Get Rid of Your Stuff * pockettraci

Advice for an Aspiring Nomad

Or what to do with all your stuff.

Can’t you see that I’m dying inside?
Can’t you see that I’m dying inside?
If you shined a flashlight in my butt you’d see
I’m dying inside -[title of show]

You’re ready for a change.

You’re ready to answer the call of the road and become a full-time traveler, vagabond, nomad. Whatever the kids are calling it these days.

Been there. Done that. Let me tell you about it.

Before you can actually walk out the door and leave, there’s a few things to cover. Not saying you can’t bounce tomorrow if you really wanted to, but let’s focus on a graceful exit of Your Life Right Now. There’s a couple aspects I’ll cover eventually, from the mental game of getting out and thriving to the social game of leaving gracefully, but right now let’s focus on Stuff. If you want to drop a match behind ya, you do you. Your situation may call for that, no judgements! You can be a nomad if you want to be.

Get ready to travel full-time

Ditch Your Stuff

Decide now, “I’m getting rid of all this stuff.” Look around. Say goodbye to your tchotchkes. It is all weight holding you back from moving on.
Mentally categorize everything – sell it, donate it, keep it, take it with me. That’s it, those are the only options (I mean, trash it but hopefully you’re not a hoarder with rooms of empty boxes, ahem…).
Try it out – pack a bag you can manage hauling around the world and live out of it for 2 weeks. Forget something? Packed something you never touched? Excellent, good rehearsal. Try it again.
Get all Marie Kondo on your stuff. I don’t believe the “spark joy” concept works for everyone, I’m more pragmatic. Is it replaceable? Will storing it cost more than replacing it? Yes, get rid of it. Will you be excited to pull it out of a box later? Will you miss it while you’re apart? Yes, keep it.
Throw a Naked Lady (or Man or Person) Party. Ask your crew to clean out their closets – clothes, shoes, accessories – as well as makeup and other beauty products and bring the good stuff, not your stained gym castoffs. Make some snacks, crack some champagne, and pile all the goodies around your house. Everyone can pick and choose their new goods. The Naked part comes from people trying on clothes – pants off, dance off! If two people like the same thing, the crowd votes who it suits better. I basically exchanged my wardrobe and got several new fav pieces for the road. Take all the leftover to a women’s shelter or other charity in your city. Win, win, win!

Sell it.

Sell it all. I used the OfferUp app and Facebook to sell enough crap to pay for roundtrip tickets to and from Thailand. I treated it like a part time job for 2 months to get there. One week ain’t gonna cut it.
I rallied the neighbors for a weekend of garage sales. We pawned off as much as we could for a dollar. “Like that? Here take this, too! Five bucks.” Just don’t bring anything back in! You’ve already mentally parted with it – fill a car and donate.
People will surprise you with what they drool over versus stuff you can’t give away. I had a full on bidding war for some knives but no one wanted ante up for my Le Creuset cast iron dutch oven. Don’t worry about getting back what you paid for it – just get money for things. It adds up. Focus on the big picture. I ended up selling the dutch oven for $40 to some young mommy who was super stoked, and $40 is a week of eating Thai food on a Thai beach. Win. Look at the overall cash in hand versus the price per item. Your value of things is not the used street value.
Iron grip goodies. I had a few things I would could not sell for the amount I believed them to be worth. No one valued them as much as I did. Instead of selling grandma’s heavy gold clock for ten bucks, I gave it to my friend who admired it every time she came over. Whew! Someone will love it as much as I did. Hind sight? Maybe I should have taken the ten bucks but I just couldn’t at the time.

Keep It.

Don’t get a storage unit. Just don’t! It’s a grand waste of money. I’ve been gone for 16 months now, a small unit about the size of a closet (5×5) runs at least $70/month in San Diego. 16×70 = $1120! Everything I may have put in there is easily replaceable for that cost. See if a family member or friend has a little room in their garage for a minimal fee. I pay my sister $100/year around Christmas so she has extra cash and goodwill towards me!
I couldn’t talk you out of a storage unit with math. Okay, science? Two of my friends went on tour and left some things in storage. One unit was ruined by a flood. He had paid over $2000 with literally nothing to show. Second friend opened his unit and immediately threw out half of the contents because they were gross with dust, mold, and hastened decay.
If you *must* put stuff in storage, be very, very selective. What condition will this be in after being in storage for a year? Two years? How much would it cost to replace versus store? Watch Storage Wars for a reality check if necessary. Sage advice: Do not use cardboard boxes – they sag and crumble and don’t keep dust or bugs out (yeah that’s right, bugs and dust are in your storage unit so make good decisions!). Clear storage bins that are labeled with alllllll the contents are the way to go. Get a piece of paper for each bin and update the contents as you add and shuffle things. Leave it in the side of the bin where you can easily see it without opening anything. Take pics of your lists to access when you’re not in the storage unit (where’s that one thing…?). And do not store soft goods like pillows and towels. Gross. (Flood and mold equal science, right?) Make a master list or file folder of those contents and back it up: email it to yourself or store it in the cloud.
Find babysitters. Love your art deco dresser? Can’t imagine not having your vintage cocktail cart in your life? Find a friend who will “babysit” it – “Hey can you keep this until I come back for it? Use it, love it, while I’m gone. If you need to get rid of it, let me know and I’ll figure out what to do with it then. Or I’ll collect when I’m back.” My friend furnished her newly deserted second bedroom with my stuff, another friend has all my camping gear. My buddy who had my beloved bed frame is now moving – we decided she should sell it and we’ll split the profit. Done.

Take it with you.

I’ll address this in a separate post because it’s a can of herding cats!

Let me know how your initial steps to becoming a nomad are going and what struggles you face.

I lived in my 2 bedroom apartment for 6 years, and all the contents were mine. When I left, I barely filled a minivan and drove off. I have since reclaimed a vintage steamer trunk and a small computer desk a friend was babysitting. I’ve rearranged some stuff in storage. I’ve accessed my craft supplies and costume bin (yes Mardi Gras!), and office supplies. I got rid of another couple bags of clothes, shoes, and accessories, and I’ve purchased new things in those categories.

*Update march 2019: I’ve been a nomad on the road now for 2 years. My sister lets me use her second bedroom when I’m “home.” This past fall was an extended nomad break. Other than different clothes, you know what possessions I was dying to have my hands on? Art I bought on the road. Nothing old. I wanted my Thai art, canvas I had rolled up in my suitcase, no heavier than a pair of pants.