What I've read just BEGS the question - Montana Owners Club

Montana_2005 · 09-10-2004, 10:49 AM

What do you veteran Full Timers think you really NEED to take with you when you go FT?
I know we are going to have to pare down considerably from the great huge house that I see some of you have been looking at at my web page... (go to www.givemeahomeontherange.com to see a virtual tour of the whole house soon!) from 4600 sq feet to even a triple slider 3295 is going to be a lot different.... But already, before the house sells or the auction.. Kevin and I are differing about what we need to get rid of.. (back off men folk... He wants to keep more stuff than I do!)
Some of you tell me what you have wound up pitching after a year or less.....
Happy trails

DHenry · 09-10-2004, 12:06 PM

I am not full timing but I thought I would respond to the downsizing. We have a 3200 sq. ft home now and the thought of going to under 400' would certainly put us both in shock. We are taking short trips of three weeks to a month to see if we would indeed like the idea of going full time. So far the vote is 2-0 NO. I am planning a 8 week trip for next year, so we will see if anything changes then. Good luck in your adventure.

prariepoodle · 09-10-2004, 12:49 PM

Well I gave up my 3400 sq ft. for a 40 ft. Teton in 1987 and have never regretted it. Then in 2003 we went down from 40 to the 3280 and I love it. Less to have to clean and so easy to do. Now with Walt he has had to get rid of tools, tools and tools.

but we have decided not to keep anything that we don't need or need for the Montana.

But then I have had a lot of years to slowly get rid of things that I don't need. I had ton's of pictures and did not know what to do with them, until I got my computer and now I have them all on CD'S. I also had close to 200 video's and have slowly replaced them with DVDS. I know a lot of members have put stuff in storage until they decide what to keep and what to get rid of. So good luck and please keep us posted.

Northstar · 09-10-2004, 07:24 PM

Ah but that is the beauty of it. Paring down to go full time. You will be suprised how free you will fell after you dump the unnecessary items in your life. Keep us posted. Happyrving.....

Montana_2005 · 09-11-2004, 02:07 AM

The free and unencumbered thing is what is most appealing to us.. We willhave to keep a few "hairlooms" and probably things like photo albums and some antique furniture... but a whole ton of it is going AWAY! Kevin is wanting to keep all our shoostenboomers in case we ever want to go hunting..... Sigh... it will work out.

Montana_621 · 09-13-2004, 04:09 AM

Good luck to you, I don't think I could do it but maybe in another 30 years I could. LOL

If your house is the victorian that is 4680sq feet I'm in love!

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by RangerMelB

What do you veteran Full Timers think you really NEED to take with you when you go FT?
I know we are going to have to pare down considerably from the great huge house that I see some of you have been looking at at my web page... (go to www.givemeahomeontherange.com to see a virtual tour of the whole house soon!) from 4600 sq feet to even a triple slider 3295 is going to be a lot different.... But already, before the house sells or the auction.. Kevin and I are differing about what we need to get rid of.. (back off men folk... He wants to keep more stuff than I do!)
Some of you tell me what you have wound up pitching after a year or less.....
Happy trails

Montana_1308 · 09-13-2004, 05:29 PM

We have been fulltiming about 3 months. Was hard to downsize, but had to for our dreams to come true. After moving into our 3400, we downsized more. Weighed last week, we need to downsize more. I think its the tool thing

. We will get it all together. It is diffently worth it.

Montana_277 · 09-23-2004, 02:32 PM

WELLLLL!!! We downsized from 2200 sq ft., a 10 by 12 mini barn, garage with a large storage area, and full basement. Over 60 years accumulation to a 3280rl. Hardest but most rewarding move. Going through all compartments in rv now in our 5th round trying to sort out final keepers has been th hardest.
House is empty, mini barn is empty, garage 80%. Told realtor we could be out and gone in 2 hours.
Itis absolutly amazing how much STUFFFFF we had. Looking forward to to simple life.

stiles watson · 09-23-2004, 03:04 PM

It is amazing what we thought we needed through the years. We have moved about twenty five times in 44 years of marriage. We finally figured out that the "stuff" we own, in reality owns us. Most of us are in bondage to storage, maintenance, and protection of things we really don't need or want. "But it's valuable," we say. "It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to accumulate all this." "How about my theological library or all the professional counseling books and journals?"

