Anyone here sold their Land House "Stuff" to move aboard??

[B00B00]

We are just in the same process right now. House sold about 2 weeks ago and we have to be out by the middle of next week. Had already sold and/or given away most of the clutter and plan to store the rest at the inlaws house. Have done heaps work under their house to accommodate the rest of it and they want to use a fair bit of the funiture which makes it easy. Father inlaw even has a truck so most of the house is already cleared out. Just have to finish off my mancave/workshop packup next.
One way tickets brought from NZ to France in 3 weeks for us and our 3 kids where the new boat awaits us. Will stay with the inlaws until we go.

Have to relocate our poor cat too and leave her behind.

[Natty Bloh]

I follwed these steps after wife of 33 years left me for a guy with a bigger boat and bank account.
1. Gave half of everything (including furniture, etc) to wife. (I kept all the bills, mortgage, boat payment...what a deal.)
2. Changed jobs moved to SOCAL.
3. (Tried to sell house...did eventually at a loss. Oh well
4. Quit job in SOCAL (weather and people too perfect...boring)
5. Donated ALL my household goods, clothing, books, etc to AMVETS (except what I needed and would fit in my Boxster and/or had sentimental value).
6. Drove 4000+ miles (detour thru Minnesota to fish) back to Chespeake. Fired my boat charter management company, moved onto my boat.
7. Now three years later still living and meandering on Natty Bloh, a 42iP, singlehanded.
8. At times it is sublime, mostly its life and all that comes with sacrificing the "stuff" to live with a small carbon footprint. BUT, I don't miss the "stuff" except my library.
9. And my advice, have a "five minute rule" so you'll sail and won't plant yourself at the marina...MAYBE a step above a doublewide down by the river. I.e. Boat must be ready to do pre-sail prep within five minutes of deciding to go...and go you must.

[Three Sisters]

Originally Posted by DeeN

After 4 boats, we've decided to sell our household furnishings and artwork, to unload before purchasing a liveaboard.

We've given ourselves a year to accomplish this major scale down.

We are not rich, however, prior to the great resession, through the years, we accumulated artwork and pieces and furnishings to fill a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house.

We also have a business to sell, which we are still working full time at.

Have any of you done this?

Gotten rid of most of your possessions in order to move aboard? We're looking to buy a a 42 or so foot motor yacht or trawler.

We are not interested in storing our land life things. We've appreciated and enjoyed them, but we want to move on.

Any suggestions and experiences are very much appreciated.

Thank You, Ron & Dee

Yup. Doin it as we speak. Looks like it's turning into the 20 year plan. Oh well.

[bvisailing32]

Yep, only it wasn't a boat, it was to the island of kauai. I was living in huntington harbor , Ca, and Erica had her own place in Seal Beach. About 10 minutes in distance.

We had visited Kauai for 12 years and Erica was able to retire from her M.D. position with L.A. County, and I was getting up there in age to continue flying as an Instructor fighter Pilot, and the sailing and boating biz was slowing down.

Now , we had researched our move, and were quite prepared but we both had separate residences packed with long years of accumulation. Plus all of our household furniture, electonics, and everything that two homes would have .

We kept it simple...NO STORAGE....we sold, or gave everything away, we only shipped the computer, and our clothes which were mostly aloha and beach wear from living at the southern california beaches. Photos, and wall hangings that could fit into a moderate sized box. I think we had about 4 boxes that we shipped. Not a container.

The move was easy, and all those items that I had held on to, for decades were gone. No shipping, no moving van, no problems. Our new Kauai condo was in a small resort , furnished, and we could walk over to Kalapaki Beach.

We did purchase some of our own things after arrival, but we had explored the malls, and stores and knew what we wanted and some things we needed to upgrade above the landlords furnishings.

We were there for nearly 10 fantastic years and circumstances roared up and we had to leave kauai and return to the mainland.

We sold off all of our kauai stuff, or gave it away, except for clothes and photo albums. We were starting out brand new again. Did we lose money on some of the furnishings that we sold to the land lord....yes and no. We made a few thousand, but it would have cost an enormous amount of money to ship it. Oh, the car we did ship thru Matson and that alone was about $ 1100.00.

Now we arrived with what was in our duffel bags, and moved in to totally unfurnished circumstances at the beach in Dana Point.

Now, came the bullet of buying new, and very nice furniture, computer, refer, etc. I hate shopping, but accompanied Erica who has a very good eye for decorating. Last time I am doing that....I'll camp out at a fun rum shop with scantily dressed moma foxes.

But, if we would have shipped the furniture that we had back on kauai, the cost for us did not make sense.

We are super happy where we are, and it is important that to you that the decision to live aboard is a solid one .

My original idea , back in huntington harbor was to put all my STUFF into storage, and the knowledgeable people on the kauai trip advisor forum, recommended not to do that. Sell it off, since it was likely not to be used ever again. No years of monthly payments for a storage unit.

Our situation was that we were leaving the mainland for good, and that we would be on kauai until they scattered the ashes.

So, that is how we did it. Not moving on to boat, but permanently giving it all away or selling it, and moving across an ocean to the beautiful garden island.

Cannot tell you what to do, but that is how we handled it....on a boat your furniture is totally useless and not needed.

However, you have to take into account whether this is a permanent move, or it is a maybe move, and at some time you may want to move into a land home again.

We plan to stay here in our southern calif beach town, and be close now to long time friends, and are also meeting new friends and acquaintances, and find the people here have aloha and dont even know it.

I think I may have to by an ash urn, and keep it visible to remind me not to even think about moving again.....

