Searching Fulltime: RV Musings

Living in a small space means constantly reorganizing things for maximum space and efficiency. Everything that needs to be out when we stop, like laundry basket, printer, air purifier, coffee maker, toaster, cutting board, Soda Stream, and so on, needs to have an official place to live. We've been full-timing since April and have more or less gotten things sorted.

Behold our vast floor space.

My mother is constantly reorganizing her bedroom because she loves stuff and has a lot of it. She also has trouble getting to the storage under her bed, so she likes to have everything out. There is barely space for a water bottle on her two night stands, but it's ordered chaos. I think she's pretty comfortable.

Meanwhile the amount of stuff in the rest of the trailer has gotten less and less. I used to keep my tools under the couch in the drawer that pulls out. But a pull out drawer was too convenient a spot to keep stuff that I will *maybe* need to use once a year. So I moved the tools and tool like things (zip ties, tape gun, rubber bands, etc.) under the dinette and put my canned goods under the couch. The canned goods used to be in the middle shelf of the pantry. Now that large shelf is empty. It seems weird to have an empty shelf. The storage under the dinette with the tools is only half full. We have nothing else we want to put there.

Over the sink cupboard

Our U shaped dinette has storage in the back lengthwise area too. We went through that today. There's not much we want to put there. My inflatable boat (which I've yet to open) and winter clothes. That's it. It had so much empty space that I also dug out the pots and pans I don't use much but don't want to get rid of and put them there. My paella pan, the magic bullet and its accessories, and my mom's double boiler for flan. While we were at it we got rid of a few sauce pans that I never use. Now there's a lot of extra space under the sink where I keep the pans.

Under the sink. The cast iron thing with the handle is my weight to use when cooking beef heart.

I guess the theme of this post is that most every place where we have storage has lots of empty room. Here we are living in 250 square feet and we've got storage room to spare. Rving teaches you that you really don't need that much stuff. I mean, I won't be trimming down my wardrobe any time soon, but there's space in my tiny closet for more clothes if I really wanted. I'm not inclined to buy more stuff when all I do is wear the same six or so pieces anyway.