Downsizing for nomadic living is an important task for those who plan to live full time on the road. Unless you are already a minimalist by nature, adjusting to the much-smaller living space can be a big challenge. Getting rid of everything that won't fit in your vehicle isn't always possible, so then you'll have to rely on storage units or asking friends and family to hang on to your belongings.
The best way to understand what should go in your camper is start moving things into your camper, or at least a camper-sized space in your home. The amount of available storage space and need for organization will become apparent.
You have to be ruthless. Follow the wisdom of the backpacker: 'Bring what you need, and need what you bring.'[1]
Decluttering
Getting rid of excess material goods takes a long time, and can can be emotionally/psychologically harder than one might think. Some ideas to help with the downsizing:
- Stop buying physical stuff that will not go in the van with you. Bias purchases toward experiences, digital goods, consumables.
- Clear out room by room in your house or apartment. As soon as there is one empty room, measure out a spot on the floor that approximates the living space of the smallest van you are considering. Everything you will own must fit in that space.
- Make spaces for stuff you want to sell, and stuff you want to give away. Put the give-away somewhere near the door so you will remember to offer those items to friends and family who visit.
- Start paring your wardrobe down to the essentials.
- Let your family and friends know you can't use physical gifts (unless it's an item or material you can use in your build)
- Convert your book collection to an e-reader like a Kindle, Nook, or Kobo; see below.
Everything else must go!
50 ways to leave your clutter:
- Sell or give away on craigslist, Facebook marketplace, OfferUp, Kijiji (Canada), eBay, etc.
- Give it away on freecycle or to local charity shops or thrift stores.
- Give it away by setting it out early for trash pickup.
Books
Many people have an emotional reaction to physical books are are horrified at the thought of giving them up. But they are bulky, heavy, and many of us will never read most of the ones we already own. In a van or RV, you won't have room to store many of them. The most precious of books can be brought with you, and those you can't get rid of can go to a climate-controlled storage unit.
If you need to jettison books quickly, donate them to your local Friends of the Library group for an upcoming book sale or drop the reading material off at a nearby Little Free Library.[2]
Give away books on BookMooch
Kindles and similar e-readers are popular with nomads since they can hold thousands of books in the space of one slim paperback. E-ink models look like real paper and use so little power they can run a month on one charge. Tablet models can do double duty as media viewers, web browsers, etc. Non-Kindle tablets like the iPad or android equivalent can use the free Kindle app.
Your public library probably already digitally loans Kindle books through Overdrive (they are delivered by Amazon). No standing in checkout line or driving back to the library to return them; the books are just deleted from the reader after the loan expires.
If you have books that are not available in digital format, companies like 1dollarscan can digitize your physical copy.
Note: Non-DRM books (like public domain works from Project Gutenberg, etc.) can be read in third party apps like FBreader, a free and massively configurable reader.
Things you may need
There are lots of things you may need while living nomadically. Here is a partial list to get you started. Each person will have different needs. Read our list of recommended items …
Resources
| Resource | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| OneBag | Subreddit with 767k subscribers as of August 2024. "r/onebag is an 'urban' travel community devoted to the idea of helping people lug around less crap; onebag travel. Fewer items, packed into a single bag for ease of transport to make traveling simpler with more focus on the experience than the logistics." | |
| Search forums and groups | Search van life discussion groups for "downsizing for nomadic living" | |
| Search related sites | Search van life sites for "downsizing for nomadic living" | |
| Search NomadLife.wiki | Search other pages on this wiki for "downsizing for nomadic living" |
Some or all of the content on this page was originally sourced from this page on RVWiki