Today while tackling my yearly possession clean out/shuffle, I again pondered the concept of modern day nomad living. I’ve got the moving around bit sorted, but not the living out of one suitcase scenario. If anyone has figured this out, please do enlighten me. I’m standing in my sister’s shed surrounded by boxes, backpacks and bags, and I’m simply overwhelmed by the sight of stuff. I have the worst quality a person like me could ever have. I’m a hoarder. To regular standards I’m probably not that bad, but to my brother in law who’s been storing my ‘stuff’ for over 5 years now I’ve got WAY too many things.
Every year I whittle down my collection of books, clothes, Olympic paraphernalia (which is so comprehensive now I could open a museum), paintings, ornaments and personal collectibles. The problem is each year I repeat the same song, ‘when I have my own place I’ll want these’, and as the years go by, my brother in law’s doubt is starting to wear off on me.
I think my clean up has actually had an adverse affect on the amount of items I’m hoping to take back to Abu Dhabi. After reuniting with the better half of my wardrobe which mainly consists of hand-me-downs or second hand clothing, I now have an extra pile of stuff to pack into my already full suitcase. The issue of packing always seems to fall back on the question, ‘where am I going next?’, or ‘what am I doing next?’, ‘what season will it be?’, oh and ‘how long will I be there?’ Australia is a long way to pop back to simply pick up a few bits and pieces. I need some kind of central storage location (that isn’t my sister’s) that can simply post me things when I need them. Let me know if this exists, otherwise let me know when you get this new business venture up and running!
For someone with self diagnosed OCD it’s difficult to live with my worldly possession strewn across so many locations. For 99% of the year I don’t think twice about it, but when I’m back home it’s always here waiting for me. I had dinner with a friend of mine last week who reminded me that my bicycle was still in his backyard. He’d also moved my bed he was borrowing to his girlfriend’s parents house but still had my grandfather’s painting he was looking after in my absence. I might deal with all of that next year, ‘when I have my own place!’
Serial Nomad 
I recommend not getting “your own place” but rather get a nice motorhome. Aside from being mobile, at least on one continent, it has the quality of forcing you to severely limit your possessions. If you buy something, you must eliminate something. Keeps things simple and small and mobile. I love living in my 26 foot Lazy Daze and would never go back to sticks and bricks. andybaird.com is a website that provides everything anyone would need to know about living in a motorhome in the US.
I’m a bit of a hoarder, too, especially when it comes to books and photographs. And since I have been mostly in one place for the last years, I had space to accumulate it in – now I am running out of space and need to get rid of some things, and it is so difficult!
The thing with clothing for me is that I forget that I have this or that, and could easily live without it, but once I start to go through all the stuff and see it again, I can’t part with it. Sigh … Sorry, no helpful tips from me, I’m afraid…
Rozanne, This might be a helpful website/contact. They are very friendly people and might be able to give you some ideas about having a central base without taking over your relatives spaces. http://goingslowly.com/planning
Ya know … most every possession we gather along our path only adds weight. It’s the experiences and memories that we really cherish.
Once a year I go through my house and evaluate everything I own to decide what I really should keep. Sometimes I have to ask myself if my house were to burn down, what would I miss the most? For me those possessions now fit nicely in a smallish under-the-bed-box.
It’s really quite liberating!
I’m currently working on whittling my gear so that it can fit into my backpack, daypack and a misc snowshoe/gear bag. While my life is not as nomadic as yours, I yearn for those days again. In a few short years I will be selling the house that hosted you and moving closer to the mountains and a much smaller space where every inch will be precious.
Let the bed, bicycle, tennis racket, motorbike and other non-essentials help fund your next adventure. Donate any old shoes and clothes that aren’t current and enjoy the pleasure of newer pieces to freshen your wardrobe once in a while.
Challenge yourself with reducing your travel gear to three bags … I think it’s possible.
Speaking of Olympic themed gear, if you have any Ray-Ban Olympic sunglasses, you should check out the prices that they are bringing on eBay. The rarest years/styles of these glasses bring hundreds of dollars. I was surprised to find that some really garish glasses from the 1976 olympics that i bought for 25 cents at a yard sale were worth over US150.00!
Well Muk, like I was saying before, you really should learn to fly! They save up and set a plane and then you can take it all with you! I’m sure they have a lotto in the land of OZ, you should win that and then you could afforded this option! 😀
But sadly, I have no helpful advice for getting rid of stuff, unless you want to give it to me, 🙂 I picked up my dad’s compulsion of keeping stuff, Hey, you never know when you might need it! Really!! God only knows what I am going to do if I get addicted to long distance hiking and give up my home and job. It will be a sad sad day…. :0