It is a happy and fun life here, with hiking trails, local sailing, international bare boating annually. As to our new area we have wonderful restaurants, and friendly happy hours. Lots of sunshine, a beautiful marina, and most important, we are totally happy here.



Just from our perspective, plus others have offered their excellent suggestions and ideas , as well.

Keep that fun light lit, and do what is best for the two of you.

Denny And Erica

[MamaKube]

Been there. Done that.
Sold the five bedroom, pool, hot tub, and sauna house when the kids graduated two years ago. Moved onto a Moody 54 in a marina with occasional cruising now and more after retirement. The two hounds are with us.
It was a joy to let go of all that stuff. Kept a small storage bin for a future small house in the south but most went out the front door.
We love it.

[Flyingriki]

Originally Posted by MamaKube

Been there. Done that.
Sold the five bedroom, pool, hot tub, and sauna house when the kids graduated two years ago. Moved onto a Moody 54 in a marina with occasional cruising now and more after retirement. The two hounds are with us.
It was a joy to let go of all that stuff. Kept a small storage bin for a future small house in the south but most went out the front door.
We love it.

Am looking at the same thing soon. How did you get rid of lots of tools some furniture, TVs, stereo gear.....?

[CaptsWife]

Originally Posted by toddster8

The task seems daunting. One person who moved aboard a year or two ago told me that she simply hired an estate agent and walked away.

Good to know.

[Kita]

Yep,just accomplished the task,had two houses on a lake in central FL,one was a Rental...was a chore really, the rental went quick,my place sold two years later, spent that time liquidating things. EBay and Craigslist are your friends they are a big help. I thought it would take me 6 months to get my garage and Shop tools & What Not sold that I couldn't take with me,at the end of the two years I filled a 40ft shipping container! Stuff that I was lucky enough to have a buddy that I have had since JR high had some land & let me store the container for free otherwise I would have liquidated all that stuff also but that will give me some time to get that done slowly and I won't lose so much money. I flew out to Texas and bought a boat and taking a couple weeks to get all the repairs that needed to be done to get her refitted and I am off to Florida and the Bahamas. I'm sitting at the dock as I type and I've only had her out on sea trials and the short test run. About to go for another Shakedown Cruise tomorrow and then I'll be off to Florida as I believe we have all of our issues taken care of. So it can be done and as others have said it is quite liberating to get rid of all that stuff really is not that necessary. But it is very emotional sometimes and quite difficult to let go but once you're doing it it really does feel better in a very odd strange way that I really can't explain. But it's definitely less stressful. I'm looking forward two Journeys ahead. One thing I keep bumping into that is kind of funny is that Everywhere I Go people will ask me okay well what is your address and the normal world has a very difficult time when you tell them I don't have one! For example when I paid off my mortgage the bank asked me what was my future address and I told them I don't have one and they didn't want to accept the money to pay off the mortgage without an address! My name was on the deed but not on the mortgage! The place was sold but they wanted to be able to get to me! What a load of BS! I gave a buddy's address so they would accept payment. ..this even as I told them I was leaving the country! Silly, but, ,,,,,bye bye!

[s/v Moondancer]

We have three cruising friends who sold the house, got sick and had nowhere to return to. A month ago some friends hit a reef and have nowhere to go to.

Use the money to buy a small condo and rent it...Keeping some money in the housing market. Once your boat has depreciated 50% you will not have the money to buy a home.

[CaptsWife]

We are also in the process of doing just that. Ugh. It pains me. Pictures and memorabilia will go to the kids for use or safekeeping, as will useful pottery, tools, etc. Pics of furniture will be taken and distributed for wants. We have a lot of antique furniture that I know we will never recoup the purchase price, nevermind the value. Ugh. Otherwise, we were planning on a garage sale (or more than one). But that idea of someone doing an estate sale has a lot of merit. We'll see. Either way, it's very hard for me to contemplate.

[Carat]

Hi all. I'm new to the forum and saw this thread so I wanted to comment. I just listed my house, horse and land for sale and plan to move onto a boat once the property sells. Car will go, too. Giving away a lot of the stuff I do not need that is weighing my life down. I'll be cruising solo and looking at 30-40 ft motor yachts. I'm excited! I do not have experience with boats, but I have always loved being on the water when I can out on a friend's boat, and I feel I am capable of learning to pilot a boat. Plan is to live on the boat at the local lake, learn and get used to boat life, then move to the coast and cruise to Bahamas and back....then who knows after that.
Sorry to hi-jack this thread with a newbie post, but add me to the list of those who sold off land property to live aboard.

[JPA Cate]

Welcome aboard CF, Carat, and thanks for the input. Good luck with finding the trawler that suits you best.

More people who have got rid of their possessions and lived to tell the tale, just keep the stories coming, both positive and negative (for balance).

Ann

[DeeN]

Those are nightmare stories we're hoping to avoid, "Moondancer".

Thank you for sharing.
sincerely- Dee & Ron

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

We have three cruising friends who sold the house, got sick and had nowhere to return to. A month ago some friends hit a reef and have nowhere to go to.

Use the money to buy a small condo and rent it...Keeping some money in the housing market. Once your boat has depreciated 50% you will not have the money to buy a home.

[DeeN]

Everyone's responses are insightful and from the heart. What a great group of people here on this board.
Thank you,
Ron & Dee

[FutureStories]

Scaled my material goods down to 2 pickup truck loads (including a sofa, bed and 2 small ottomans) to move aboard a boat. Best decision I could have made.

Living back on land (girlfriends choice) but we're in a 800 sq ft apartment (at most) I may have wanted small to get her stuff down.

I haven't missed a single thing I've given up. Can't wait to ditch some more stuff and more aboard in a few years.