When the decision was made to move into a travel trailer and drive around the country last year, we had to start purging everything. If you’re like us, you’ll have to purge a lot to fit everything into a teenie tiny little place. 144sq ft to be exact!

We were not only conscious of the amount of space needed but their weight as well. Our trailer can only hold about 1,000 lbs of extra stuff so anything heavy and bulky had to go! Like most people, we had accumulated years of stuff and didn’t know where to start. Bryan set up a table in the basement of things he didn’t use and wanted to sell. Another table was set up for the ‘maybes.’ Little by little, the tables started to fill up… Here’s how we got rid of it all:

The 4 Piles of Purging

Sell: Anything that you could get money for and sell it on eBay, craigslist, Facebook etc… The better the deal is, the faster it will sale.
Throw away: Junk that nobody would have a use for.
Donate: Perhaps some items could be useful to someone, why not donate it?
Unsure: Hmm. Still need some time to think about it? This pile may become huge but make a conscious effort to remember last time you used it. Will it be useful in the RV? Will it bring you joy?

Take each item in your room, and make a decision to keep it or get rid of it. Will it fit in your new space? How heavy is it? Does it serve a double purpose?

After this process, every little items in the house was either sold, donated or thrown out! Luckily for us, objects don’t hold too much sentimental values about things so purging was easy. Taking a ‘test drive’ of living in the RV is a great way to see what was needed. Once you’ve establish that, anything else in the house can go.

Even now, after 4 months of RV living, we find ourselves getting rid of stuff. For example: instead of accumulating clothes, when we buy a new shirt, at least 1 old shirt in the closet has to go. It’s little things like these that makes simple living great.

Go on, get purging!