Sell everything and live in a van if you want to truly experience life, right?
2024 was our first time living in a house together. Sure, we lived in apartments years prior, but nothing larger than a one-bedroom unit. Moving into a three-bedroom house was quite the change for us, and we feel like we learned a lot from it.
Apart from deciding that anything over a compact two-bedroom house is too big for us, we learned that we prefer quality over quantity, value intentional space over space for the sake of it, and would much rather fill our lives with experiences than things.
We don’t often sit still, but we appreciate the moments that came from it in 2024.
These observations have prompted many conversations about our priorities, the future, and how we want to live going forward. Through those conversations, one dichotomy keeps coming up–stuff vs. experiences.
Things to know:
While it’s a bit of a false dichotomy, the tension between accumulating things and opting for experiences does have some legitimacy. As we grapple with this age-old question, a few conclusions come to mind–and some of them pushed us toward full-time RVing.
Living a minimalist life with maximal fulfillment
If you have space, you’ll fill it
You’ve probably heard this adage before, and there’s certainly some truth to it. Riley’s dad has repeated it many times, and he’s quite the frugal minimalist by choice. There lies the key to this entire discussion–by choice.
It does seem to be human nature to accumulate, and the more space you have available, the more likely you are to collect things to fill it.
Take us, for example. Moving from a one-bedroom apartment to a three-bedroom house left us reeling. There was so much empty space that we didn’t know what to do, so we started to fill it with things.
We’re minimalist by nature, but still managed to fill our house with things.
We’re relatively practical by nature, so we didn’t buy a bunch of random junk–everything had a place and a purpose. The guest room needed a bed, nightstands, clothing rack, and rug. The office needed a desk, chair, and whiteboard. The living room needed a couch, side tables, and a TV stand.
I think you see where we’re going with this.
The things we filled our space with had a purpose, and we used them, but that doesn’t change the fact that increasing our available space prompted us to accumulate more stuff that we didn’t technically need.
Some things enrich your life
To this point, it may sound like we’re saying that having stuff is inherently negative, but that’s not at all what we believe. In fact, we think investing in (or splurging on) some things can greatly enrich your experience and your life.
When we used the term “false dichotomy” earlier, this is exactly what we were referring to. A lot of people–especially the influencer types–like to present all-or-nothing scenarios, especially when it comes to the whole “minimalist” lifestyle or “experiences over things” argument.
In truth, these things are not mutually exclusive. You can have things and experiences. Sometimes, things can actually facilitate experiences or make them more profound. So, it’s not an either/or proposition.
You don’t have to live like this (but it does have a certain appeal).
That said, we’re strong believers in being intentional with the things you choose to accumulate. Limiting the physical space you have to keep stuff in helps with this goal (see above), but it isn’t the end-all-be-all of the conversation.
You must be able to discern what contributes to a fulfilling life and what distracts from it. In our experience, this takes time, experimentation, and growth. You can’t snap your fingers and know that one thing will enrich your experience and one thing will detract from it. It is a skill that requires development.
A tool for every job (or the best tool is the one you have on you?)
If you have a goal to limit the amount of stuff you accumulate and to focus on things that enrich your experience, you’ll want to be intentional about what you buy and what you keep. While we rarely struggle with this concept, we have grappled with our approach to achieving it.
As it turns out, we have differing opinions on how to streamline our existence and ensure that our things are working for us, not against us.
Our high school math teacher used to say, “Keep it simple, stupid,” about once a class.
Hanna is more of a minimalist in the traditional sense. She prefers to only have a few items that she can rely on day in and day out to accomplish a variety of tasks. From work and productivity to hobbies and relaxation, she opts for fewer devices capable of multiple jobs. In other words, she prefers that her stuff be versatile.
You could say her approach to things is “the best tool for the job is the one you have with you.” An example of Hanna’s approach to minimalism would look like this:
iPhone for music, media consumption, scheduling, calendar reminders, taking photos and videos, managing social media, and so on.
MacBook for work, client calls, answering emails, designing resources, bookkeeping, and managing the business.
Headphones for music and content consumption.
Two notebooks–one for general note-taking and organization, the other for a more structured approach to scheduling and keeping life on track.
Riley has been leaning toward not necessarily minimizing the number of things he owns, but the purposes for which they are used. While he has flirted with this concept before, he’s finally on the verge of fully committing to it (thanks to very kind and supportive encouragement from Hanna). Call it exchanging convenience for purpose and distraction for intentionality.
What does this look like in practice? Rather than carry a do-it-all device (like a smartphone), he’d prefer to have a notebook for taking notes, a camera for taking photos, a “dumb” phone for making calls, and so on. You could say his approach is more along the lines of “there’s a tool for every job.” His daily interactions with things might look like this:
Non-smartphone for texts and calls.
Compact camera for walking around photos.
DJI Osmo Pocket 3 for casual video.
Sony A7IV for professional photo and video projects.
MacBook for work, photo and video editing, answering emails, bookkeeping, and other productivity tasks.
Two notebooks–one for general note-taking and creative inspiration, the other for more detailed planning and scheduling.
Quality vs. quantity - The (new) age-old debate
Growing up in the world of fast fashion, disposable plates, and bargain outlets has jaded many millennials and younger people on the whole “quantity vs. quality” debate. We are definitely in that boat.
At one point, the sudden ability to buy in bulk or opt for cheap imported goods was novel and a stark change from the vast majority of human history. Buying a pair of jeans for six cents (okay, a slight exaggeration there) was mind-blowing. It still is, if you think about it.
Give us good stuff over lots of stuff any day.
From clothes and trinkets to food and furniture, more isn’t always better. In fact, it’s often much worse. More people seem to be realizing this and trying to change, but without legitimate alternatives, executing that change is challenging.
We’re not here to sit on a high horse and claim we have it all figured out; we’re just expressing a preference for quality and a newfound appreciation of longevity. Owning something of heirloom quality used to be a point of pride, and we think it should be again.
Lately, we’ve made a concerted effort to invest in smaller amounts of quality goods rather than splurging on large quantities of subpar goods. Not only is the experience of using such items superior, but they will also last longer, they typically utilize better materials (natural fibers vs. plastic), and the companies producing them tend to be small businesses that are often based in and/or manufacturing in the United States.
All of those seem like pros to us, and we love to see the culture shifting back toward this version of purpose-based consumerism. Lucky for us, this mindset also coincides with the scaling back that living in a camper requires.
As you likely gathered, we’re not on a vendetta against purchasing things or owning stuff; rather, we’re committed to being thoughtful with our resources and space, investing in quality, only keeping what enriches our lives and enhances our experiences, and supporting small businesses that benefit our country and our culture.
This blog is a bit of a departure from our typical camper, truck, and travel talk, so we hope it didn’t throw you for too much of a loop. Sometimes, we like to explore the reasons behind our decisions–especially the big ones like moving into a camper full-time! We hope you don’t mind.
If you enjoyed it, please drop a comment below so we feel less insecure about it. The approval of others is the only thing that gives us confidence. Okay, not really, but we’d still appreciate your feedback and thoughts!
With full-time travel on the horizon (if our camper is ever completed), we’ll be sharing thoughts from the road, so be sure to check here every Wednesday for a new blog. You can also follow our adventures on Instagram, YouTube, and Patreon (for a more personal approach).
All the best,
- Riley + Hanna