the blu-ray to your hard drive, and then use an app to convert that rip to a movie file. The other drawback is the amount of time it will take your computer to convert blu-ray, it can be anywhere from 4 to 12 hours for a single movie.

What do you keep?

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