Declutter Your Life: Top Tips for Downsizing Before Hitting the Road

This week, I’m excited to share my journey of decluttering and downsizing and the tips I’ve learned along the way. Leaving our 1800-square-foot log home, which we designed, built, and lived in for eight years, was a difficult move, but we knew greater things were ahead. Our house sold quickly, so we moved into a rental where we began our first round of downsizing. This round was the easiest…we got rid of old toys the kids had outgrown, such as riding toys, baby items, and playground equipment. We went through all of our supplies in the garage and basement, disposing of old paint, furniture, and broken items.

We lived in the rental for a year, and when the lease was up, we moved into my husband’s parent's house to allow the kids to finish out the school year while we decided what to do next. We stored all of our furniture and belongings in a 20-foot storage unit for the winter, which forced us to continue the downsizing process. In the spring, as we went through our belongings once again, we realized we didn't even miss the items that had been stored for months. That's when we decided it was time to make a big move, get rid of all the belongings that were weighing us down, and begin our full-time RV journey.

Furniture

Once we made that decision, we decided to start with all of our larger items so we could move down to a smaller storage unit. We began with all of the large furniture and listed everything on Marketplace—couches, tables, chairs, nothing was safe! We made $2000 from this first round of selling. Here are some tips for downsizing your furniture:

1. Prioritize Functionality: Identify which pieces are essential and will serve multiple purposes in your new space. For example, we kept my sons desk and shelving units that we were able to fit into the bunkhouse of our camper.

2. Sell Strategically: Use online marketplaces, consignment shops, or garage sales to sell larger items. We had the best luck with the Facebook marketplace!

3. Donate: Consider donating items in good condition to local charities or thrift stores.

Kids Items

Next, we tackled the totes filled with decor, toys, and other kids' items. For the toys and other items we decided to get rid of, I signed up for a consignment sale and made about $200. Here’s how you can downsize kids' items effectively:

1. Sort by Use: Separate items into categories: keep, sell, donate, and discard.

2. Involve the Kids: Let your children help decide what to keep and what to let go of.

3. Consign or Sell: Use consignment sales, online marketplaces, or local groups to sell gently used items.

4. Donate: Donate toys and clothes to local shelters, schools, or charities.

Kitchen Supplies

If you are anything like me, I am sure you have cupboards full of kitchen items, that probably most of which you never use. When downsizing your kitchen supplies be realistic, if you don’t use it now, you won’t use it when you are on the road.

1. Eliminate Duplicates: Keep only one of each essential item.

2. Keep Multi-Function Items: Focus on items that serve multiple purposes, like a high-quality chef’s knife, a versatile skillet, a multi-purpose cutting board.

3. Limit Appliances: Choose one essential appliance: Crockpot, Instant Pot, or Air Fryer,do you really need all of them?!

4. Use Space-Saving Items: Opt for collapsible or nesting kitchen tools like collapsible measuring cups, nesting mixing bowls, stackable storage containers.

Clothing

While I could have sold my clothing on Poshmark, I opted to donate them instead. Here's a structured approach to downsizing your wardrobe:

1. Seasonal Review: Go through your clothes season by season, keeping only what you wear regularly.

2. Quality Over Quantity: Retain high-quality, versatile pieces that can be mixed and matched.

3. Sell or Donate: Use platforms like Poshmark for selling or donate to local shelters and thrift stores.

4. Minimalist Approach: Adopt a capsule wardrobe concept to streamline your clothing choices.

Sentimental Items

This was one of the more challenging categories, as we were down to totes of sentimental items, photos, and kids' artwork. Here are tips to handle sentimental downsizing:

1. Eliminate Duplicates: Start by getting rid of duplicate photos and items.

2. Digitalize: Use services like Archive to scan and create digital versions of photos and kids' artwork.

3. Memory Boxes: Create small, manageable memory boxes for each family member.

4. Keep the Essentials: Hold onto items that have the most emotional value and discard the rest.

These items we will keep in a small storage unit while we travel, some things are too hard to let go of.

Decor

I chose my favorite decor pieces that felt like home to me and fit well in the RV, such as wall hangings and photos. Here's how to downsize your decor:

1. Select Favorites: Choose pieces that bring you joy and have sentimental value.

2. Assess Fit: Ensure items will fit and look good in your new space.

3. Sell or Donate: Sell other decor items or donate them to local charities.

Seasonal Items

Downsizing seasonal items was tough; I had five bins of fall decor and ten of Christmas! Here’s what worked for us:

1. Cull the Collection: Start by discarding items you don't like or are too large for an RV.

2. Sentimental Keepers: Keep items with sentimental value, like kids' stockings or a family advent calendar.

3. Test Fit: Take items to the RV and place them where they would go during the season to see what fits.

4. Condense: Aim to reduce your collection to a few manageable totes. We managed to fit our seasonal decor into two totes that fit under the bed in the master bedroom.

Books

As an avid reader, I had a whole bookcase full of books. Here’s how I downsized:

1. Keep Favorites: Select about ten books you really want to read.

2. Switch to Digital: Transition to a Kindle for new books to save space.

3. Kids' Books: Apply the same strategy for children's books, using Kindle and Epic for their reading needs.

4. Sell Books Online: Easily scan the barcodes and see what is accepted at

   https://www.sellbackyourbook.com/

5. Donate: Donate the rest to libraries, schools, or local charity shops.

As we move into our RV, I'm realizing that another round of downsizing is necessary. How many t-shirts does one really need?But with that being said, even if you don’t plan on moving to a smaller space, consider decluttering—it can free up your mind, help you stop losing things, and even make some extra cash in the process.

“The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don't”

Marie Kondo

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