There are primarily two options for moving out of the country: fill a shipping container with everything you own, or get rid of your possessions and travel with only what you need. Emily and I have chosen the second option.
Large items, such as furniture, went on Craigslist. Smaller items are much harder. Since we're moving to South Dakota before we go to Ecuador (to change our US tax basis), we have separate boxes labeled for all of our siblings, children and mothers. If we come across something that one of them would want, it goes into their box. (I don't know if they'll want the stuff we're giving to them, but that's their problem.) What to do with the rest of the stuff?
I worked at Williams-Sonoma for three years, and our kitchen is packed with pans, gadgets and containers of all types. I have cake cutters still in the wrappers, two complete sets of Calphalon cookware, thirty pasta plates, two complete sets of china and so much more. What better way to give it a new home than a garage sale!
We've had two garage sales with everything priced to sell. We even had comments from some of the people that showed up saying, "You're not trying to make money, you're just trying to get rid of stuff!". Both were very successful. One guy showed up and bought all my rakes and shovels ($7) and then found a CD that he wanted. I just waved at him to let him know that it was his. It's a very liberating feeling to just let things go!
The most difficult part of downsizing was getting rid of my tools. I'm an avid woodworker and home improvement guy, so I had some difficult decisions to make. The first was the realization that I may not have electricity available when I want it, so most of the power tools had to go. I sent a list and pictures to Larry to see what he would want, and he bought them all! He's going to outfit one of his rental properties with a workshop, and, with the tools that I sold him, he'll be all set up with a custom cabinet shop.
(For you fellow woodworkers out there, yes, many tears were shed, but I know that the tools are going to a good home.)
As for me, I've had to downsize to a single tote of tools:
It includes mostly manual tools: handsaws, screwdrivers, wrenches, levels, plumb bob, string line, etc. They are all of the tools that I used in building outdoor structures, and I figure that's what I'll need in Ecuador.
If you haven't checked out our current backyard, here are a couple of links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L8obD2_Kto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlxEFS5PtK4
We're almost done with the clean out - time to sell the house! That will (hopefully) be the next post.
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