How to Prepare for Long-Term Travel: Decluttering for the Journey
Preparing for long-term travel isn’t just about booking flights and planning itineraries, it’s about downsizing, decluttering, and simplifying before the journey begins. With our year-long adventure in Latin America fast approaching, we’re tackling one of the biggest pre-trip challenges: sorting through years of accumulated stuff and making space for new experiences.
Preparing to Travel by Letting Go
The first step in how to prepare for long-term travel is decluttering your home. Me, Tania, and the kids tackled the downstairs first, starting in the kitchen, one cupboard at a time. We used the three-pile method:
Keep – The essentials we actually use.
Rubbish – Items destined for the skip.
Donate or Sell – Anything still useful but not needed for our travels.
As expected, I was all for throwing everything away, while Tania, being more methodical, ensured we had an organized approach.
Once we got started, we were shocked at how much we’d hoarded—old gadgets we swore we’d fix, kitchen utensils we never used, and kids’ toys gathering dust. It was both overwhelming and liberating.
Decluttering the Rubbish
Any parent knows that over time, clutter builds up everywhere. Countertops become dumping grounds, drawers overflow, and before you know it, you’re living in a space filled with things you don’t even use.
Going through it all was weirdly therapeutic—like hitting reset. With every item we removed, I felt a little weight lift. Our home felt lighter, and so did my mind.
Garage = The Staging Zone for the Great Purge
To keep things organized, we turned the garage into a sorting area:
- One section for charity shop donations
- Another for items to sell
- And a final space for everything going into the skip
We plan to hire a skip by the end of February, but wow, we didn’t realise how much work this would take. It’s easy to underestimate just how much needs to be done to prepare for long-term travel, especially when we also need to get the house ready to rent before we leave.
Getting the Kids Involved
Decluttering isn’t just about the adults! The kids helped by:
- Sorting through old clothes for a cash-for-clothes shop (we made a whopping £8.60, ha!).
- Deciding which toys to give away and which to put into storage for when we return.
- Turning it into a fun challenge, who could sort the most, the fastest?
It was a good lesson in letting go, and it cleared out a surprising amount of space.
Lessons from Decluttering Before Travel
- We don’t need as much as we think. If we haven’t used it in a year, we’re not going to miss it.
- Decluttering = mental clarity. A clutter-free space creates a clutter-free mind—essential for a stress-free travel mindset.
- This takes longer than expected! If you’re wondering how to prepare for long-term travel, start decluttering as soon as possible.
- Even small savings count. £8.60 won’t fund our travels, but every little bit helps when building up our savings.
How This Fits into Our Latin America Travel Plans
Decluttering is just the first step in preparing for a year of travel through South and Central America. Here’s what’s next:
- Travel Budgeting – How much does a year in Latin America cost?
- Packing for Long-Term Travel – What makes the cut?
- Vaccinations & Health Prep – What we need before we go.
- Worldschooling Prep – How we’re planning education on the road.
- Learning Spanish as a Family – Why we started months in advance.
This step-by-step approach is helping us stay on track while keeping things manageable and exciting.
Thinking of long-term travel? Decluttering is the first step. Letting go of stuff makes space for new experiences, new adventures, and a freer mindset.
Now onto the next phase…finishing the clear-out, getting the house sorted and decorated and making this dream a reality. Bring on the skip!
