So, you’ve made the decision to pack your life into a ‘home on wheels’ and say goodbye to the daily grind. With the move to an adventurous, spontaneous life comes the need to downsize, meaning your things will be in one of three categories: sold, stored or kept.
Figuring out what stays, what goes, and what might put a little extra fuel money in your pocket can feel overwhelming at first. So, I thought I’d spin a yarn and share how I tackled it.
Make a plan
First things first, you need to work out how much space you have in your rig, your weight limits and what ability you have to store items back at home. Perhaps you’ll have the chance to stash clothing in a relatives wardrobe, as I did, or borrow space in a friend's garage. If not, you’ll need to look into long-term storage options and the costs that come with keeping one of those going whilst you’re away. If you plan on not returning for a long time, work out whether you can justify paying storage fees and whether your items are sentimental enough to keep, or important enough that you can’t replace them down the line.
Once you’ve worked out how much you can bring and how much you can or can’t store, the culling can begin.
4wd and caravan in a caravan park
What to Sell
As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Utilise Facebook Marketplace, as I did, to offload those items you definitely won’t need in vanlife. I personally sold every item of furniture I had — from my bedside tables to my bed frame, to my home office desk and chair. None of it was sentimental to me, and I knew I could replace it all when I returned.
The things I couldn’t sell, I put up for free, also on Facebook Marketplace, and had many grateful people pop by my apartment to take things off my hands and save me a trip to the tip. I also gifted a lot of things to friends and family who needed it, like plates, glassware and appliances. My partner had a heap of camping gear that we no longer needed due to upgrading to a caravan, so my sister and her boyfriend benefitted there.
My tip here would be to start listing your items early online and ensure you take good quality imagery before posting, especially if you’re trying to earn a buck. You’ll need to sift through a lot of tedious “is this still available?” messages, so prepare to put in a little effort to sell your items. It can be annoying scheduling meet-ups and pick-ups, but it’s worth it in the end when you get a little extra cash in the bank.
What to Store
In order to offload the clothing that filled my wardrobe, chest of drawers and under bed storage, I donated a lot of gear to The Salvation Army or tossed it to my sister as a hand-me-down. However, there were brand new pairs of heels and expensive dresses that, let’s face it, I wouldn't be donning in the Outback, but were too nice to throw away. These items of clothing went into my ‘store’ pile, as did everything that was sentimental to me.
It can be difficult to work out what you do and don’t need, especially if you’ve never spent an extended period of time on the road, so I was lucky in the sense that I already had a very good idea of what made sense to bring and what didn’t. If you’ve got the time, consider a shakedown trip to see how things go with what you’ve brought and packed.
Any important paperwork such as birth certificates and University degrees come under the store category, as well as family heirlooms, sentimental items and photo albums. I will leave it to you to decide what’s important to you!
purple flowers on the side of a road with a 4wd and caravan in the background
What to Keep
When weight and space is precious, every item in your ‘keep’ pile needs to fit your new lifestyle and earn its place. The best case scenario is when these items are durable, have multiple uses and are compact.
Things that made my keep pile included:
- Durable cooking gear/one of each
At home I had 3 different sized pans, multiple pots, endless mugs and glassware, but on the road you really only need one. The cookware that made its way into the van was also good quality, so I could rely on it long term, and was often collapsible to save space.
- Multi-use appliances
Our air-fryer doubles as an oven, so that was a no-brainer, and our coffee machine has a ‘hot water’ setting which eliminated the need for a kettle. Multi-use appliances like these have earnt their place as they’re performing multiple functions but only taking up one spot! We were pretty space savvy and decided to leave the toaster at home in favour of our built-in caravan grill. It does take three times as long to toast, but it toasts nonetheless, so consider these swaps when you’re trying to maximise your space.
- Compact clothing
As much as I love a puffy jumper, the compact gear landed in the keep pile for obvious reasons: the wardrobe and cupboard space just isn’t big enough to justify it all. I’ve realised since living on the road, I really only need one good pair of jeans, a tough pair of boots, one warm jumper and a few different t-shirts. Clothing is an easy one to pick up along the way too, so if you find you don’t have enough, there’s no reason you can’t run to the shops and grab some more.
4wd and caravan in distance in a field
- Quality bedding/towels
Comfort is important on the road, and if you’re in a caravan you likely have already spent enough time roughing it in a rooftop tent/swag and are hoping for a little more. Investing in good quality bedding is one way you’ll be able to settle into your new home better, without missing the comforts that came with your old one.
- Kindle/e-reader
I’m a reader, so it was a no-brainer to invest in an e-reader than bring 10 or so hard copy books. There is a caveat here, as it’s common to come by book exchanges and street libraries where you can leave a book and pick up another, however, if you’re a remote-travel lover, a kindle is a great way to have all your books at your finger tips without compromising on space.
If you need a rule to stick to, ask yourself: "does it fit neatly into the van and can I justify its weight?" If not, then sort it into the store or sell pile. Every extra kilogram will affect your ride, fuel consumption and of course, available space. There’s no room for hoarders when it comes to life on the road!
Caravan in a caravan park surrounded by vegetation
Re-evaluate
You’re going to get it wrong. I’ll admit that when we first hit the road I packed my juicer which took up a whole heap of space in our caravan cupboard and let’s face it: was a little ambitious. As predicted (by my partner) I didn’t attend any organic fruit and veg markets to purchase the produce I needed to juice and it did little more than gather dust and gain some new scratches from its adventure on corrugations. Thankfully, when we visited home I had a chance to off-load it to a family member's house, knowing it was not something that needed to stay in the van. If I hadn’t used it in a year, I’m 99% positive I never would.
Likewise, I’ve donated clothing to various clothing bins along the way: inclusive of things I thought I’d wear but didn’t and items of clothing that I had too many of. You’re not locked into keeping everything you initially put in your ‘keep’ pile, and like anything you’ll learn along the way where you went wrong. It’s difficult to switch into the minimalist lifestyle, so you’ll be forgiven for holding onto items you should’ve either sold or stored before wheeling out.
What I can tell you from my experience of downsizing for full-time travel life, is you really don’t need much at all. Once you leave the big smoke and the treadmill of consumption, you’ll feel lighter (both literally and figuratively) by reducing your belongings and only keeping what’s needed. It’s a wonderful relief and realisation that we can live very simply, and of course find pleasure in the everyday moments and experiences, rather than via things.
Downsizing belongings, upsizing adventure?
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