This day has been coming for a long time now. Probably all my life. A life spent consuming as every American is taught.
My husband and I have decided that since our youngest daughter is heading to college next fall we could do with a life change. We have become a safe haven, boarding house, help center of sorts. Mostly my doing for some ungodly driven reason. We are tired. We want our lives untethered and quieter.
We have decided after some thought and lengthy discussion to move out of our large rented house on June 30, 2017 and move into something much smaller. At first it was going to be a small two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of DC at least for a year or so until we knew our daughter was flourishing comfortably in college and her new independent life. We had suffered a great family tragedy the fall of 2014 and the family was still rocking from it. Leaving us feeling extremely protective of our little group.
Then after a three-week trip through Europe with our two daughters carrying only tiny suitcases and realizing how much we could actually live without I started thinking that a tiny house would work for us. It is all the rage. I wouldn’t feel compelled to take in some poor soul to sleep on our couch or in our spare bedroom if we lived in a tiny house. I like the idea of being able to get up and move the house any time we feel compelled to see new places.
Fortunately, my husband has a job where he works from home and travels, in about equal proportions. He can work from anywhere. I started a small business in 2010 and am ready to give it up to start something new. I’m tired of dealing with the staff. Besides I’m not one to stick with things for the long haul. I’m always swimming with ideas on what to do next.
Back to the tiny house…….once I started thinking about the idea of not being stuck in one place and being able to float around the country, world, universe I began to consider that a tiny house might not hold up to that kind of travel. I didn’t want restrictions and my husband agreed. He was concerned once we started moving around we wouldn’t stop until the tiny house was in splinters. I do have a tendency to overdo things once in a while.
So we considered, sigh, the RV. Something I was not very keen on. I was looking for something that I could design. That had character. That was eclectic looking. My husband was looking for something he didn’t have to build. We have worked together on many building projects. Me the designer. He……the worker. He is tired. He doesn’t want the next big project to take over his life.
One weekend a few weeks ago we went looking at RVs. I wasn’t excited. Many were huge and had all this crap I didn’t want. Many had the most inconvenient lay out. Or were dark. Boring. Predictable.
After about 100 RVs I started to see things I liked. Things that I could tolerate. I did research. Read a lot of books on RVs (Ok, not a lot. One or two). The typical way I start every project big or small. I was not one to go off halfcocked about something unless I knew my facts and had a plan.
I started making a list of what we want in the RV. Then we decided that will be the next home for us. Moveable. Compact. Realistic.
The gypsy life seemed just the way I wanted to spend my middle age!
We announced our plans to the girls and various people living in our house. They thought we were joking. We weren’t.
Everyone started coming into the rooms of our current house with weird expressions. Looking around at the furniture and abundance of “stuff” in a new light. They asked things like “What are you going to do with the huge TV in the living room? Your bed? The new living room furniture?”, “I want this or that”, etc. I told them we weren’t dying. Just simplifying our lives. That I would sell a bunch of stuff. Give them some things. Store some things, although that isn’t high on my list as it feels like cheating. I want a fresh clean cut. No dusty furniture waiting for me in some storage place from my past.
The count down to the minimalist life began.
So far I have given away a blender. To my oldest daughter. My youngest daughter was not happy. Although she never used the thing she protested that I was giving away EVERYTHING. This was not going to be an easy task.
Every day I look around and see all the stuff we have accumulated and think…..we don’t need that, we don’t need that, or that……..can I bring that? Will it fit?
I’ve changed my shopping tactics. I buy less everything. Only enough to last. Stopped buying things that take up space. Have converted to e-books rather than hard copies. No more spur of the moment impulse buys.
I decided a diary was in order. It would help me to stay on task and outline what we need to do as well as keep a record of progress. I will start removing the excess from our lives day by day.
Thus the Map to the Simple Life Blog was born. A daily blog of our progress to the minimalist simplified life.