How Did You Downsize Before Moving Aboard ?

[vessels7]

We knew we were moving Hawaii, so we started looking a boats about 6 month out, put everything we own in storage. Moved with nothing and bought a boat 18 months ago and feel in love with the lifestyle.

[High Heels]

Originally Posted by First Mate

there was some suffering getting rid of everything, but now I like it this way. I wouldn't have thought so while shedding 2500 sq ft of packed rooms however.


It's just a new phase in our lives really. at some point we will put this phase behind us as well. There is always some kind of separation anxiety when our lives change dramatically. We'll probably have some kind of anxiety when we quit cruising and living aboard.

Thanks First Mate! Nice to know you managed about the same size house shedding and survived...as well, thanks for the reminder that 'separation anxiety' when changing one's life so dramatically is to be expected for many. It helps to be reminded!

And Livin the Dream, I love that quote from your Grandfather, and I will be repeating it regularly to myself as we reach the final push...and I have to say with every bag to Goodwill and every item out the door tagged for the yard sale I am feeling relief once the choice has been made. It is making these 100+ choices a day with the listing date of our house looming in the near future that is mentally exhausting to me.

Can't wait for the final exhale...

[Sjadows]

Originally Posted by livinthedream

my grandfather told me this when i was only 5 years old and i still remember to this day! just live by these words and you wont feel any guilt about getting rid of stuff or not having a lot of possessions...

"THE MORE STUFF YOU OWN, THE MORE IT OWNS YOU"

When I was first leaving home, I took my grandfather aside and asked him for the best piece of advice he had about living. He stared out at the forest for awhile and he said, "Well, I suppose I'd have to say life is like poker. You can only play the hand you've been dealt, but if you just sit and whine about the cards you don't have in your hand, you'll never win a single hand."

It was good advice. For most of my life I've lived with what I could pack in a small truck or car. Many times in my life it has simply been, for one reason or another, "time to go".

Last night, I took something I've been lugging around with me for six years. Actually, I've lugged it around for much longer than that, but six years ago was the last time I used it.

I said goodbye and gave it a last pat, sending it toppling into the dumpster and walked away. It felt good.

[wingNwing]

I find it amusing that this thread started 9/9/09 - that was the day I hung up the phone on my last-ever teleconference, slipped the docklines, and headed south. Before that, we'd spent months scanning photos to jpgs, ripping music to our ipod, converting cookbooks to computer files. (originals went to marina book swaps, etc) Office clothing went to "dress for success" and we kept t-shirts and water shorts. Digital photos of everything. The sofa? Its just a sofa and we were looking for a sofa when we found that one - there'll always be another. Sold at a garage sale to a Russian immigrant family for $45. The quilt his grandmother made us for a wedding present is stored with good friends. For gift-giving occaisions, we only ask and give experiences instead of things - concert tickets, dinners out, museum passes. Freedom from "stuff" is the most precious gift.

[SaucySailoress]

Yup. I've scanned all the worksheets I might ever want to use again (it's amazing how much junk teachers accumulate), and ripped all the CDs, and they're now in a paper bag, waiting to be stored with hubby's LPs. Gift-giving occasions? We're too tight for that (although for my last birthday, my husband, who had been promising me a surprise, took me for a smear test. Now that was a surprise.)

[OaklandSailor]

I've got to say that I've got until the end of this month to shed like mad. I've given notice in my flat, have a liveaboard slip waiting for me on November 1 and am now generally freaking. My god, what to do with a lifetime of stuff? Furniture isn't exactly high so maybe I can sell it so cheap it will fly out of here. You alll know what I'm talking about. An 8' x 8' storage space is $104- per month, so I need to divest pronto if only to get a less expensive space until I cast off by/before next October. By then I need to have nothing in storage, I think, because I don't plan on returning for at least a couple of years if at all and there's no family/friends who can shove things into their garage or attic. Should have started selling months ago but of course did not. Now, my hair is on fire and just for drill I have more work/longer hours than at anytime in the last year! Can any of you lay some wisdom on me?

[LauderBoy]

Yeah. It's just stuff man. Sell what you can, donate what you can and what's left over, just toss out.

Don't sweat it and pull your hair out over it. I tossed most everything except my clothes. Hired a service just to come in and carry it all away. When I moved aboard I bought new stuff, plastic plates/glasses, crock pot, wooden spoons, pillows. Walmart carried it all on the cheap.

You're the sum of your memories, not all the crap you've saved up over the years. And you're about to embark on a journey that will give you some memories that will last you the rest of your life.

Focus on that, pack what you really need into your car(or boat if you already have it) and just toss the rest. You really won't miss it.

[OaklandSailor]

Originally Posted by LauderBoy

Yeah. It's just stuff man. Sell what you can, donate what you can and what's left over, just toss out.

