HOW DO WE ACCUMULATE SO MUCH, SO QUICKLY? SACRAMENTO, CA

Hey, thanks for all the comments and emails about upgrades to to our motorhome’s interior!   Your advice will be a big help to us when we make our decisions.

It is a very gray, wet day here in Sacramento… a good day to stay indoors and focus on the many tasks I have ignored in favor of having fun (mostly).  Odel and I have both been all business since we got up this morning, he buried in Boomer business (volunteer job for our RV club) while I try to bring order to the chaos inside Scoopy.

We’ve got “stuff” everywhere!  Dashboard, driver and passenger chairs, plus every horizontal surface available.  Much of this is the result of my 60th birthday, with cards and gifts sitting around to be appreciated and enjoyed.  I got to attend three birthday parties AND a special event – a trip to San Francisco with both of my sisters and my 20 year old niece to view an exhibit of post-impressionist paintings (Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay) at the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park, followed by a late lunch and a little sightseeing before we came home. 

The fact that we are stationary for a month contributes to the mess inside.  As usual when we visit Sacramento, we have ordered several things online, so we have a few items sitting around awaiting a new position… along with boxes and packing material destined for the dumpster.  Books and magazines that usually would be stashed away for travel are scattered near my chair, the sofa, the bed.  And, I’m accumulating goodies for Thanksgiving – a few bottles of wine to share with family, special ingredients purchased that don’t have a usual spot in a cupboard…

So, it was funny today to read a new post on a favorite blog about minimalist living.  Though most of the blogs I read are those of other RV’ers, several non-RV blogs have made it onto my subscription list – a couple cooking blogs and two blogs about frugal living.  I’ve mentioned one of them before, The Simple Dollar.  The other, the one that tickled me today, is Early Retirement Extreme.  Jacob, the author, has a funny sense of humor and a VERY frugal approach to life.  He also currently lives in an RV in the California Bay Area.

Jacob’s post, “How to Live Out of a Suitcase”, referenced an old post by Trent on The Simple Dollar, “The Suitcase Test: The Things You Really Need”.  By the time I had finished reading these two posts, I was INSPIRED.  In short order, I had one of the empty shipping boxes filled up with discards from the “oil/vinegar/sauce” cupboard (which now has two new bottles, birthday gifts, in place), all  the packing materials ready to toss, and another small box of give-away items near the front door.   Now, if I could just face my closet…!