It is amazing how much stuff I had accumulated over the years. Extra bedrooms and closets, even a garage full of stuff. Admittedly I am a pack rat by nature. I never knew when I might need find out whether that vhs tape has old taped tv shows on it or precious personal videos. Moving onto a bus motivated me pretty fast to prioritize things. I still haven't gotten it down perfectly, old habits die hard. I sold all my furniture on craigslist.com for next to nothing in an interest to move them quickly. I sold lamps, pictures, lawnmowers, yard tools all on craigslist too. It was fun actually. The rest of the little stuff that was too trivial to list was going to be taken to the flea market to squeeze out the last little cash I could from my lifetime of collecting, storing and moving crap. The hardest thing to decide what to keep was clothing. I have to have clothes for all 4 seasons, and I want to make sure I have at least one new fresh set for each day of the week. I had three big closets FULL of clothes. I have lost considerable weight over the past year so the size 36 pants were out, only 30 and 32's stayed. That was a third of the pants gone. I don't know why I kept them for so long, maybe I figured I might gain the weight back and they were some pretty nice clothes. A bulk of my dress clothes were cut although I still have 3 suits and 10 ties. I kept almost all tshirts that fit, the rest went into a rag bag to be used in the conversion. Shoes, I thought the was a bad cliche for women, but I found that I "needed" to keep 2 pairs of black dress shoes, 2 pair of brown dress shoes, two pairs of boots, two pair of flip flops, a pair of tennis shoes. Did I think I was a modern age Noah sent to save shoes? Anyhow, they take up a storage tote by themselves. I kept all 5 comforters and all my linens with the justification that I would use the ones I didn't really want to keep as dropclothes or pet blankets. I have a tote full of toiletries! How does a single man warrant a need for a whole tote for toiletries? Tools, ahh tools. Easy rationalization there. But man, do they take up some space. And they are heavy. I have a half ton in tools alone. Not to mention the day before I leave the neighbor I almost never spoke with invited me over and gave me wheelbarrows full of her soon to be ex husband's tools, rescue climbing gear, wet suits, plumbing and electical stuff. Just as I was getting rid of stuff this lady was giving me more stuff, albeit pretty cool stuff. I don't even know what some of the tools do, they are that specialized. Food related items take up 4 totes, pots and pans, silverware, plastic tumblers, spices, oils, oatmeal, canned vegetables and other non perishable items. I have a tote full of half used paint cans. I have a 50 ft craftsman "lifetime warranty" hose which takes up more space than I can really afford. In case you haven't gotten the idea, space is critical is the smaller confines of a 30 ft bus, even one that has storage compartments underneath. I guess that is why rock stars and other celebrities prefer 40 or 45 ft of mobile living. And that isn't even their permanent home.
Well when I loaded up the bus on moving day it was filled to the roof (the one picture I have of it I had already cleared out some of the things). Also remember that I am a new bus owner/driver and the laws of inertia were abundantly evident, especially the precariously stacked items that tend to shift in transit. So the picture is partially unloaded after a 15 minute drive to new temporary location.
I was still unsure of what I might need and was too hesitant to throw anything out that might be of some good to someone. Luckily this paid off a little later. I would give tokens of value to people I found myself staying with to sort of thank them and offset the inconvenience I caused them. Some stuff I hated parting ways with, like my collapsable work table, but it illustrates how desperatedly I needed space. Some things like childhood scrapbooks and videos of course, are still with me. The irony hasn't escaped me that my most valuable collections are worth the least amount to others. I have finally gotten to the point where I have a manageable, close to exactly right, amount of stuff. Granted, there are things I have to tolerate that will be used and tossed away. Things like painting supplies and rags. But all in all I am at a point where I need to make purchases again. Things like roof paint, a GPS system, Hardwoods for the floors, Lumber to build dividing walls and cabinets. And on my dream list, A WVO (waste vegetable oil) system to fuel the bus. I look forward to the day my gas is free and my exhaust smells like french fries.