Don't sweat it and pull your hair out over it. I tossed most everything except my clothes. Hired a service just to come in and carry it all away. When I moved aboard I bought new stuff, plastic plates/glasses, crock pot, wooden spoons, pillows. Walmart carried it all on the cheap.

You're the sum of your memories, not all the crap you've saved up over the years. And you're about to embark on a journey that will give you some memories that will last you the rest of your life.

Focus on that, pack what you really need into your car(or boat if you already have it) and just toss the rest. You really won't miss it.

Yes to all, particularly to remember that my history is in my life not in the things picked up along the way. I worry about whether or not to keep furniture since I don't want the cost every month for who knows how long, and I probably won't even return to continue living here at the end of my journeys. I feel like the monkey with his fist stuck in the jar; can't remove his hand without letting go of what he's holding onto. Whatever is true I need to get a move on.

[capn_billl]

The monkey with his hand stuck in a jar is a good analogy. I once packed all my stuff in storage to take a traveling job, (the company paid the storage bill). After spending three years living in hotels around the world I came back to find the unit had been broken into and much stuff missing. I couldn't remember what I had put in there to claim on the ins. I decided if I didn't know what I had lost it must not have been important.

[First Mate]

when we sold our house to a young couple, so we could go sailing and get rid of our stuff, they told us they had just returned from an assignment in Australia for 3 years. They had stored all their stuff and paid the rental fee.

When they got back to the storage unit, the $2000 washing machine had completed corroded out and was absolutely worthless. They were so delighted that the sale of our house to them included an upgraded washing machine in the basement.

hire an auction house to get rid of your crap. wish I had. but no. I had 3 garage sales, mailed **** to my relatives, moved crap across country twice, then gave it all away.

hire an auction house. leave for the weekend whilst they get rid of it all for you.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by OaklandSailor

My god, what to do with a lifetime of stuff?

Throw it in the trash. Nobody wants it. It will be a great relief to you but remember NOBODY wants it!

in Febuary a few years ago I tried to give back the Christams presents 2 girls had given me. One just looked at it and smilied, shook her head and said No Thanks!

The other look and said Oh, yes I'd love it back I really liked it when I bought it for you....

Even Charities would not come and take stuff!

We gave away everything we could and still thew out 13 garbage bags of clothes and stuff that would have cost thousands when bought....

But as soon as it was gone...... it was like a big thing off our shoulders. Even now Nicolle has left and gone back to Australia she doesnt regret what we gave away and needs nothing from the few small boxes at Mums place.

Just trash it!

[witzgall]

Oakland Sailor - I don't have any magic bullet for shedding the 20+ years of life of accumulation - it has taken me months to deal with our stuff both physically and emotionally. Unlike other individuals here who live without major attachments to 'stuff', I am the first to admit that I find comfort in much of my stuff which is comprised of mostly books, favorite cooking utensils, art, and shoes ;0) I can say the mountain of junk I have accumulated in the garage for the garage sale represents hours of toil and decision making...Never, and I say never will I let myself be owned by 'STUFF' again!

This process has been extremely illuminating for me as I have gone through the stuff and liberated myself. With the paring down I am feeling so much better! Less clutter headed and more focused on my dreams and my future. It has been a pain in the arse in many ways but very potent for me.

As I loaded more stuff in the garage for the 'garage sale' yesterday I had to laugh as I picked up this Lenox egg that this man gave to me when I was a tween. He was dating my Mom at the time and was an influential father figure to me. Anyway, I had decided to let this egg go at the yard sale because while beautiful, I can hold the sentiment in my heart...so I picked up the egg last night looking at it as I dropped off yet another load of stuff to be priced and I thought, "Maybe I should hold on to this..." The minute this thought ran through my mind the top of it fell off and like slow motion hit another box, teetered for a moment then CRASH! it went into a million pieces on the floor...I got my answer with a resounding, "Hell, NO...you are not keeping it" from the Universe...so I didn't even have the opportunity to see if Mark's theory of "NOBODY wants it!" would have held true for that egg...

Well about a million more letters and cards and articles to scan, and two more closets to clean out and we will have this house on the market in a week and a half...if I sound eerily calm it is because I am in shock ;0)

[High Heels]

P.S. oops! That last post under 'Witzgall' should have been under my Log In...Something tells me he will be happier with this slip-up than the last post I mistakenly posted with his account in regards to woman's urinal devices ;0)

[Henry Morgan]

He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.

If you realise that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.

Lao Tzu

[jyoung]

lifes been full of ups and downs, never be able to retire the way i want.. so 06/2013 everything goes by the wayside, and will be semi retired and living my dreams for about six months out of the year..cramped on a small boat, smelling like fish and a wife who wont quit yappin..oh, ya!