Getting Ready for the RV: Downsizing

Yup. That part of all of this. The worst part about moving into an RV. It doesn't matter how you sort it or what kind of sentimental value it has; you will be selling, giving away, or throwing out most of what you own.

And the worst part? Sorry ladies, but it is mostly the things that you want to keep that will be going. This is one of those things that the Glitz and Glammers get right.



It isn't that men don't have things they don't need or can't fit. It is that men are more likely to have things that you need to keep whereas women generally have more items of sentimental value.

I heard those eyes rolling. Take a moment to think about it. For the sake of the discussion I will generalize, but even those of you that don't fall into these stereotypes know many people that do.

Who chose the wall decor? How much do you think you will be keeping when your available wall space becomes almost non-existent?

Who chose the furniture? Ain't no space for your sectional in the RV.

All your makeup? Good luck finding a place for all of it in an RV bathroom.

Closet space? You're down to ten outfits at the most.

Hair styling products? You might have space for one or two bottles and one brush.

Shoe collection? You're down to one pair of shoes and one pair of boots.

Like it or not, men have less of these items than women. And like it or not, they tend to have more of the necessary items. Specifically, I'm talking about tools.

You will need to keep every single last tool that you can possibly fit into your limited space. I even have a 3-ton rolling jack along with all my power tools and hand tools. And I've needed almost all of them at some point or another.

In our case, Lyndsay got to keep her bow and arrows; I lost my crossbow and longsword. Yes, I owned a longsword. That's right, men; you have things you don't need, too. Or I did, anyway.

Aurora was probably hit the hardest, though. We sold or gave away well over half of her toys and clothes. Thankfully she was young and didn't notice too much.

You will get rid of most of your kitchenware. A few different sizes of pot that can stack into each other, ditto the pans, much of your cooking utensils will have to go (and if you can get combo ones made for space saving while camping, do that), bowls and plates all have to be unbreakable, you have to reduce the number of cups you have and bye bye all glass and ceramic cups and mugs.

Before the RV is even a glimmer in your eye, you will have to start your downsizing process. Time to go minimalist.

Start by reducing your clothes as much as possible, keeping your favourite shirts and pants. Underwear and socks are a bit easier due to smaller space requirements - depending on your collection size, anyway.

Shoes go next. If you absolutely need to keep a pair of fancy shoes, don't even put them in a box; you will be tucking them into a cupboard or closet corner. Otherwise, one pair of casual/running shoes and one pair of boots; I recommend a good set of waterproof hiking boots.

Is it in storage? If yes, have you accessed it in the last year? If no, it has to go.

Collectibles? Action figures? Books? Pick your favourites or what you think will be most important. The only fiction I have left is my Firefly collection (if you haven't heard of this series, find your nearest nerd and ask them if you can borrow season one).

Go through your kitchen and follow the advice I laid out above.

After that, you will have to see what you can fit. We had to get rid of our food processor and blender. Our outdoor kitchen was converted into storage space for art supplies, though, so you may have more space for such things than we did.

Useful buys? The InstantPot. You don't have a lot of counter or stove space and the InstantPot makes making meals super simple while using a reasonable amount of electricity.

And if you think that's it, I have bad news for you. You will continue to downsize after moving into the RV. You'll realize you don't need things and get rid of them.

Buy storage bins so that you can expand your storage space beneath your trailer. Easy enough to throw them into your RV when you hit the road.

If you haven't started yet, good luck! If you have, keep the conversation going. Are there things you had to part with that you really didn't want to? What did you bring along that you realized later you didn't need? Anything you tossed out that it turned out you needed? Let us know in the comments!

Monday's post will be all about saving space so you can keep more of that stuff that you really can't bare to part with.