How Much Stuff Do YOU Have?

We received permission from the people asking us questions. If you have a question, please send us an email: Email@Laura-n-Sasha.com

August 2008: We had a question on our guest book, so I want to answer it here.

Gary: Wow, thanks for posting so much about working, camping, and different areas. Do you have any interior pix of your tc? Would you share info about your wardrobe? how many pair of shoes fit in the closet? what kinds of cooking equipment you have? ex. crock pot, thanks.

ps my wife doesn't think it is reasonable for me to try to keep 80 silk shirts and 132 other shirts, oxford, polo, etc.

Our Response:

Regarding pictures, I will have to get some new ones up, in the next couple of days, but you can see old ones here: pictures of a clean camper before we put anything into it. But you are right, I have not put new pictures of the interior in for a while, so I will do that sometime in August. Please check back around the end of August for those pictures.

Our Wardrobe: Since I work for a private campground, the shirts are provided. Also, when I worked for the NPS, again, shirts were provided on the days that you worked. You have to wash and clean those shirts, and they are yours until you leave.

I own about 7 pairs of shoes: flip-flops, Tevas, Crocs, sandal flip flops (slightly dressy) sneakers, hiking boots, and winter boots. The sandals are the only shoes in the closet, the rest are outside or in the trailer. We do not wear our shoes into the camper. We never wore shoes in our house either, slippers only. Sasha owns I think about the same amount of shoes: flip-flops (for the shower), Tevas, Birkenstock-type of shoe, leather sandals (for work), dress shoes (never for work), hiking boots, and winter boots. None of his shoes are in the camper.

We both wear mostly T-shirts, shorts, long pants or long-sleeve shirts (for winter).  We have sweatshirts and sweaters for wintertime. I counted Sasha's shirts in the closet, and he has about 30 shirts - all wash and wear types, none that need to be dry cleaned or other such nonsense. Wash and wear baby -  the way to go! Actually he and I both have more shirts than pants, so that you can have more outfits. BUT - no ties (well, I think he has left one at my parents house, along with a suit and the dressy shoes - for when we need to get dressed up down there.)

So I do think that 80 silk and 132 other shirts is a little excessive. But different people have different needs. Sasha also has a motorcycle suit for riding to work each day, complete outfit especially when it gets cold. I have a bunch of sweaters, most of them are not in the camper, as I do not need them yet. We have a storage box of winter clothes at his parents house, which we will switch out when it gets chilly here.

Also, just looking at some of the pictures of us, you should be able to see the types of clothes we wear. You may notice that we do not go to too many fancy restaurants or outings where we need to wear fancy clothes. Yet your experiences may be different.

Onto cooking equipment:

• We have one pot for our oatmeal breakfast (it is non-stick, with a glass cover),

• one frying pan (again, non-stick, and heavy duty).

• We have an infra-red grill which we use outside for cooking,

• a three-burner stovetop inside the camper,

• an oven which we use for storage of our wine and paper products,

• a serrated knife for cutting most things,

• 6 steak knives, 6 plastic knives, 6 plastic spoons, 6 plastic forks (we wanted things to be light-weight, and these utensils worked well.)

• A small crock-pot

• A dehydrator for drying foods

• A tea kettle for the instant coffee and tea

• Lots of clear plastic containers to store food

• A cheese grater, garlic press, and plastic brush for marinades

• Tongs, large spoon, and veggie peeler

• Heavy duty plastic plate, bowls, 8 oz glasses, and wine glasses.

There is other stuff I'm sure, but you get the idea. We cook meals simply, lots of salads for dinner, occasionally eat meat, usually have tortilla for bread and make roll-up type sandwiches. We eat oatmeal for breakfast, spiced up with oat bran and wheat berries, plus either dried fruit or fresh fruit. We have the occasional snacks. Our refrigerator is 6 cu feet, filled with mostly water, fruit, salad greens, beer, condiments, yogurt, sour cream, bulk cheese, sliced cheese, and deli meat. The freezer may hold ice cream, meat (like kielbasa or sausage), and frozen veggies and bulk hard cheeses.

We have stored at least 2-3 months of supplies just in case. Most of the extras are in the trailer. Having that extra space is very helpful when storing extra food.

Hopefully this has answered most of your questions, and like I said, I will get some pictures up shortly.

Of course, now we have the Toyhauler, with more room for our stuff, but still, we have kept it pretty simple. Still have approximately the same amount of kitchen stuff and clothes and got rid of some of the shoes, while getting some other ones. Once something wears out, then we replace it with something else. Bring something in, take something out. A good way to go whichever way you plan it.

Another question for those with kids and full-timing.