Downsizing 101 - so much STUFF!

Our plan at this point was to sell the house, and move to Florida so that we could be closer to the boats.

But we had so much stuff! Our challenge was to sift through 30 years worth of 'stuff', and end up with just the essential items that could fit onto a catamaran.

What to keep? What to give away? What do the kids want? What can we sell?

We began with the basics. First of all, stop buying new stuff. Sounds so simple. But think about the things you buy each month. For me it was clothes (shoes), kitchen gadgets, sewing stuff. For Randy it was auction items that he could resell (antique fans, tools, farm equipment, etc.). No more auctions, no more trips to quilt shops or craft shows.

Someone suggested we watch the Netflix show 'The Minimalists - Less is Now'. I can't tell you how much this helped me - it changed my whole way of thinking about holding on to 'stuff'!

Randy started listing items for sale. All in all, we ended up selling around $45K worth of 'stuff'. We shipped family mementos to other family members for safe-keeping. Every time our son came for a visit he left with a load of 'stuff'. Our daughter's friend delivered a load of 'stuff' to Denver for her. We donated countless boxes and bags of clothing and household items.

We also did some home improvement projects to get the house ready to sell.

We replaced the back deck and stairs.

We dry-walled the basement, and installed new carpet, wood flooring, and interior paint in the upper floors.

When the house was sold, we purchased a used 25' pull-behind camper. This was to be our temporary home until a boat was available.

We said a fond Farewell to our wonderful Iowa friends and family, and were off on the next leg of our journey!