Several years ago I went to Belize on a mission trip. While there I observed a man and his wife and children moving to a "new home." he and the wife each had a six foot long pole across their shoulders with five gallon buckets on each end to carry all their wealth. He had a machete to chop out a new place for his family and build his hut. At the time, I mused about who was the more fortunate, him or me.

I have about 10 boxes of books that were packed at our last move 16 years ago. Over that 16 years, I dug out exactly two books. We have art work for decorating the house that was packed at the same time--still in the attic. TO HECK WITH THE JONES, I CAN'T KEEP UP WITH MYSELF.

With regard to fulltime RVing, we don't have to "try it out" -- we are just gonna do it!!!

Montana_31 · 09-24-2004, 01:33 AM

We've been fulltime for just one year and we are still getting rid of stuff. Those clothes that we knew we would need, gone. Those books that we had to keep, gone. This is a simple life style, so we're trying to keep it that way. The two things that we really want to keep, our health and our companionship, are both doing good. Bring along your hobbies if they don't weigh too much or are space consumers.

Northstar · 09-24-2004, 12:38 PM

Yes the simple life has the freedom we all desire. Happyrving.....

sreigle · 09-24-2004, 07:23 PM

I got rid of all tools other than handtools. I've since purchased things like a sabre saw since I needed it and should have kept the one I have. After the first 15 months of fulltiming we emptied out all lockers and storage areas and took out everything we have not used in that time. With the exception of a couple of things we still need to have 'just in case', everything else went into storage along with the things we stored before we started FT.

Might I suggest you try to categorize everything into categories, maybe 'need', 'might need', 'won't need'. The last might get sold or maybe stored if there's sentimental value, etc. The first one, 'need', goes with you automatically. The other one, 'might need', you reconsider until you decide. If undecided, take it with you and reconsider in six months or a year. If either of you thinks it needs to go with you, then it goes with you. Just a thought.

Montana_440 · 10-01-2004, 09:03 AM

The space you'll have will dictate how much you can take with you.Once you are loaded with the stuff of daily living,from toaster to toothpaste,you won't find a lot of room left over.Then you have to decide what to do with the "remains". Store it? Sell or toss it? It's different for everybody.We knew there'd come a time when we'd want a house, so we stored some wood furniture,china closet & dishes.He kept all his tools. It was there when we quit full timing.Some ppl plan to fulltime for the rest of their life & want nothing to hold them back.Maybe the best way, is to store some things,then revaluate after a yr or 2.Good luck.

Montana_576 · 10-03-2004, 02:40 AM

Good luck on your consolidation, clothes will be a big challenge if you are going to be in places with all seasons. The comment on storage gives you some time to keep the big things you may not want to part with right a way. I suggest that you store close to family in case you want to give items of family value to kids or other relatives. This could save you a step later.

larryngail · 10-04-2004, 03:16 AM

Good Morning~

We've been in our estate-on-wheels for a little over 9 months now. Even with all the daily necessities, we have empty storage areas. With our stick-house, we never had enough room....go figure.

I enjoy sewing....so carry a full-size sewing machine. Larry enjoys metal detecting and we carry two detectors. Plus, we run a computer-based business, so have everything needed for that as well.

We even have our "favorite things" with us.

There's plenty of room. The biggest difference, for us, is we don't buy large sizes or quantities now.

Montana_139 · 10-04-2004, 09:44 PM

Almost every month since pulling up roots (16 months ago) we have found "stuff" we do't need/haven't used. It is totally amazing to me what you DON'T need!

I second the notion that it is liberating. Yes, there were things I felt sentimental about selling, but for the most part I am so, so glad to be rid of the "stuff"!!!

