Monthly Archives: December 2018

The Freedom of RV Life with Kids Has Its Limits

By Claire Posted in downsizing, Simpler Living Tagged , ,

(Continuing the theme from last week’s post….) A family of six decides to give up the modern life of the big house full of toys and furniture and take their family life on the road. We’re seeing more and more stories about this and it fascinates some of us and appalls others.

As someone who raised a large family in a big house for many years, I can understand the appeal of this kind of lifestyle. Reducing your possessions so that you can fit everyone into a trailer (even if it is a relatively roomy Airstream) forces the kids to entertain themselves and to enjoy being out in nature. That’s much better for kids than being cooped up inside all the time and constantly being given toys, games and electronic devices to keep them occupied.

So I’m on the side of those who think this is a lovely idea, and that they’re making oodles of awesome family memories. That said, their kids are still young. I can guarantee that once the eldest child passes puberty, if not sooner, Mom and Dad will begin dreaming of a home where there are doors. When you live with teens, doors are a must so that parents can have some peace and teens can have some privacy.

But for now, it’s a wonderful lifestyle. If they’re smart, once they decide to settle down again, they’ll find a home that isn’t so large that it requires a lot of time and money to manage. Having a large family is plenty of work on its own; adding in the responsibilities involved in maintaining a huge house is what often pushes parents into “overwhelmed” territory.

 

The Ultimate Small House: Downsizing to an RV

By Claire Posted in Clutter, downsizing, Simpler Living Tagged , ,

Starting off your retirement by buying an RV and traveling the country is an old concept; I think that’s where I first began seeing those “We’re Spending Our Kids’ Inheritance” bumper stickers, many years ago. But today, more people (and not just retired people) are actually living in RVs.

While some are forced to do so because of financial problems, an increasing number of people are choosing to live in RVs in order to escape the rat race, the cubicle farm lifestyle, the burden of working to pay for a huge mortgage and/or property tax payment, or for some other reason related to freedom. This article explains this current trend.

Of course, all the principles involved in downsizing to a smaller home apply even more so to moving into an RV. With minimal storage and living space, you’ll have to whittle down your possessions to the bare minimum.

I love living in a small house, though at some point down the road, I might be ready for a small condo. But I don’t think I could live in an RV full-time. There are too many things I like to do that require some space in my house, and I also love having a garden to work in.

But for many people, this is the alternative to spending years of your life commuting to a job you hate in order to pay for housing, clothes, furniture and cars to impress your family and friends, some of whom you may not even like. In fact, while it may be an overreaction to a lifestyle they’re rejecting, it could prove to be the smartest decision they ever made.

In either case, they’re going to learn to pare down their belongings, and that’s a very good skill to have. Not everyone is willing to do it, but it is worth the effort, whether you’re moving to an RV, or just finding a way to make your home feel much bigger.

 

My Book in Print!

By Claire Posted in Clutter, downsizing, Good News, My Books, Personal, Simpler Living, Writing Tagged ,

The Sentimental Person’s Guide to Decluttering will soon be available in print! I’m so excited 🙂 E-books are great, but now I know how it feels to hold your actual, physical book in your hands and it’s wonderful!

You can hold a copy in your hands, too, just as soon as the book comes out on January 2, 2019. You can even pre-order it from Amazon, I’m told. In any case, many thanks to all of you who bought the book in eBook form; the eBook sales convinced the publisher that a print edition was needed. 

How to Use Your List to Successfully Declutter (Finally!)

By Claire Posted in Clutter, My Books, Simpler Living Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Last time I asked you to make a list of your most treasured possessions, the ones you’d hope you could take with you if your house caught fire.

This list is not a complete list of all your treasured possessions. That would be a really, really long list, because you have so very many belongings. No, this list consists of the items that first popped into your head. They make up the core of your treasured belongings.

Now, depending on how you define belongings, you may have included your spouse or partner, your kids, and your pets. Good for you: living creatures whom we love and who can love us back are always our greatest treasures.

But for decluttering purposes, we’re just going to consider things. The things on your list are what came to mind first. There’s a reason for that. They are your most treasured physical possessions.

If you couldn’t see them when you got home, you can remedy that. Putting our most treasured possessions on display where we can see them daily is important. It lifts our mood and reminds us of who we are. Go dig them out and put them where you can see and enjoy them. If you can’t find space for them, make space by removing lesser items (lesser meaning anything that didn’t make your list).

If one of the things on your list is your photo albums, you may already have them on display. But a house fire would quickly destroy them. Consider scanning them and saving them on a computer, thumb drive and even the cloud. Don’t risk losing your treasured photographs.

If your list included jewelry, wear it all the time. If it included something a late loved one left you, put it on display or use it regularly.

You may already regularly use the items on your list. That’s great!

Now, what about the items you forgot to put on your list? This is where things get sticky. Like it or not, those items were not important enough to you to come to mind during those crucial 15 minutes. I’m not saying you should get rid of all of them, but clearly, many things did not make the cut. Those items are all candidates for being moved along, given away, sold or donated unless you use them regularly.

The list you created is very telling. What it’s telling you is what’s most important to you….and what, by its absence, is not.

The list you created gives you permission to keep what’s on it, and to let go of what didn’t make the cut. It gives you guidelines of what’s really crucial to your daily life, not only in terms of use but also in terms of joy.

Of course, you can keep what’s really important to you. And you can keep things that didn’t make the list but that you use all the time. Personally, I don’t consider our cast-iron frying pan, our phone or our lawnmower to be personal treasures, but we use them all the time so we keep them. But there have been plenty of other items I’ve owned over the years that I liked, even loved, but at some point had to admit I wasn’t using anymore, so I let them go. This is how we need to look at the bulk of our possessions when we have kept too much.

If you choose to ignore the list and just go with your gut, you’ll end up where you always did when you tried to declutter in the past: overwhelmed and discouraged. But if you use the list as your guide for what to keep, and give up much of what didn’t make the list, you can finally enjoy the freedom of living in an uncluttered home, with lots of free space and no little paths through each room. Living that way is every bit as nice as you might imagine.

(Learn how to let go of possessions you’re emotionally attached to but no longer need in The Sentimental Person’s Guide to Decluttering, coming soon in print!)