When folks start thinking about transitioning their lives to become fully mobile, everything involved with that transition can be quite overwhelming. And that overwhelm can easily become an excuse that keeps you from moving forward towards your goal.
There’s so many things that have to come together, such as:
- securing a mobile friendly income source
- deciding what to do with all your stuff
- figuring out all of the logistics such as mail & domicile
- getting the kids & spouse onboard with the idea
- making arrangements for pets
- balancing your desires for community while you travel
This post is part of our slowly but surely growing series on How to Handle the Common Excuses Not to Travel Full Time.
Even with a best case scenario of not needing to dispose of a house and stationary job, all of the details are daunting and seem to create an endless to-do list – with no clear place to start. So many questions to answer and execute.
- Do you start transitioning your career now and try to build up enough income working remotely?
- Do you try to sell your house or rent it out for the time being if you own in a slow market?
- Do you get rid of all your possessions or store them in case you want something later?
There are no straight up answers anyone can give you to these sorts of questions – every scenario is so unique that only you can find the right answer.
But how do you find those answers and act?
Where to Start? Set the date!
So many folks we’ve talked to approaching these sorts of transitions tell us that they’re waiting for all of the pieces to come together before they actually set a date to close the door behind them. And you know what that leads to? Never making that step and keeping it as a someday dream.
At no point will all of the pieces magically line up for you. There is never a perfect time and perfect conditions. Sure, there will be times at are better than others. And life will present you with convenient transition points – such as getting laid off from a job, a kid starting college or a major life scare.
Today is yesterday’s someday, and tomorrow is quickly approaching.
Things like setting up all of the details, getting rid of all of your stuff, earning a mobile income – they’re not going to get done with out motivation. And motivation is not going to happen unless you make it real to yourself. Really real. If you don’t have a deadline set, you will find ways to keep putting off the mundane and difficult work of making your dreams happen.
A seasonal purge is not the kind of purging of stuff you’re going to have to do to get ready to hit the road full time.. it’s grueling, emotional and has to be done consistently day after day after day, even when you want to curl up and watch TV. Starting a blog and putting Google Adsense on the sidebar is likely not going to earn enough income to fund your adventures after you quit your job (but it may buy you the energy drink needed to stay up late going through your sock drawers). Looking at endless Craigslist ads, blogs like this one and RV sites may have you dreaming about the possibilities of what you might like in your mobile substrate – but unless you’ve given notice on your current life path, you’ll keep dreaming instead of deciding.
If going mobile is what you really and truly want – and you want it in the foreseeable future – the most efficient way to make it a priority is to give yourself an eviction notice. Pick a reasonable but ambitious date for your situation, take a deep breathe and mark it on the calendar. Announce it to your friends & family, let your landlord know or contact a realtor. Let your boss or clients know. The more you make it real, the less opportunities you have to back out later.
Everything changes now.
You hold your body differently, you think differently.
Take Steps if You Need To
Nothing says you have to do everything in one big leap. When setting your date, it doesn’t have to be a single date for having everything handled – such as quitting your job, getting rid of everything, planning your first destination, getting an RV and securing your mobile income. Sometimes it just makes more sense to come up with sensible steps that represent major milestones.
In Chris’ case, he was laid off from his Silicon Valley job which gave him a great launching point to put his dreams of nomadism in motion. He gave notice on his apartment and then pushed himself to get all the details together at once. Chris thrives on tackling big overwhelming projects all at once, but not all of us do.
In my case, I went in stages. We set a date together for when we’d hit the road for an extended trial run. I purged a good deal of my stuff, but I didn’t focus on getting my house sold at first. Instead, I focused on getting my life in order to handle being completely mobile and getting Chris’ little Tab trailer ready for two of us living in it. When I decided that nomadic living was for me, I then set another date to take care of the rest.
In the case of our friends The Tacky Texans, they’re taking things in stages as well. Their first step was moving into their new mobile setup – a mega cute Avion trailer. This entailed them purging a lot of their stuff and moving out of their apartment. Neither has quit their jobs yet, they just moved down the road to an RV Park so they could adapt to living in the trailer first. Now they’re focusing on transitioning their careers to support generating income while being mobile, and are pondering what deadlines to set for themselves.
By taking things in manageable bite size stages, you can reduce the overwhelm of trying to tackle everything at once. Your steps will likely look different than any one else, because your situation is going to be unique. Find what works for you, and don’t hold up anyone else as a model you have to strive to match.