Yes, we have a storage shed. As we were sorting through our stuff, there were some items we put a "take it or leave it" price tag on. We have several pieces of solid oak furniture; we wanted big bucks for them, if we couldn't get our price, we decided we would store them. They are in storage right now. We no longer have a home base, so we chose a storage area near relatives whom we knew we would continue to visit, and who also could and would send us "box X" if we needed it. We are scuba divers and snow skiers -- talk about trying to make things fit...!

One of the best things we did, I believe, was to "move in" to the RV while we still had the house. And I mean, "live in it": the rig was parked in an RV park and we and our (3) animals slept, ate, lived there, while visiting the house to ready it for sale. While we scaled down, and scaled down again, and some more, and some more after that, we also kept what was important to us: believe it or not, I still travel with all three, my sewing, embroidery and overlock machines. We also each have a desk (one we built into the washer/dryer closet), and we each have a computer. These are just examples.

Glenn and I maintain some parts of our lives that were important to us before, while fully embracing the new experiences the RV lifestyle affords us. An RV is a small place, and at least once a week either one of us takes the truck to go to town -- shopping for groceries and whatever else he/she feels like doing. It gives both of us some needed solitude.

Full-time RVing isn't for everyone, but if it's minor obstacles you are worried about, chances are you can overcome them!

Karin

sreigle · 10-05-2004, 06:32 PM

Geodesi's comment about clothes reminded me of something else I wanted to mention. Vicki came up with using 'space bags' for our off-season clothes. That's those bags you put the clothes in, zip it up, then use a vacuum to suck out all the air, which effectively minimizes the space required to stow those clothes. Most of ours are in the bed storage. We're coming up on the time to swap out the season's clothes again.

mobilrvn · 10-27-2004, 12:47 PM

We have been RVing fulltime for 11 yrs and just replaced our '94 Kit Road Ranger 33 with a '04 3575. The lesson here is that we have a bigger unit sizewise, but it holds about one TON less weight (the GVWR are nearly identical). The bottomline is that you should only take what you can safely carry in the RV you have. It took us a long time to learn this lesson and FIVE transmissions in the old truck.

Your stuff is really just stuff; it is all replaceable. Spend your first winter in Quartzsite AZ and you'll see what we mean. We told the kids to come and take what they wanted (we were disappointed that they didn't value our stuff the same as we did). Our daughter asked if we weren't supposed to be dead first! Your kids can enjoy your stuff now and sell the rest. Tools are tough for guys to dump, but you really don't need much--forget all the old plumbing wrenches, everything is plastic. You need to be totally ruthless in getting shed of stuff---giving it to charity makes you feel better. We took a long time to do it and suffered the damages because of it. Better idea is just get rid of everything and start new--you won't buy as much, it matches, it works and it probably takes up less room. Try to keep things that can be used for more than one purpose. Save your photos and other paperwork on CDs. If you have CDs, dump the jewel cases and put the CDs in folders.

As the song goes, "freedom is nothin' left to lose."

Take care,
MoBillTuxRexandPrincess

Glenn and Lorraine · 10-27-2004, 01:07 PM

Hear, hear mobilrvn, I agree 100%
Just over a year ago Lorraine and I sold or gave away (mostly gave away) most everything we accumulated over 32 years of marraige and became fulltimers BUT about every 3 to 4 weeks we still find ourselves tossing unneeded stuff. Stuff that just 12 months ago we could not seperate ourselves from. Stuff that we have not needed or used in a year.
I think I have a plan...Other than seasonal items such as clothes, anything is tossed if NOT USED IN THE PAST 30 DAYS. If you don't use, it toss it. Why carry around the extra weight.
I carry enuff extra body weight, I don't need the extra stuff weight.

sreigle · 10-27-2004, 01:29 PM

We're no doubt guilty of carrying too much "stuff." I don't usually throw anything out if I think I may need it in the future. Last July, after over 15 months of fulltiming we did get rid of a number of things we'd not needed in that time. Like Glenn and Lorraine, we keep all clothes onboard for all seasons. We're not over GVWR on the Montana and we'd rather just keep it with us than to find out later we wish we had. But if we were over GVWR, I'd have to rethink that. Whatever works, I guess. The truck can't seem to tell the difference in a few hundred pounds anyhow.

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