By Nanci Dixon
I know you love me but PLEASE don’t buy me anything. We are full-time RVers and are packing up the motorhome after five months at the same site. It is amazing how much stuff we have out and how much we have accumulated in a short amount of time. It is also quite dismaying to find my “spots” for everything overflowing with over-abundant Amazon purchases and the wonderful presents that have been graciously gifted to me.
Instead of buying groceries by size, as is my usual shopping mode when we are traveling around the country as full-time RVers, it is obvious that I have been buying in quantity and by price. The cupboards are full. My husband mentioned that he thought one of the overhead cabinets was listing downhill. Not good. Stocking up on mass quantities of our favorite bulk popcorn is probably not the best way to go.
And about the fire ban… Did we really need to have a propane fire pit? Could we have just waited it out and prayed for rain? And then, of course, we had to have a 20-pound propane tank to use the fire pit.
How many bikes do RVers need?
My husband was given a wonderful mountain bike last year but prefers riding smooth, pavement roads over the rock-strewn trails. That meant that we had to have two bikes – one for each. Thank goodness he just gave the mountain bike to one of the other camp hosts.
Just had to have a portable satellite dish for the overgrown forests with few open views up north. That required a tripod, 100 feet of cable and a huge padded bag to keep it in safely. The bag with dish took up almost a quarter of our slide out basement tray – so goodbye bag!
I can’t even talk about now having two patio rugs and a canopy tent.
I am just going to blame COVID for stockpiling cleaners, sanitizing wipes and bottles upon bottles of hand sanitizer. Maybe I’ll blame COVID for my longing to shop. It’s certainly to blame for when I just type “Am…” on my iPad and Amazon.com instantly pops up before I have time to finish my thought.
Last time we weighed the RV we had 3,000 pounds to spare. Doubt that is the case anymore.
If you have a friend or family member that RVs, here a few gift ideas to keep in mind. Remember, a full-time RVer probably needs nothing – they might already have too much!
Gift ideas for full-time RVers (no more “stuff”!):
- Ask what the full-time RVer wants. If they say “Nothing,” believe them.
- Anything that can be consumed is the best – food, snacks, alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages. Traveling somewhere? Bring someone back a local snack, honey, sauce, etc., from that place or region. It’s a great way to share your travels and give someone a gift you know they’ll use.
- Gift cards for grocery stores, restaurants or camping supply stores are always appreciated by a full-time RVer, or any RVer, for that matter.
- Flowers, not plants, are also good. They die and go away.
- Subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, etc., if they don’t have those already.
- If you absolutely must give a present to a full-time RVer, make the gift small, small, small – and don’t be offended if it doesn’t make the cut at the next six-month purge.
So while I started thinking it was the wonderful tiny presents people gave us, I soon had to come to grips with the fact that it is not the coffee mug, placemats, “Home is where we park it” flag, scarf, essential oils, Christmas ornaments or angel pendants that are the packing problems. It is all me and my typing shopping finger!
Related:
Don’t forget the little storage spaces
Speaking of which … here are gifts for RVers from Amazon.
##RVT993
Funny how we collect stuff. It’s like blue shirts in a man’s closet. Every campground has a library of books when someone emptied their camper, I have enjoyed the “take it, it’s free” table of stuff.There is also the stuff tossed in the bushes rather than packing. I have two frying pans and a screwdriver tent stake.
That is the way the Japanese gift, useful or tasty, consumable!
Thank you for this true and funny info. Trying to find the right words to get the point relayed has been a challenge for this newbie full-timer.
Those that buy us gifts ask us what we need or send food.
Just tell them to send fuel/gas money. Might not hear from them for sometime 😅
We have a shed on our winter home base site. It has let us accumulate “stuff”. We are planning on getting underway in 5 weeks. 60 rolls of TP and 8 rolls of toweling are haunting me, I really should leave them behind, but but but I’ll need them eventually. My T shirts are disintegrating after continuous use for 12 months, but I am not ready to replace them. How many water bottles do we really need? The only area where we seem to stay small is food, there is always room in the refrigerator, but did I really need another case of sparkling water. Of course the food thing is really weird since we are stashing our non Passover food and stocked with the special foods needed for Passover, really dry crackers (matzah anyone?).
So please no gifts unless they are consumable or spendable.
I agree. If someone asks we just say a gift card for any chain restaurant . How many coffee mugs can you use?
If you ever stop at Escapees in Livingston, TX, you could unload a lot of your stuff at the CARE Center’s Thrift ‘n’ Gift resale shop. Of course, you could also buy some stuff. :>)
I’ve been saying “please don’t get me anything” for years! I have resorted to gift cards only. I figure I can use those to buy some blue shirts or go out to dinner! 🤷🏼♂️
Skip the subscriptions too. If I wanted to hassle with a streaming service, I’d already have one set up. Don’t assume everyone else has your preference in entertainment.
Exactly! We don’t fulltime, feel the same way. Live in a 120 yr old Victorian. Husband has been here 40+ yrs, me 20+. Need to be getting rid of stuff…some of it gifts never used. Daughter-in-law got message awhile back & does gift cards. Daughters are doing much better, but still not good enough. Sent them this article telling them, yes, we aren’t confined to a MH fulltime, but this is exactly how we feel! Finger crossed they get the message. Although I just realized need to tell them NO streaming services. Don’t have them, don’t want them.
Make up a public Amazon Wish List. If someone wants to get you a gift direct them to your list. That way you’re minimizing things you don’t need or want.
We don’t go thru rolls and rolls of TP, so when thanks to DH’s shopping we had 4 4-pk, I had to put a stop to his purchases. There is room for one 4-pk in the bathroom and one 4-pk in the basket in the shower, we didn’t need another 2 4-pks in the basement even when there was a shortage. A roll lasts a couple of weeks, so that was most of a year’s supply. My family is great about giving us gift cards for our favorite eating places.