In April we moved in to our new duplex. Our second fulltiming storage unboxing was an eye-opener, but I keep forgetting to tell you about it. So just three weeks before we re-pack the RV and head to our two month Lake City workamping job, here’s how it all went down back in April.
It was time to unbox our fulltiming storage locker down in Pueblo. Three years ago when we sold Jerry’s Acres, we had a gut feeling we would end up buying Colorado real estate again. We chose the Pueblo location because it was easily accessible from our favorite travel routes. And in the time we had our 5×7 compartment, we only needed to access it once. It felt good to know our $69.95 monthly payment is a thing of the past.
Fulltiming Storage Locker Lesson #1 Learned
Newbies, take note: if you’re about to start fulltiming and wondering where to put your stuff, consider the cheapest, most remote towns for the lowest rates. You probably won’t need to access your locker as much as you think you will.
Moving out of the storage unit was a lot easier than going in. I think it took us about 2 hours to move our carefully curated contents into the U-Haul trailer. Moving it into the duplex didn’t take that much longer. We didn’t keep a ton of things.
For some reason, we hung onto the most fun, sometimes weird things we owned.
Like Jim’s old Petaluma mug from his growing up years.
And this old, faded, lemonade cup from the Brainerd County Fair.
And these awesome beer glasses, circa 2007.
Of course we couldn’t get rid of Jerry’s Barney dolls. The collection was about three times bigger when he was alive, and included an almost life-size Barney too!
The things we kept probably have a market value of about one dollar. Their sentimental cost? Priceless. I don’t regret hanging onto them.
Downsizing Lesson 2: Keep Some Essentials
What I do regret doing is that during our downsizing and decluttering days, I sold off some expensive home essentials. It killed me to have to lay down close to $1k for things this new house needed, like lawn gear and kitchenware. I should have put more thought into what we would need to set up a future house with the basics. Instead I was in the “we can buy it when we need it” frame of mind. Three years later, after dealing with the expense of buying the duplex and moving in, it sure would have been nice to avoid that bill.
So recap with me everyone: the two big lessons we learned about fulltiming storage choices and decisions were:
- You won’t need your fulltiming storage locker as much as you think.
- Carefully consider keeping some household essentials.
Stuff can weigh us down, or it can bring back some good memories. Unlike the last time we unboxed our fulltiming storage unit, this time I’m glad about the things we kept. A little bummed about what I sold off, but I can’t change that now. In the end, deciding to keep a few things still feels like right thing for us. Not all fulltimers will do the same but in our case, we’ll probably always want a place for our favorite stuff.
Here’s a thought. Take the sentimental stuff with you, don’t store anything, the $2,518.20 you would have saved over 3 years would have restocked your new house. Of course it does mean you need to have room in your RV which is how we went from a 21 ft class c to a 40 ft diesel pusher over the 23 years on the road. We did have one box of sentimental stuff stored at a friends, which 13 years later we had them ship to us and we unpacked it in our summer park model. Of course since we bought a shed to put on the lot with the park model we collected way to much new stuff. Now each fall I have to decide what to pack in the moho and what to leave in the shed. LOL
This summer I have started giving away stuff and am trying to decide which large toys I will sell, rather than continue to carry in the moho or store in the shed, such as a folding canoe, inflatable one man boat, solo white water canoe…… oh the space toys take up.
We furnished our whole household for free through Craigslist ads and our local Buy Nothing Group. And when we decided to change things up recently, we were able to pass along our good fortune by giving away the stuff we didn’t need anymore. It sucks having to buy a house and then have to spend more money to put the basics into it!
Hehe…she thinks I’ve grown up!
And she neglects to reflect on the significance of that kokopeli pint we found in New Mexico, which makes an appearance in Be More Dog: Learning to live in the Now!
Thrift stores and garage sales are great for restocking on household stuff! You could set up a whole household at a fraction of the cost of new. And, it can be nice stuff too!
I love the way you think, Kim! Totally agree.