The critical part remains though – with each stage, set a deadline to keep you on track and motivated.
Kicking it into gear
It’s amazing what happens when you switch from this being a someday dream to being a what you’re actively doing. It’s a mental shift that just can’t be achieved otherwise, and it’s the shift that is necessary to actually get stuff done.
Now the fun begins!
That to-do list that once seemed endless? It now has an end date and can’t be endless – there are things on that list that absolutely must get done. It’s kinda like those all-nighters we used to pull with big assignments due in school that we put off to the last minute. I know I made massive quality progress when a deadline was looming.
From here, it’s probably best to institute some sort of project management system. If you’re already using a Getting Things Done system such as OmniFocus or Things, set up projects within those to track all of the details that you’re going to be tackling. If you’re not already using a system like this, now is probably not the time to research and set up the options (unless your deadline is far out enough) – as that can become a massive project all of its own. I’ve certainly encountered folks who spend more time setting up their systems than it would take to just get the things done on their list.
In our case, we set up a series of Google Docs where we kept shared notes on all of the projects ahead of us. We had notes for the purging process, maintenance to be done on the trailer, purchase lists, trip planning, social engagements and logistics to handle (such as insurance, banking, mail forwarding, etc). Thinking through each project allowed us to write down individual tasks that had to happen to complete the overall project. And then each individual task became a manageable and achievable item that was much easier to approach in an afternoon. Instead of having a goal of ‘get rid of everything you’re not taking with you’, I could approach different areas of my house as mini-projects each evening- such as my closet, bathroom, kitchen, etc.
We put aside time every few days to go over each of the projects together and make sure we were both caught up on what the other was doing, and what other tasks would come up. We divided up the tasks and made sure we each knew who was responsible for what, and which had a higher priority for getting done sooner versus later.
We’d put even the small stuff in our system to keep the motivation up by feeling we were making progress and made sure to schedule date time with each other non-related to the project at hand. We’d celebrate each time we completed a major project, helping keep the enthusiasm going.
If I had it to do over again with today’s technology, I’d also be using Google Calendar’s task list feature that has since come out to manage a to-do list for each calendar day. I’m using that system now with great success, and I can totally see how it would have helped with the daily items that I needed to accomplish during my nomadic preparation days. These days Chris uses OmniFocus to manage his projects.
Chris’ exodus and both of mine were right on target for having everything ready on our circled date on the calendar. The system worked.
What other tips do you have to share for dealing with the overwhelm of a major project like gearing your life up to hit the road full time?
Just ran across this article again, and had to smile. We are now TWO WEEKS from our last day of work at our ‘real’ jobs, and three weeks from moving out of our apartment into our car.
My logical mind has always resisted setting deadlines because it has always seemed to me to be an artificial psychological ploy to trick myself into doing what I need to do. Of course, that’s kinda the point, right? LOL When we set up our ‘debt snowball’ plan a few years ago, having that end date was a major psychological boost. We didn’t set any sort of target date for selling the house because we were entering the current recession, but we did eventually move into an apartment and sell most of our stuff. The apartment move triggered our final end-date for departure, as it was a one-year lease. We also used Google spreadsheets for savings/investing target projections. And yet it wasn’t until late last year that I felt comfortable that we were going to have enough of a cushion to be able to make our April 1st deadline.
Strangely enough, our mobile income was the shakiest part, and yet two sources fell into place within the last two weeks that will at least allow us to offset expenses and make our money last longer. Did subconscious forces ’cause’ this to happen at this time? Was it ‘the secret?’ lol Or was it a product of making our plans public that enabled these serendipitous connections? I think we all know the answer…
Hope to meet up with you guys some time after you leave the islands…
Definitely a great post; thanks! We are about two weeks out from a mobile life.
We’ve kept our to do list on a whiteboard (small one) near our front door. The list is very present because we have to pass it everytime we leave the house and it’s rewarding to see the list shrinking.
For garage sales, I think it depends upon location; we live in a small transient community so our sales have been pretty good. A free section during the sale rather than after is always a good idea. Items like half used paint, cleaners, hangers, etc. seem to go pretty quickly if they’re free. We always post the sale with pics of select items on craigslist and have been able to sell most big items before the actual sale.
Completely agree about gifting;. We gifted most of our furniture to a friend who had recently divorced. We were really happy to help her get a new start.
Thanks for all the inspiration over the past few years!
Excellent suggestions! In transition phase now, 13 months countdown till ‘Exit, Stage West’; already executing some of your ideas.
