I didn’t really think that one through…

I love all of those inspirationals posts you see online. Especially the ones that tell you to ‘Leave it all behind! Grab your passport & go!’ This is not one of those posts. This is more of the personal pros and cons of taking that advice.

When anyone makes the decision to travel, sometimes you inevitably find yourself looking for other methods to top up your funds, so you can run away a little faster.

Selling all your stuff is one of those methods.

In the beginning I wasn’t influenced by these posts very much. I wasn’t a big blog reader back then but the pictures are damn influential. They work their way into your brain and the short sentences on the front are enough to make you subconsciously want to pack your bags and leave. 

6 years ago when I started travelling and went to Nepal I  had very little compared to what I have today. I must have read something because I distinctly remember cutting my spending so I would have some pocket money for the stalls of Kathmandu. Just a little side note, this change in spending habits created a little rift between me and some friends. When a 21 year old party animal stops wanting to go out it raises questions and slightly alienates people. You should try to be honest & upfront with people. I wasn’t. 

Then before our big year long trip I sold everything. Well, most of it. Worst of all things I wish I hadn’t. Just a couple of nostalgic things. Most of which I wouldn’t remember I had if I hadn’t have taken photos of them for ebay. Photos I have still lurking in my hard drive to remind me how much I wanted to see Vietnam. 

I know they’re only material things and I left it all behind for a reason.  My travels have been worth so much more to me than stuff and things. Priorities change though.  Back then I didn’t need a laptop, hair styling things and dresses, I needed a sturdy backpack, hiking shoes and flight tickets. Now things are changing again. 
My best friend is getting married next year and once again I need flight tickets but now I need hair thingys and a fancy dress or two. As for the laptop I sold mine over a year ago. I created this site using my mobile. I use mobile apps to write posts and edit photos. Everything. It’s limiting.  I used to create cartoons using Photoshop and I used to be interested in creating digital art. I could edit high res images with Lightroom on a laptop. So I’ve really limited myself in terms of what I can do. 

I thought about putting some of my savings towards a computer but right now I’m still saving for flight money to get home. There’s not much point in me complaining about selling my laptop though as I needed the cash at the time and I needed to buy a new one anyway. However I could have held on to it for a while longer. The silly thing is I could have used it to edit images to create items to go into my shop. I looked into it and my mobile just cannot handle the pressure.  It finds it too hard to put things in my online shop. Sad face. 

The urgency that I felt to sell all my stuff before out trip started meant that I got rid of stuff before I’d finished with it. 

Yeah so not having a computer. That sucks.  I do nearly everything on my phone. And like I wrote in my post ‘Living in a car‘ I struggle without electricity unless the cars running. We recently had to buy a new battery. We killed the last one. Dead. 
#firstworldfuckinproblems.

I could have worked a little longer instead of looking at all my possessions as a potential sale. I had itchy feet and no patience and I occasionally feel like an idiot for that now. 

I don’t have any material possessions to go back to. I have to start all over again. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if I hadn’t started from almost nothing. 

At one point in my life I was homeless but that’s another embarrasing story for another embarrasing time. I remember when I had to decide between spending £5 on electricity or food. When I get the money together to buy my own sofa bed I was pretty proud of myself. It wasn’t even that comfy. The second hand donated tatty thing some relative of a friend gave me was so much better. I was 17. I didn’t know how to buy goddam furniture. But I had started. And it felt like an accomplishment at the time. Now I’m at zero again. I’m not scared just midly annoyed. When I think about my travels, I’d sell everything all over again. Especially that stupid sofa bed. 

Thinking about all the nostalgic things I sold though. OMG. I will never have those things again. If I had given myself more time I could have sold some things (late 80’s early 90’s memorabilia) for a much higher price. For example I had a collection of original trolls, a lot of Pound Puppies, Pokemon cards and a limited edition Pikachu N64 which I think is my biggest regret. 

While I do have these odd feelings of regret about nostalic stuff I’m also thinking when the hell will I ever use that again?! It’s just stuff. I mean if I ever get to old age, yes I’m going to spend my retirement gaming. But not on an N64. I finished Pokemon Snap, thank you.

I’ve tried to adopt the Japanese method of thanking an item for its service and then letting it go (and yeah I probably read about this on one of those Pinterest posts too). It’s very effective and I recommend if you are a hoarder you give it a try.

There are thousands of posts and blogs with great advice on how to de-clutter your life. A few of my favourite…

• Scaling down the Belongings
• Cut your Expenses
• How we got rid of half our Stuff

De-cluttering can be immensely freeing. You don’t always feel as bogged down by stuff and it’s not as stressful as you might think. You just have to learn to let go. (Cue Disney song)

I’ve had a long rant about my painful lack of technology, starting from scratch and getting rid of toys my 10 year old self said I’d keep forever.

I haven’t really written about what I got in return. All the good stuff. The pros. Simple answer? I got extra money to travel. Aaaand..what you get from traveling is pretty hard to put into words. 

I’m not sure anyone really understands it until they try it. Those of you who have will understand. Those who haven’t, hopefully your curiosities will get the better of you!

There are tons of blogs telling you how to save/earn more money, like I said this isn’t one of them. Do some research. Knock yourself out. Here’s a few to start you off!

• 5 Things you need to know before you quit your job to travel the World
• Money saving tips to start & live a life of Travel
•  5 Month mega savings Challenge

I may write one of my own in the future but it’ll definitely have a warning and a link to this post. I mean those posts are inspirational but life can be a little more complicated than that. As my rant may or may not have proved. 

You can commit to an idea and still have doubts. 

Something convenient at the time may prove inconvenient in the future. 

Current self is nearly always wiser than past self. 

Future self will possibly (hopefully) be wiser than current self. 

P.S I’m not sure the point of this post but if you made it to the end…. you’re welcome.