UPDATE: Getting Rid of Our Stuff
Downsizing, paring down, minimalism, spring cleaning. No matter what you call it, getting rid of your stuff isn’t easy. Follow our process of getting rid of 95% of our belongings in preparation to travel long-term as digital nomads.
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See how our process of paring down and getting rid of our stuff in preparation for continuous long-term travel began. The first part of this series begins with Getting Rid of Our Stuff.
Getting Rid of Our Stuff: Update
Some things went as planned, some did not...
Keep and Store
We did a pare down of our ‘keep and store’ belongings so well that we ended up keeping things we never thought we would.
We chose to keep the aforementioned shelving and a few organizer storage drawers and because of this each drawer became a small space to store stuff. Rather than leave this as empty space, it replaced the 6-12 boxes we planned on storing. Even with all the drawers available for use, we only filled up about two-thirds of them!
Keep and Travel With
On the other hand, our ‘keep and travel with’ stuff became too big of a pile. We thought we were being pretty minimalistic and cutting everything down to the bare minimum.
We failed miserably.
Our first attempt at packing our backpack (Video Review of Osprey Manta AG 36) was a realization that surprisingly weight wasn’t our biggest issue, instead, it was bulk. We didn’t have all of our electronics yet (laptops, cables, plugs, etc.) but we were still right around 16 pounds per bag.
“What seemed to be a small pile of stuff, barely fit into the backpacks. ”
And so began a pare down of our pare down.
Final Thoughts
At this point, everything we have to pack seems essential. So, paring down even more seems nearly impossible. But it must be done. Here’s what we’re considering (although we’re going to keep brainstorming!):
Our nightly Dr. Ellie’s teeth regiment of three mouth washes has to be reduced to one.
Dental picks may be replaced with a roll of dental floss.
Six pairs of undies can be reduced to four (we'll wash them by hand more often).
We can share one razor handle and each have our own blade.
Instead of packing it, we’ll buy what we can when we arrive at each destination (think toiletries and such).
And we can share a salt rock deodorant, right!? Those things are heavy!
