After a week of grueling downsizing and moving, we are finally on the home stretch! How does it feel to take a van load off from your already downsized motorhome life you may ask? AMAZING! We feel lighter than ever and a weight has been lifted off our shoulders.
Yes we did have to get rid of quite a bit of stuff to downsize from a 39 ft Motorhome with 3 slides to a 31 ft Airstream with no slides. Although, even after all that purging, I still did not have to part with the things I “need” on an every day basis. The crazy thing is, we still have everything we need to live a happy and fulfilled life.
The goal for us, is to live a life of adventure, memories, and quality time resulting in strong relationships with each other and others. In return, the less “stuff” we have, the more we are able to live out that dream.
From our experience, the more minimalistic we become the more free and less stressed our lives become. I am not going to say the process is easy for most. I knew going into this major downsize it was going to be tough.
I knew I would talk myself into placing an item in the donate pile, just to go back and remove it after talking myself into the idea that I “might” need that one day. Then I talk myself back out of it and return it to the pile once again.! It is exhausting, but after my downsizing muscles get warmed up, I am a donating machine and it is a great feeling “letting go”.
Now looking back on the donate piles, I can not even tell you what most of it was and by letting go I feel more room in my life already. Room to breathe. Room to play. Room to be a more present mom and wife. Decluttering your living space also declutters your mind and thoughts. There is less to maintain, keep clean, or manage on an everyday basis, leaving life to be lived and enjoyed.
I remember sitting in the living room of our sticks and bricks home almost 3 years ago, dreaming of the RV life and watching tons of Youtube videos wondering, “Can I do this?” That is a question I know we all ask ourselves. As much as we wanted to downsize and live a life of adventure, I couldn’t help but wonder if we could seriously pull it off. Could we downsize to the point of living full time in an RV?
Here we are 3 years later and after being on the road full time for almost 2 years, we are making our third downsize. After downsizing from a 4 bedroom 2 bath 1800 square foot home to a 42 foot fifth wheel, it felt amazing and we had finally done it! Although we LOVED the living space the 5th wheel offered, we decided that was more space than we needed to haul around the country and we decided to make the switch to a motorhome. The same fears arose and I found that same question surfacing,
Can I do this?
We made the switch and downsizing was challenging, but very doable and the motorhome had great storage while minimizing on length. After over a year of living in the motorhome, we thought about the flexibility we could obtain if we once again downsized. The less “junk” in our way, the more time, adventure, and journey we would obtain. By downsizing our RV length we would gain access to more amazing campsites, have less upkeep, and more financial freedom in return.
I was not fearless when it came to this transition. The previous feelings and questions came flooding back to me as I wondered once again, Can I do this AGAIN? This would make 3 downsizes and purges and with every one it became tougher, but more rewarding with every changeover. We were now getting down to the “nitty gritty” of everyday life. We wanted what we “needed” on an every day basis and not to be crowded by what we “might need” or “just in case” items.
This was the toughest downsize because this is all the stuff that made it through other downsizes and survived the evolution. With that being said, this has also been the most FREEING experience of all our downsizes. It is rewarding and it feels amazing having this huge weight of stuff lifted off our shoulders.
We are excited about this new chapter and we can not wait to see the possibilities that are awaiting us due to this change in our lives. Don’t let fear and the question, “Can I do this?” stop you from living your dream. Life is short. Take advantage of every opportunity to live life to the fullest and don’t let JUNK stand in your way of an amazing JOURNEY!
Here are our videos on the downsizing process to the Airstream if you want to see more!