5 Tips for Downsizing for Nomadic Living

Guest Post by Tara Sage, a nomadic living coach, with her best tips for downsizing for nomadic living

Downsizing for nomadic living or RV travel can be a freeing, exhilarating experience, especially when you keep your end goal in mind—the freedom that comes from not being weighed down by SO MUCH STUFF. Think of the places you could go and the things you could do!

If you’re getting started in downsizing to travel in your RV, you might be overwhelmed. But you don’t have to be. I’ve got some great tips to get you started on the task.

To start, here’s a quick quiz.

Downsizing is:

There is no wrong answer. 

But, if you answered “F”, the likelihood that your process will be efficient, enjoyable, and something you see through, goes up exponentially!

Downsizing for Nomadic Living

Maybe you’re moving into a smaller house, maybe you’re making the leap into nomadic living by becoming an RVer, or perhaps both!

Either way, if you are eager for less stuff and more “stuff of life” … downsizing is a great way to make it happen.

Things can weigh us down – literally and figuratively. Downsizing can bring a heightened sense of order, and with it, greater peace of mind.

The more stuff you have, the more stuff you need to care for, clean, store, fix, insure… Downsizing can relieve you of the energetic burden that comes with owning things that you don’t need, love, or are just collecting dust. 

Downsizing can also free up the mental bandwidth for creative projects – be it writing that book, taking up quilting, or whatever other inspired ideas you have that have been sitting on the back burner for far too long.

These are just SOME of the many benefits of downsizing that I have personally experienced and have witnessed in my clients when making the lifestyle choice to clear out what no longer serves to hold onto. 

The benefits are countless, BUT the process isn’t easy!

5 Tips for Downsizing for Nomadic Living

1. The power of a deadline 

How long do things take?

Here’s a rule of thumb: Especially when it comes to getting big, daunting tasks and projects done, things take exactly as long as you have for them.

Knowing and learning to trust this, is a bit like having a superpower.

For me, I had 60 days before the lease on my apartment was up and my nomadic living adventure began. So, that became my deadline.

If circumstances don’t decide it for you, create your own accountability by, for example, telling everyone you know that you’re having a moving sale on (date).

Deadlines create a sense of urgency. Once the deadline is set, trust that the time you have is exactly the time you need, and get started.

2. Make a daily effort to downsize

Do a minimum of 30 minutes per day. Choose one drawer, one cabinet, or one shelf at a time. Set a timer to help you see it through. Starting is often the hardest part. Once you’re in motion, you may decide to go beyond the 30-minute daily minimum. If so, by all means, ride the wave! But if not, know that after 30 minutes, you have fulfilled your commitment and that you will show up and do it again tomorrow.

3. Expect decision fatigue when downsizing

I find that the most difficult decisions to make are the ones that don’t really matter, but that you need to make anyway.

You will be making countless micro-decisions. Which pots to pack …. what spices to take … which socks … which kitchen utensils, toiletries, etc.… Even more daunting for me was deciding where each item I wasn’t taking was going: sell? recycle? donate? store? If for sale, for how much? If being donated, where, when, and to whom?

Expect decision fatigue. It is a very real, entirely normal part of the process, and just one more reason to do a little bit every day. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you won’t downsize in a day either. Honor your energy, stay consistent, and you’ll succeed.

4. Ask yourself these two questions

As you sort through each item, ask:

• Do I need it?
• Do I love it?

Set the bar high! If you can’t answer with a resounding “YES!” to at least one of these two questions, let. it. go.

5. Get support when you are downsizing for Nomadic Living

A friend, a bottle of wine, and my shoe collection. That is how I got through paring down my pairs. Put out a call for some positive juju and support, as needed, to help you along the way. Ask for help to fill the car with donations, set up for your moving sale, or sort through your sweaters.

Teamwork makes the dream work. Together, we are so much more.

One decision at a time, you can do this.

Tara Sage, founder of Tara Sage Coaching, is a life coach, digital nomad, full-time RVer, professional speaker, blanket hog, and the bestselling author of The Brules of Life, . She is devoted to helping you create the life you think you cannot have while becoming the person you are meant to be. Learn more at www.tarasagecoaching.com