Ready for the next step....

[HighTemp]

It appears that we are almost ready for the next step in our transition to full time live aboard status. We have the boat, we have a contract on the house and now, at least for me, comes the "Oh crap" moment when you realize you have to find somewhere to store all the crap you have accumulated over the past 22 years. My original plan was to donate everything to a charity and then take the tax deduction...now I find out it requires a appraisal.

I think a storage unit makes sense for at least the first year or so, but after that...I don't know. A more pressing concern is our address of residence and mailing address type issues. I assume that you can not use a PO Box as an address for things such as your drivers license.

Yes, it appears that cutting that last tie is a bit more challenging that we anticipated.

[JoeRobertJr]

Congratulations on the progress! This might help...
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ng-212146.html

[Captain Randy]

We are in the same situation. Boat is ready, we move aboard full time in March. We are planning an estate/garage sale and get rid of everything. Putting everything in storage will only cost money. Can always set up a place again if we for some reason bail on cruising. We will quit our jobs in June and settle in then head south from So. Cal Nov 1st. We plan to use SBI as well based on all the favorable recommendation in this forum. Congrats and we will see you out there!
CR

[Hartings]

Well that makes three of us in the same boat (no pun intended) and on a similar page. We have bought, and taken delivery, of our boat which will winter in the Channel Islands (between UK and France) before hopefully setting sail for the Med in April and subsequently heading W across the Atlantic (subject to change).
We were going rent our home out but have now decided to hold off for a year as we feel we want keep
a bolt hole (for breaks) or possibly a home to return to if the cruising lifestyle doesn’t work out. Very excited but full of trepidation too. We are currently using the boat as a floating apartment for occasional weekends away - the Channel
Islands are lovely but rather wet and windy during winter. Good luck to both of you.

[chet1001]

I too moved onto my sailboat full time, sold my home and gave my children most of my belongings. I rented a small storage unit for things I'm not ready to part with like power tools, golf clubs etc. As for a physical address I'm using a close friends, if there's anything of importance I have her open it to find out what it is.

[Frank 101]

In 1998 we moved overseas and put personal effects in storage. Larger items like washing machine, dryer, piano, leather lounge we asked friends to look after. 4 years later we came back, went through the stuff in storage and threw half away, wondering why we even had it in he first place. The washer and dryer had both died. A few years later the piano got sold without us knowing and the lady looking after it ate the money. More stuff was divested from storage. A few years later I saw the sorry state of our beautiful lounge and told the people they could have it. By then we had 12 boxes of expensive crockery, silver cutlery, vases, etc left. By that stage we realised the uselessness of all that stuff and sold it off for peanuts just to get rid of it. Save yourself money and get minimalistic! Sell it for what you can get, donate it, or junk it because when you get over the sailing bug you’ll probably be like us and wonder why you kept it. What’s important to you now won’t be important when you realise you can do without it! It’s really liberating to have nothing (much).

[mickand]

I agree with Frank 101. I offloaded everything in 2015 and haven't looked back.

[KP44]

Originally Posted by Frank 101

…. By that stage we realised the uselessness of all that stuff and sold it off for peanuts just to get rid of it. Save yourself money and get minimalistic! Sell it for what you can get, donate it, or junk it because when you get over the sailing bug you’ll probably be like us and wonder why you kept it.

A storage unit makes sense for sailing equipment if you are not traveling. Or if you return every off-season.

But if you look at the cost of a storage unit and consider the cost of new items when/if you ever need them, you are ahead by giving things away right now rather than storing stuff. At over $1,000 a year, that's a lot of luxury you can add to your new lifestyle.

[1jparker]

Congrats on your move to the water! my husband and I sold the house and moved to a 1971 Hatteras MY in Massachusetts and so enjoyed our 5 years aboard.
Storage and stuff: You will not want your stuff after being in storage. Neither will your kids. We had a single garage size storage unit and doing the math for 5 years, it was ridiculous. Also, despite it being temperature controlled, we have moth damage to several rugs and had to toss them.
When you return, you will realize that you really didn't miss the stuff in storage. We moved to a small condo after our 5 years, and really enjoy the smallness of life without a lot of stuff.
We were super nervous too, but never regretted it for one minute...snowstorms on board were fun..... Heating was super expensive, but we would do it abgain in a minute.

[1jparker]

Congrats on your move to the water! my husband and I sold the house and moved to a 1971 Hatteras MY in Massachusetts and so enjoyed our 5 years aboard.
Storage and stuff: You will not want your stuff after being in storage. Neither will your kids. We had a single garage size storage unit and doing the math for 5 years, it was ridiculous. Also, despite it being temperature controlled, we have moth damage to several rugs and had to toss them.
When you return, you will realize that you really didn't miss the stuff in storage. We moved to a small condo after our 5 years, and really enjoy the smallness of life without a lot of stuff.
We were super nervous too, but never regretted it for one minute...snowstorms on board were fun..... Heating was super expensive, but we would do it again in a minute.
Regarding the post office box, we did a box through our local UPS store which was great, except for registering to vote and getting dog licences. They wouldn't let us list the UPS store as an address. I ended up using a relatives address for the dogs and registered to vote when we were on the dock in the winter. During the summer we were on a mooring in our harbor.
Let me know if you have additional questions.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Frank 101

.....
......... It’s really liberating to have nothing (much).

Many of us in this community have recognized this freedom that comes without ownership. 'wise words here from Frank 101!

[Pegu Club]

Congratulations, We are in our second year of cruising live aboard life, we sold the house, and sold/ gave away 99% of our stuff, it has been liberating not living the consumer life. Adventure is out there ��

Fair winds,

[theDangerz]

First and foremost... GOOD FOR YOU (and welcome)!!!!

Im a huge fan of the "sell what you can and donate the rest" approach!

I can tell you with 100% certainly that ive never felt lighter or more stress free than right after doing so!!

That being said... we have also met several cruisers in the last year of living aboard throughout the caribbean who sold everything back home and a few weeks/months in realized they hated life at sea. Gulp.

So... i guess it just depends on your confidence level and or willingness to figure it all out.
I still say cut the cord. Get rid of the life full of "stuff" you accumulated, feel what true freedom feels like without it... and if you decide to go back to the life you had before - at least you get to have new stuff!