Nomad Tetris: The Game I'm Learning To Love
There's something unexpectedly cathartic about this nomad life so far: the constant organizing. Seriously! Or perhaps it's more accurate to say reorganizing. The limited space at my disposal suppresses my tendency to get overwhelmed by choice.
I only have so much storage for all my belongings. My Thule rooftop box has a limited amount of cubic feet to pack things into. There's only about 8 inches underneath my bed platform for storage, not unlimited stacking space. I can't haphazardly throw everything on top of my bed platform, because I may need to, you know, sleep on it if the weather gets nasty.
Instead of constantly buying new stuff because my existing stuff isn't perfectly fitting a need (or want), I've already pared down to the bare necessities. I have my best gear, my favorite clothes, my most essential electronics.
The trick now becomes optimizing the space all that stuff consumes, in a quest to arrange it all perfectly. And that's what is so satisfying. Those little moments when I realize "A-HA, it makes more sense to store my snowshoes in the roof box instead of under the cargo floor, or to put this tote next to my cookware."
For example, when I first hit the road on June 1st, I had neatly packed all of my clothes into a suitcase, and folded my heavier winter clothing up in the roof box. Of course, those winter clothes slid all over the place the first time I drove down a bumpy forest road, and it grew frustrating finding a certain pair of hiking socks in my stuffed suitcase.
Well, this morning as I was packing up camp, I realized I could use the outer zip pouches of my suitcase for just underwear and socks. Then as I was refolding my clothes, I noticed a pair of gloves and two beanies – those belonged with the winter clothes!
Then as I was putting those gloves and beanies in the roof box, I realized my Nemo sleeping bag's storage sack wasn't being used (because the compression sack lives in my backpack, and I'm always using the sleeping bag now). Voila! A new bag to contain those winter clothes.
So it's these minor iterations that make me smile, combined with the constraint of limited space. When I started thinking about living this nomad life, I honestly was concerned I'd grow to hate having so few things, and such a small space to store them.
I'm already realizing that the opposite is becoming true. The limitations are freeing.
Help me put gas in my tank and I'll keep the adventures coming! Click below to buy me a coffee 🙏
I'll close this post with an interesting observation about my "living space trajectory." In 2012 I was living in a large 3-bedroom house with a front yard, backyard, and pool. By 2017 occupied a 2 bedroom apartment. By 2023 I had downsized to a small studio. And now, in 2026, it's my Kia Soul...
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