Touring - Getting rid of stuff...

Hey everyone..my gf and I have to decided on an extended open-ended tour....however, there's still the issue of getting rid of all the stuff and preparations to go....we're planning to document it all with short slideshows and videos...

Check out the first one here!

http://pathlesspedaled.com/?p=49

Best,
Russ

Well edited and narrated, and fun. Looking forward to more bits and pieces of your journey!

This is a thread I started entitled, "Getting Rid of Your Stuff":
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=495816


In 2004, I made the decision to change my life. I went through all my stuff and got rid of about half of it (tossing, selling, giving away). Then I quit my job, gave up my apartment, packed up my remaining things, and moved two provinces over. I dropped off my things there, and took off for a 3-month tour of Australia. When I returned to Canada, I started my Bachelor of Education .... and have just graduated last Friday (April 17th). :) :)

Most of my things have been in storage for approx. the past 4.5 years, so last December I dug it all out, and started going through it all. That's when I started the thread above. The thread has gone to several pages now and has quite a bit of useful information and encouragement for the purging process.


In 48 days I move to Australia to live in an orchard with my husband, Rowan. At the moment Rowan is living in a small camper trailer because the bushfires destroyed his home on February 7th. There is a possibility that a small Atco might be moved onto the property for us, but otherwise I'll be moving into that trailer too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14302884@N04/sets/72157611337191865/

In addition to living extremely simply (small place, nowhere to store things, no running water, no electricity, etc.), the cost of shipping things to Australia is expensive. And ... Rowan and I want to travel, so hauling a lot of stuff around with us just isn't practical. Therefore I need to take what I currently have left from my 2004 purge, and reduce it down to no more than 500 sq. ft (approx 8 ft x 8 ft x 8 ft packed), and preferably less than that.

Since my graduation, I've started doing the paperwork aspect of such a move ..... and have also started going through my things again to get rid of most of it.

I'm in the same boat, but with less books and "stuff" to get rid of. Good luck to you!

Dude are you that same Russ Roca guy? The cycling photographer?

Yes you are. :)

How's the process going?

I'm still wading through all my stuff, but just this weekend I put together three large garbage bags of stuff I'm tossing, a box of books I'm giving away, and I'm trying to gather up school supplies to take to a local school.

I have an attraction to maps and tourist information, and I've got heaps of that sort of thing, but I'm working on letting go of some of it. I just keep thinking ... what if I want this for an upcoming tour!!!

Machka...the process is slow right now...

Laura still has a 9-5er....and I'm trying to book as many shoots as I can to fund the trip...

We however, have made progress in the kitchen front :)

http://pathlesspedaled.com/?p=86

Wow. What a nicely done video. The whole web site is well done! As you get rid of stuff, you must still need a lot of stuff to properly document the stuff you get rid of. Are you going to carry your camera and editing stuff on your journey? (OK, I just like typing the word "stuff.)

I wish I were brave and bold enough to do what you are doing. I look forward to following your journey.

yeah..there is some "stuff" i have to hold on to....some audio recording equipment and a pair of point and shoot cameras and a laptop...

not ideal, but when compared to the TON we have now...much much better :)

it feels really liberating to do it..and it makes our trip feel more real even though we're a few months off