Downsizing

By letting go of excess stuff, you can gain so much more. Downsizing allows us to focus on what truly matters. It's about prioritizing experiences over possessions.

Downsizing can be a long, sorted process and how you choose to handle your belongings depends on your situation and your level of attachment to your stuff. 

To start, you’ll want to ask yourself some questions:

• How long will you be on the road?  

• Do you plan to travel long-term? Or is this just a trial?

• Will you have a home base or be completely nomadic?

• Do you know if you’ll be returning to the same geographical location once you’re finished traveling?

Being able to answer these questions will help you determine what to do with the excess stuff, but it’s more than just simple answers to simple questions, so just keep your answers in the back of your mind as you proceed.

Whether you choose to start in a particular room or in a particular category, it really doesn’t matter. You will eventually have to look at every item you have and consider: 

• Is it valuable? 

• Is it useful in this season of your life?

• Is it sentimental? historical? irreplaceable? 

• Why have you chosen to keep the item up to this point? 

• Is this something I absolutely need or want?

And you will repeat this process over and over again…even after starting van life.

It’s time to start sorting! 

You will want to designate a box or location for the items you sort into categories such as: keep, sell, donate, give to friends, or throw away.

Sort through every item piece by piece and decide what category the items should go in. 

Selling is a great way to make a little extra cash to start van life. As you start to accumulate items in your sale pile, start listing the items on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or other sale apps. As things start to sell and you see that cash adding up, it motivates you to get rid of more.

Take your donation pile to donate frequently, don’t wait for the pile to get larger! The more room you make, the more progress you will see and the more motivation you have. 

TIP: You could also choose to host a garage sale or lay items out and have your friends over and ask them what they want. 

Once you’re done sorting you will do it again! And then again! You will start to lose track of the number of times you go through this sorting exercise, but it works. 

Eventually, you get tired of moving all this stuff around and your mindset slowly changes, and your priorities get clearer. Invite a friend over who’s good at getting rid of things and solicit their help. The less connection and attachment you have to items, the faster this process will go.

Clothing

Having more clothing than you have space will quickly make you feel unorganized and cause your space to look messy. Right sizing your wardrobe will take some time but keep at it. After all, you will tend to wear the same things regularly.

How Much Clothing Do You Need?

• This assumes you do laundry once a week.

• Adjust for climate and your level of physical activity.

  • Short-Sleeved Shirts (7)

  • Long-Sleeved Shirts (5)

  • Underwear (7)

  • Bras (3)

  • Pants (4)

  • Shorts (4)

  • Sweaters/Sweatshirts (3)

  • Coats/Jackets (2)

  • Socks (7)

  • Semi-Dressy Outfits (1-2)

  • Shoes (4)
    

Sentimental items

This can be tough. Lay out all your sentiments items in a space on the floor where you can see everything. You might be surprised at how big the area is! Pick out anything that you look at and think why in the heck was I saving this? Or things that have gotten damaged or broken.

Now, collect all the things that you have saved for your kids/grandkids and put them in a box and deliver it to them. It’s their turn to be the keeper of the box. 

Are there things that are important or sentimental to you that are also important or sentimental to someone else? Such as a sibling or cousin? Maybe it’s their turn to be the keeper of the stuff.

Photos

If you grew up in a time before digital pictures, you likely have lots of physical photos.  There are many services that will digitize all your photos. An alternative to this is to take pictures of your pictures. You can do this with scrapbook pages or other mementos, too. Then throw them all away. You might find you look at them more now that they are digitized, and they will be easier to share.

Keepsakes

You can do the same thing with keepsakes. Are you physically attached to the item or do you just need to have a picture of the item sufficed in its place. I had some nice glass awards from my years in the corporate world, engraved with my name. I have pictures of each of them. I’m the only person those things meant anything to anyhow.

High School Yearbooks/Memorabilia 

Take pictures of the embarrassing messages written inside and toss them into the trash. Most yearbooks are available now online at Classmates.com.

Gifts/Heirlooms

Gifts from loved ones and Heirloom items can be difficult – Is there a way to repurpose the item? Maybe keep a piece of lace from an item and make something you can have as décor in your van. You might have to get creative with some things, but memories are something you always take with you, regardless of where the physical item is.

You might have to sit with some things for a while. Ask the question – why is this so hard for me to part with? You’ll know when it’s time. 

Important papers

Digitize, Digitize, Digitize! Save everything to the cloud. Not only will all your pictures and documents all in one place, but you will be able to access them from anywhere. Google Drive or Microsoft One Drive work well for this. You don’t even need a scanner. Many phones already have the capability to do this.

Even when you go paperless, there will still be some paperwork that you need to have physically. Titles to vehicles, passports, deeds, birth/death certificates, wills, social security cards, you get the idea. For physical documents or other keepsake type things you want to keep, find a small box to keep all these items in one central place.  

Small Kitchen Appliances

• Coffee Maker

• Blender

• Crockpot

• Toaster

• Mixer

• Food Processor

• Air Fryer

• Rice Cooker

The convenience of small kitchen appliances may no longer be convenient and having extra space might be more important to you. When starting van life, sometimes your perception of what it will be like is not reality. It’s not that you can’t have these things – you definitely can, but you have to prioritize the space and power you have available. 

Kitchen Ware

Plates, silverware, bowls, and kitchen accessories are something we tend to overestimate the need for. If you camp with others, everyone knows they are responsible for their own dinnerware, you do not need to provide for yourself and 3 guests! One plate is really sufficient, and get all the collapsible bowls you want, but you will likely only use one because it serves all the purposes. Something to keep in mind when sorting!

On Board Storage

A roof top cargo box is great for extra room. It will free up some room by storing some of the lesser used items.

Rental Storage Units

If you don’t know how long you want to live van life and you know you want to return to the same city when you are done, then a storage unit might make a lot of sense. 

Be sure to consider the cost of storage. Storage costs add up. The bigger the items you store the more it will cost. You also must think about the climate and humidity of where you are storing items. Temperature controlled storage adds even more cost.

Alternatively, if you have a relatively small number of items that you want to keep, a safe deposit box might be a solution. This is a good option for important documents, jewelry, or small family heirlooms. 

Your Home

If you own your home, you’ll need to decide what to do with it. If you love your house and don’t want to sell it, consider renting it out. It will help cover your bills, and maybe even bring in some extra money. Plus, if you decide you are done with van life, it will make your transition back to your home base painless.

If you are not traveling full-time, an option is to rent out a room to someone you trust, like a friend or family member. They get to live there alone while you’re traveling, and you get the peace of mind knowing that someone is taking care of your house.

You could also consider listing your home on Airbnb or VRBO. These services cost money, but the upside is that they will take care of all the logistics like managing the rental calendar and hiring people to clean.

Your Car

The options for your car are the same as we’ve been discussing for the rest of your stuff: store it, keep it at home, or sell it. If you know you’ll be coming back regularly and will need a car, or if you’re only hitting the road for a few weeks or months at a time, keeping it makes sense, but otherwise, why insure a vehicle you don’t use regularly? Sell it and put the money toward your van.

Downsizing and Decluttering is a continual process. Your priorities will change and things you thought you couldn’t get rid of will be long gone. You’ll see how another vanlifer organizes something and the next thing you know, you are reorganizing yourself. Part of the vanlife lifestyle is living minimally. We have traded everyday conveniences and routines for a life of freedom and adventure. Enjoy the journey.