Thanks for the additional ideas!
I LOVE purging stuff. I seem to keep accumulating more, but that’s okay–when the time is right those things pass out of my life too. The feeling of sloughing off possessions tells my body that it’s time for a change, kind of like a hermit crab casting off its old shell. I think that purging is actually more important than being financially prepared. As long as you continue to hold onto stuff, you’re sending out the message that you’re not ready.
As Japhy mentioned, trying to sell things can really eat into your time and energy. I never sell anymore…not since a yardsale a couple years ago where I made a $80 for a full day of standing around. Never again! Giving stuff away feels great and makes the whole process much smoother.
I totally love purging as well.. it’s so refreshing. Love the metaphor of it being like a hermit crab shedding it’s old shell. We’re doing a good bit of purging this week while we’re in St. Louis, and I just love the feeling of a fresh and trimmed down start.
For a lot of things, gifting/giving stuff away is our choice too. Sometimes it’s just not worth the effort – and gifting is just good over all.
I hear you on “You’ll never be ready,” though I think all things have a season. When you aim for something, sooner or later it starts rushing at you and you fall down the hole. What happens on the far side depends on attitude and a sense of humor. 😉
I did actually find that keeping my blog has helped. While it won’t bring in much income, it’s been a tool for keeping myself focused and noting progress.
We have a leaving month (I refuse, after the last several years, to make any more plans). We have been working towards full-time on the road in stages. I guess we’re taking our trip on a geological time scale. 😉
I definitely concur that blogging and documenting your process can be a very important tool. My point in the article is that just starting a blog will magically provide the mobile income needed to cut loose of the ties (which I’ve seen some try to do).
No matter the scale of time, having targets/goals is essential to getting there. Just saying you’re eventually going to do it.. isn’t enough to make it happen.
Oh, I understand your point (but wasn’t clear on that with my comment). 😉 I’ve built up a nice little freelance business (writing) over the last year or so after trying to make the blog the income source (didn’t work). So I found myself sort of chuckling at what you wrote. Then I wrote an epic about the backwards-assed way we fell into RVing and realized that it was better as its own blog post so I deleted it and wrote something shorter and less clear. Whee!
Mostly I mentioned blog-as-tool because you asked what folk used for motivation.
Great tips! “Where to Start? Set the date!” LOVE IT!
It’s amazing how few people do that and how important it is. Commitment is really the first step in creating a dream.
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
We gave ourselves a year to prepare & the prep can be hard, but oh so worth it ( she says from a divine spot in southern France). Thanks Cherie for another great post!
Always a pleasure to see you around here, Jean!
Thanks Cherie…love your blog! My husband and I are in the process of purging to go on the road next year. While we don’t have specific dates set, we do have planned phases: purge belongings, after January 1st fix up house to sell, sell house (hopefully in spring), move to OR and establish residency, purchase truck and trailer, hit the road.
It’s great to read how others have gone about this and pick up helpful tips. It’s an excellent motivator! We’ve got a seriously detailed Excel spreadsheet that holds all our research, to-do lists, and anticipated budgets, etc. but we’ve been talking about using Google Docs on the road and your post has pointed out what a great tool it can be. Thanks!
Lisa (currently in San Diego)
Thanks for stopping by, Lisa! Sounds like you have a great plan of steps to getting you to your goal!
Great suggestion on the google calendar–that’s basically what I’ve done too. I really wish I had put more effort into building the task “lists” a little earlier though. I’m 2 days from departure and every day there is something else I’ve forgotten that somehow has to be crammed into an already full day. Everything from taking prescriptions off autofill to figuring out what to do with a bunch of paint in my garage.
Looking back the big thing I would change is to put less effort into selling things and give more away. We sold some of our big dollar items on craigslist easy enough, but the smaller things…it just stopped being worth the headaches of constant emails, no show buyers, and negotiating. We quit that fairly early on (and our local charity thrift stores now love us), but I wish I had done it much earlier.
Selling the little stuff definitely gets to be a chore. We each held ‘House Cooling Parties’ for our friends as a combo way to see everyone at once – and get rid of stuff. The rule was that everyone had to leave with something (as opposed to a house warming – where they would bring something). It was great.. and now I enjoy visiting my friends and seeing my stuff in their homes.
Everything else that was left in those final days – went to charity. So much better all around!
I’m guessing you guys are on the road now? Or nearly there?? Can’t wait to catch up at Burning Man.