What to do while waiting….more planning of course

What to do while waiting….more planning of course

Our new RV is now at the dealer, Sherman RV, but due to work commitments, we will not pick it up until the 31th of May, so what to do while we wait?  In reality, the shift from a almost 3,000 sq ft Townhouse to about 300 sq ft RV is going to be a challenge, and you thought Tiny Houses on HGTV were small.  So a lot of planning needs to go into the conversion and here is just a list of projects that I came up with to break up the job into smaller chunks (you all know you cannot eat an elephant in one sitting…small bites will get the job done)

  • Finish up the Big Rocks list from the previous post…..
  • Get the Jeep ready to tow, bumper, winch, brake lighting, supplemental braking system and tow bars
  • Sort through all my tools and figure out which ones to bring, sell and give away the rest
  • Downsize clothing, figure out what your really need and plan to not need as much cold weather stuff
  • Figure out if there is any pieces of furniture that are a must have to store, realizing storage is expensive over three years
  • Store all my live steam train hobby stuff, pack it up for the long term
  • Figure out the budget in more detail than what I did to answer the “can I really do this ” question that started us down this path, plan for emergency funds and maintenance …
  • Make sure everything is set up with using electronic billing and such, eliminate the important snail mail in favor of electronic mail, figure out where to send other mail…
  • Spend every free bit of time glued to the Internet on different Blog’s and RV Forum’s to learn from others, since they collectively are smarter than you (yes, I did admit that someone can be as smart as I am)
  • Gather all the information, put it into spreadsheets, in folders and binders (yep a good dose of OCD helps) with key information
  • Store as much information online in the Internet Cloud for ease of retrial in the future.   Most of the RV information is on my Google Drive so I can get it anywhere I have a cell signal
  • Figure our state residency while on the road, as yes you have to have one, so pick wisely my young grasshopper….
  • Review plans to go pick up the RV, get some of the tow work done and any customization of the RV and return to DC
  • Store the RV local, use it for weekend shakedown trips while in the middle of downsizing…
  • Figure out the nominal plan for the first 6 months after picking up the RV and factor in a return trip to the Manufacture in about 1 year for any needed warranty work
  • Work on paperwork for getting my replacement at work, and once selected, start on the transition so nothing gets dropped when I walk out the door the last time (I owe it to the staff who have made me look good over the years to ensure they are left in good hands)
  • Make sure we have figured out family visits for Erin’s wedding in September and make needed reservations
  • Finalize move out plans and final few weeks living in RV and working up to retirement day

As you can see, if your break things down into smaller parts, the overall task is nothing more than a collection of smaller things that can be done.   I keep a running list of things to do and tackle them one at a time.  We have already got the Jeep 75% done, disposed of a lot of clothes we no longer wore, started in on household items, sold about 30% of the furniture, packaged up most of my hobby, tools have been sorted, some replaced we newer, smaller tools that I want to bring and gifted most of the rest to the kids.  We have 211 or so days left (but who’s counting…) and I feel pretty good about our progress so far.  I know a lot of work will have to wait and be done in October before the renters move in on 1 November, but by doing some of it now we will be more than ready.  The plan is to park the RV nearby in the middle of October and move into it over the final two weeks while the rest of the stuff going into a SMALL storage space (hoping to get no bigger than 5×10 ft space).

My parents did this back in the late 1980’s, they hit the road before Al Gore invented the Internet, before cellular data plans and smart phones, in a gas Tiffin Allegro RV without any slide outs and without all the information that is available at your fingertips like today, so I have all the confidence in the world we can do this.  I lived on a RV of a Submarine, called NR-1, for three years and did not go crazy.  The RV we are getting even has more windows and wheels than NR-1 did (yes NR-1 did have windows along with wheels too, you will have to look that one up on the internet….).

nr1

I PICK UP THE RV IN:

3 thoughts on “What to do while waiting….more planning of course

  1. Sounds good, but gust remember the best
    laid plans sometimes hit snags so be ready and don’t get too frustrated.
    Things always work out for the best. Much love and prayers, Mom

  2. You got this….one small bite at a time. I love to keep a paper list printout so you can see on the wall the things you have completed. Gives a nice sense of completion every time you walk by it.
    Good Luck and keep sorting!

  3. We cut down to servings for 4 (except silverware for 8)…any more we would do paper, solo cups. 1 small, 1 large sauce pan, 1 frying pan. All leftovers pretty much went into Ziploc bags,takes up less fridge space. 4 small plastic type lidded containers. 4 sharp knives various sizes on metal strip on wall. Metal spice “rack” with small magnetic containers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

0
0
0
0