Dreaming

My husband and I are thinking about buying an rv 5th wheel trailer and truck and making this our permanent home. We will travel all over and it sounds great. We live in an apartment now and our lease is up at the end of the year. The sad thing is that it's stressing me out. I think of selling all our stuff then I thought about all my sewing supplies and then what about my stash. I have a very, very large stash. What am I going to do? I know there will be limited space and I thought about putting it in storage, there's a lot of things I would like to put in storage, but we are on a limited budget. Has anyone ever lived out on the road RV'ing? If so, what did you do with all your quilting supplies and stash? Any suggestions that anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated. I should be exited about this and I am, but the stress is overtaking me. HELP!!!

dunster

Life is full of change and compromise. It sounds like you have a wonderful opportunity for a thrilling adventure. Don't stress over what you will lose when you have so much to gain. You can still quilt without all your equipment and stash, if that's what you want. And think of all the new quilt shops you can visit!

yngldy

I have thought about downsizing my stash, and how to do it. I would get my bucket list and gather or cut kits for the quilts on the list. I would make a copy of the pattern if in a book or magazine and put with kit into a ziplock so that everything is together. I would keep the fabric that I really, really, can't get rid of, and use up, ASAP (charity quilts, gifts, etc) everything else. What you can't get to, organizations that make charity quilts would gladly take. You will have time to make your "kit quilts" while you are on the road. And most important, stay out of the fabric stores!!! Sounds like fun. Enjoy your adventure.

quiltingcandy

First of all - stop and take a deep breath. Have you discussed this with your husband? How much of your stash do you actually use? Do you plan to have a place that you return to on a regular basis, a "home base" so to speak? Is there a family member that would let you store some bins of fabric? Knowing you will not add to them only remove fabric from the bins? For the next month or so, put what you use in a box or a drawer or 2. Then you can see what is not so necessary. If you are like me you have things like a rug hook that I haven't used in 25 years as an example. And there are a lot of nice to haves and needs. Your husband will need to understand that some items will not be sold or given away. This is just as much your retirement as it is his and you need to remember this too. My friend gave up her home to live on a boat but she gave her home to her son and is able to store a lot of what she would not give up at the house.

If you aren't going to have a "home base" that makes it harder - and if you are going to put a lot in storage for a long period of time it may be best to let it go. Without seeing your stash and how you currently have it organized it is hard to make any suggestions.

You are wished the best - relax, take one day at a time and maybe in 15-30 minute increments would be the best way to go through all your things.

Another thought - sell off as much as you can. Put the money in a special piggy bank and use it to buy new items as you need them? Granted new will be costly - but fun to buy.

Cybrarian

I agree with all the advice you have been given. If you are going to periodically go through where you currently live, and you don't have family you can safely store some bins with do you have a quilting friend with some room? They might even be more willing than non quilting family. A little advice about discussion with Husband. Make it clear at the beginning you want to share some concerns with him and you want him to hear you out. Sometimes when sharing concerns, dilemmas etc the "Listener" can get the impression they are being asked for an immediate solution, and start offering potential solutions without hearing everything because they leap into solving mode. This will be a wonderful time in your life full of great experiences, new friends and sights and sounds from your "some day I'm going to " list!

Feather3

I know people who have sold their home & did this & regretted it. They found all that traveling/moving to be too stressful. They found the places they thought would be friendly, not so friendly. They found it to be more expensive than staying put in their home/apartment. They ended up living in their RV in their kids driveways. Then finally selling out & moving into an apartment. Another sold their life long home, traveled for 1 summer & came back, wishing they'd never sold their home. I would suggest renting or buy an RV & travel for 1 summer & see how you like it first. If it's something you think you will do fine with then go for it.

PenniF

I remembered seeing a story a while back about long haul truck drivers / driver teams who were hand and machine quilters...and how they had their quilting area in the sleeper cabs...talk about SMALL area. Anyway, i just Googled "Truck Driver Quilters" and there are some great sites there that might give you small space ideas -- you will surely have more space than just a semi-truck sleeper cab. Good luck.

bearisgray

1) You said you are on a limited budget

Have you thought about how much it will cost to travel and park?

2) Do you LIKE to travel?

(I hate traveling with my husband.)

3) Have you done something similar to this before?

If you have not - I think the idea of renting a unit and trying it for a while would be a good thing.

4) Depending on the size of your set-up - you might be in close proximity to each other all the time. For some couples this is a good thing. For others - not so much.

5) Do you have some sort of plan on how and/or where you might want to travel?

6) Have you practiced setting up and taking down these things. From what I've observed, there does seem to be more than just filling them up with fuel and going down the road.

tesspug

I have a friend who did just this. He does have a storage unit because he has some family heirlooms he can't get rid of. His hobby is knitting so that doesn't take as much room. He belongs to a group called Escapees Rv Club. https://www.escapees.com They handle his mail and he gets discounts at RV parks. He had some problems with his trailer because it was a recreational trailer not one designed to be lived in. Apparently there is a difference, so you might want to look into that. When he was shopping for his trailer we saw a fifth wheel trailer that had a second bedroom. It looked to me as if there would be plenty of room in that bedroom to store a bunch of stash and quilt in as well.

sval

(I hate traveling with my husband.)

I didn't used to, but do now. He's my best friend. We get along famously. But as the years have passed his snoring and sleep disturbances have sent me to the other bedroom. So a trip isn't fun if you can't get any sleep. So that means booking adjoining rooms or finding a rental property with 2 bedrooms. Both of which really increase the cost of the vacation.
We've talked of flying to Denver where our daughter lives and then driving to WY to Yellowstone. That's an 8 hr trip in a car. Well, riding in a car with my husband driving is no vacation. He is so impatient of other drivers. So 16 hrs rountrip to get there and back and any time driving around while there has got me back peddling on doing it. Don't know why this all had to come to be at a time in our lives when we can start going and doing.