How do you pack up your belongings your leaving behind for a long trip (year or more)??
We're leaving in a month for our super long trip that we really have no idea how long it will be.
What inspired this trip was our landlords deciding to sell the condo we're renting right now.
So we're in the process of packing up and downsizing all of our personal belongings and it's turning out to be a lot more complicated (it fells like) then a move from one place to another.
We're selling the bigs things (couch, TV, desks, book shelves, car, etc) and packing up anything we have sentimental attachment to, or things we think would be nice to have if and when we ever come back to this lifestyle. Like I said it's a lot harder then I previously thought. Just going through my filing cabinet earlier today I found a small box worth of cards; birthday, Christmas, Valentines, blank and written in; that I could not throw away (Scott won't be pleased I packed these lol).
We're fortunate enough to have three places to spread out stuff through when we leave, my mom and dad (who are divorced) and Scott's parents place.
Has anyone had to pack up like this for a trip before? What was your process, and where did you leave it all? What was the most random and un-explainable item you decided to keep?
Do you have any tips or hints that helped this process for you? How long did it take you to pack up your life and leave it behind?
Reply to this I packed up my life last February when I moved to Korea for a year. Since I could only take two suitcases of stuff with me, I had to leave most everything but a few books, pictures and clothes behind. If you have family that is willing to let you stash things at their place, I'd definitely take them up on that. I left my things at my mom's and my grandparent's house and my boyfriend left his things at his dad's and aunt and uncle's house. If you think you would miss the things when you come home, I definitely recommend packing it up and stashing it away. I know even while I was in college I used to get a kick out of going through some letters from friends that I kept from high school when I would go back home for Christmas or to visit during the summer. There are also little things that I'm glad that I will have when I go back home such as pots and pans that are currently stowed at my grandparent's house. I think it will make my transition back to life at home a lot easier not having to start from complete scratch by buying everything. Granted, what it is feasible to keep also depends on how long you think you will be gone.
I hadn't owned any furniture when I left but my boyfriend did and he didn't part with anything other than his car. Mostly for the same reason that my pots and pans are at my grandparent's house. I decided to keep my car while I was gone since it was in good condition and I didn't want to have to worry about having the money to buy a new one when I came home. Although my driver's lisence expired in September so I won't be able to drive it when I get home until I get that taken care of.
I guess I'm of the opinion that you don't have to get rid of much at home before you take off other than the things that would cause extra expenses for you while you are gone.
Reply to this My ex was thinking of doing this when he thought he'd be travelling with me. What he came up with was to buy (or hire?) a shipping container and our friend who lives in the country was hapy to store it on his land. Don't know how easy it would have been or how costly to actually GET a shipping container though.
Reply to this Here in Australia, its pretty easy to buy a shipping container. There are specialised businesses these days that sell them and turn them into offices, games rooms or anything you want. You see them on construction sites all the time. Its just the space required thats the issue with them. If you have the space, a pretty effective way of storing your stuff.
Reply to this Hello Scott and Kristy 😊
When I was going away for that long, I used to loan my stuff to my sister for the time I would be away and/or give some of it away to charities.
Mel
Reply to this I'm just in the process of clearing out my belongings and stuffing them into bin bags for the charity shop - my friends are loving it as they get to raid my discarded wardrobe! Luckily my parents have kept my room back home for me still so I can store most stuff there. The bigger problem is transporting it all back there in 2 car loads, hence the clearing out.
I think it's quite good for the soul having a big clear out every few years, especially for me as I'm such a hoarder. I'm like you Kristy, I have a box of cards I can't bear to throw away. I also agree with Nicole about keeping things if you have space. It's an expensive pain to buy everything for the house all over again when you get back.
Reply to this We have thought about donating, it is a great thing to do. We're trying to sell what we can, are giving some of our stuff to Scott's sister, and then rest is going into the donation bin down the street.
we have the car, a bookshelf and a (horrid) couch left.
20 days. I've lost my feeling of excitement, it's been replaced with this overwhelming sense of.... unsureness. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel 20 days before the biggest thing in my life ever to happen!!
Reply to this ...and a (horrid) couch left.
What I do with horrid stuff that neither I nor anybody else wants is chop it up into as small pieces as I can, and dispose of it bit by bit in the garbage and the public garbage cans about the place.
...it's been replaced with this overwhelming sense of.... unsureness.
That feeling might go away and be replaced with more excitement when you actually start travelling. Your mind will likely be so taken up with the new sights, sounds, people... that there wont be any room in it for unsureness.
Reply to this When we packed up for our trip it gave us a good opportunity to have a huge clear out of all the things we'd been hoarding for no reason.
We did 2 car boot sales and put the money towards our trip, sold loads on ebay and gave anything else to charity shops.
We rented out our house so left all the big furniture in the house and were lucky enough to be allowed to leave all our other things up in the loft, well there and we also spread some out between the parents & my sister.
The only down side to our big clear out is that we didn't think about losing weight when we were travelling. We sold loads of clothes that we didn't fit into any more but now we've come back half the size and all the clothes we kept are too big and we sold the rest!
So advice from us would be to keep all those items you've always dreamed you'd get in again.. because you probably will when you get back!
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