8 Small Steps to Make Downsizing Easier Before Skoolie Life

When we decided to move into a skoolie, we knew downsizing was part of the deal—but that didn’t make it any easier. Letting go of stuff is tough, especially when you’ve spent years accumulating things without really thinking about it. At first, it felt overwhelming. Where do you even start? How do you decide what stays and what goes?

Over time, we figured out a system that made it easier. Downsizing doesn’t have to be a mad rush to get rid of everything you own overnight. It’s a process, and small steps can make a big difference.

1. “Is it gonna go in the bus?”

Trent loves thrifting. He could spend hours hunting for cool finds, and honestly, we’ve come across some gems. But when we started downsizing, we had to get real about what we actually had space for. That’s when we came up with a simple rule: “Is it gonna go in the bus?” If the answer is no, then it’s a no. No exceptions.

It sounds simple, but it works. That vintage lamp? No place to put it. A new coffee mug? If one comes in, one has to go. Keeping this mindset has helped us stop mindlessly accumulating things and really focus on what’s essential.

2. Start Early and Take Your Time

Downsizing isn’t something you want to do in a weekend. We started months before our move, going through things little by little. Giving yourself time makes it easier to make intentional decisions instead of feeling like you have to toss everything in a panic.

3. Sort by Category, Not Room

It’s easy to think, “I’ll clean out the closet today,” but the better approach is to focus on one type of item at a time. For example:

• Clothes: Do you actually wear it? If not, donate it.

• Kitchen stuff: If it doesn’t get used weekly, you probably don’t need it.

• Sentimental items: Take a photo of it instead of keeping the physical thing (not all of them, we're not crazy)

4. The “Maybe” Box Trick

For those items you’re on the fence about, put them in a box and set a reminder for three months from now. If you haven’t touched anything in there by then, you don’t need it. We do this with clothes too, at the end of a season we put all of that seasons clothes into a bin in the attic, when that season rolls around again we bring the bins down and go through what we want to keep and then donate the rest. Doing it this way makes it easier to let things go because you've not worn them in a year.

5. Digitize Everything You Can

Paper clutter adds up fast. We scanned important documents, switched to paperless billing, and even digitized sentimental things like old notes and photos. Less paper, less storage stress. But we didn't go too crazy, we put many of our photos into physical albums that we'll put into storage while we're on the road.

6. Sell, Donate, or Gift Instead of Tossing

Selling stuff helped us fund parts of our bus build, and knowing someone else would use the things we were letting go of made it easier to part with them. If something wasn’t worth selling, we donated it or gave it to friends and family. Like thrifting, Trent loves a good flip, he flips thrifted items and things we no longer need as a side hustle. You can make a good chunk of cash doing this.

7. Prioritize Multi-Use Items

Space in a skoolie is precious, so anything that only does one job has to earn its keep. We focused on things like:

• Collapsible and nesting kitchenware

• Furniture with built-in storage

• Clothes that mix and match easily

8. Test Living with Less

One of the best things we've done was try living with just the essentials for a few weeks as we prepare to move into the bus. We packed up what we thought we’d need and ignored everything else. Anything we didn’t miss? We're either getting rid of it or putting it in storage.

Downsizing is a challenge, but it’s also freeing. We’ve realized we don’t need nearly as much as we thought to be happy. If you’re in the middle of this process, take it one step at a time—and maybe try asking yourself, “Is it gonna go in the bus?”

To support our skoolie life and continue sharing valuable content, we occasionally use affiliate links, which allow us to earn a small commission when you make a purchase through these links at no additional cost to you.