As of June 15th, we had our RV problem solved with the purchase of our Coachmen Leprechaun 319DS.  That left us about a month for the transition.  Luckily we had already embraced minimalism or we could never have made that goal.   One of my favorite benefits to minimalism is increased freedom.  It’s not a benefit you might expect at first.  When we paired down our belongings to only those that we use on a regular basis, we gained freedom in several forms.  It became easier to receive guests. A 15 minute cleanup was all that was ever neede ..read more

Back in March, we made the decision to transition from a stationary lifestyle in our apartment to a nomadic lifestyle in an RV.   The dream I had for years was finally coming to fruition, but our lease ended on July 7, so that gave us only three months to transition. When I say “Made the Decision”, I mean we were kinda probably mostly sure we were going to do it. We had some lingering uncertainty, and doubts crept in… “Can we really do it? How will it work? How much will it cost?  Will we be happy?” We had some positives going for us. My job allows me to telecommute ..read more

We have started an awesome new adventure! We downsized to around 250 square feet, and as a bonus, this tiny space is mobile!   Yep, that’s our new home.  We moved into an RV and are traveling full time.  Full-time RV travel has been my dream for a number of years, but I put the idea on the back burner. I had a number of obstacles, one of which being that my wife wasn’t open to the idea. This seems to be a common theme among those exploring full-time RV life, where one spouse is excited about it and the other is not totally convinced.  In our case, that situation changed ba ..read more

Fear plays a huge role in our resistance to declutter. Have you ever said, “What if I need something I’ve decluttered?”  That’s fear talking. Fear of discarding something we need drives us to keep too much stuff. Fear plays into downsizing to an even greater degree. Everyone around you is telling you to buy a house, or to keep a house, and that you’d be crazy to rent instead of buy. When everyone else is telling you you’re wrong, the your fear skyrockets. Turns out, humans are incredibly poor at assessing risk. This poor risk assessment leads to increased fear even when the leve ..read more

We’re going to do a little “good cop / bad cop” here.  My last post, “F your Capsule Wardrobe” was bad cop. It was meant to shake things up, and spur you to think about how you are approaching minimalism and decluttering. Today is good cop. I will share the Eric West recommended and approved approach to decluttering your clothes and creating a capsule wardrobe. Step 1: Declutter your closet without regard to creating a capsule wardrobe. Pull all your clothes out of your closets and dressers, and lay them in piles on your bed. Make stacks of like items. i.e./ a stack of jea ..read more

If you follow the minimalism scene, no doubt you have seen multiple posts about creating a capsule wardrobe. Sounds great, right? Get rid of some old junky things and then go shopping to create the perfect minimal wardrobe. I’m telling you to forget that junk. Forget your capsule wardrobe. That’s what the ‘F’ in the title stands for – Forget. Were you thinking something else? Maybe that applies too. Here’s the deal. When we start minimizing and decluttering, we are stuck in an old mindset of buying our way out of our messes. THAT DOES NOT WORK WITH MINIMALISM. Your closet is a great place to s ..read more

In case you haven’t noticed, I like to experiment and try new things. Sometimes those new things are fun, profitable, helpful, and/or worth continuing year after year (This blog for example). Other times, I lose interest, they don’t catch on, or they simply don’t work out for whatever reason. It’s good to reevaluate things from time to time, and the start of a new year is as good a time as any. Some Changes Around Here I spent some time considering the future of Rethinking the Dream, my other blogs, Facebook pages and groups, clutter coaching, YouTube channel, book writing, and my quest for an ..read more

I received this comment on my Renters Are Not Losers post: You are so dumb it hurts. Have fun pissing your money away paying your landlord’s mortgage I’m not bothered by comments like this on a personal level, but it serves to remind us how some people view and/or treat renters.  My recommendation to you when you come across these haters — Do your own research and ignore the noise! I researched thoroughly before deciding to sell my house in favor of renting an apartment. Believe me, making that leap is scary, and we wanted to be sure we were making the right decision. Every person I kno ..read more

Arizona has been fantastic, and I’m a bit sad to be leaving on Friday. We originally booked two weeks at Verde Valley Thousand Trails. After discovering nearby Sedona, we decided to extend for another week, and now that week is coming to an end. If you feel like you missed some posts between us loading the RV and taking off from Florida and us arriving in Arizona, don’t worry! I decided to jump ahead to where we are now, and I’ll go back and fill in the middle later. One of my pet peeves with travel blogs is when the author is so far behind that you never know where they are today. Being behin ..read more

As of June 15th, we had our RV problem solved with the purchase of our Coachmen Leprechaun 319DS.  That left us about a month for the transition.  Luckily we had already embraced minimalism or we could never have made that goal.   One of my favorite benefits to minimalism is increased freedom.  It’s not a benefit you might expect at first.  When we paired down our belongings to only those that we use on a regular basis, we gained freedom in several forms.  It became easier to receive guests. A 15 minute cleanup was all that was ever neede ..read more