I look forward to getting rid of my house.
I look forward to getting rid of my furniture.
I have major separation anxiety with getting rid of my books.
My real estate agent said I have to move out the bookcases that are barring my front door. (I’m working on that issue.)
I have already cut my library in half once. When I moved into this tiny house, I went through my books, one by one, deciding who got to stay in the house and who was going to be relegated to a box in the garage.
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Now, to stage my home for sale, I have to cut my library in half, once again.
So, I sat on my living room floor and sorted my books, one by one.
After several painstaking hours, I finally did it.
Half of my (already halved) home library was packed into twelve book boxes and shipped off to my new storage space.
Now people can get through my front door!
I’m definitely ready to move.
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Mission Accomplished
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Countdown: 163 days until I move into my RV!
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12 Comments
Hello Jennifer!
Well, we all have some things it’s just hard to part with. I had to show my son that if he hasn’t looked at it, smelled it, touched it, or worn it in the last 6 months, it’s gone. Hard stuff. But then again he can’t remember what we have actually donated now, so all was good.
I had to count my own timeline, and it’s 225 days for us.
My job ends on June 30th, and hopefully the house will sell in a timely fashion, and we will be living in the RV too, Im looking forward (more than anything) to no more stairs (I own a 2-storey house).
Good job on the books, that’s a hard one to do!
take care.
Karyn
This must have been hard for you, and it is also a sign how serious you are about doing this. After reading your post this morning, I discovered K’s and cracked up at how she is emptying her house 7 months before the switch.. and doing a daily count.
The purging posts from all the blogs I think are very helpful to those considering the same lifestyle.
You make blogging look so easy Jennifer, and everyday I think I should do it, too… but then I get anxiety over all this things you have brought up in your posts. I really appreciate what you are doing for me and others. I am just starting to venture out and look at other blogs. You and their posts really light a fire under me to live my dream.
Its a Solo yet Surrounded venture. Perfect for the recluses. Ha
Oh, and nice to see the painting has survived the purging…all though its time is coming to be packed away.
I put new carpet in my Bounder and removed every brass handle, railing, towel holder etc…I can still open the cabinets and drawers and the visual is so much cleaner. I cannot believe how many handles there were in a 30 ft MH… over 35 i think. crazy. And I am painting all the cabinets black or expresso brown. I’ve ripped off the … nevermind.. this is beginning to sound like a post. Ha ha gotta run. Health has been superb for two and a half days!
Hope to be on the road soon.
To say good bye to one’s books would be difficult. But, at least you have them in storage. The completion of this task brings you one step closer to leaving on that big road trip! We will be traveling for 4 months starting in January and I can hardly wait. Living in a small space (in our case, very small) is both challenging and comforting. It helps, of course, to have that huge (outdoor) living room!!!
lol you sound like my husband. I gave up old keepsakes in a second and he tried to keep every book he’s ever owned. This Christmas I’m going to find a way to buy him a Kindle 2, if you read as much as he does I’d suggest buying one too! Don’t get all romantic on me and say “it’s not the same!” I feel the same way but it’s better than having to pay for the extra gas to lug around all that extra weight!
Jess
Awesome! I’m so proud of you Jennifer! Continue to get rid of that stuff! I know its hard!
I’m a bit confused. You have a “countdown” but yet you haven’t sold the house nor purchased an RV yet? Fill me in!! It could be that I’m blonde and just mssing something here but…?
Dear Karyn, As I was reading your guidance for your little boy, I recognized that I could learn a lot from it! It is true that many of my books fall into that category. Maybe this is the first step in letting go…
Dear Joey, Yes, your painting survives. I love it. Maybe it will make it to the RV.
Dear Barb, What is this four month adventure? I want to hear more about it!
Dear Jessica, I feel like you could really call me on my shit. Ha ha. Maybe I’ll just pack up my Nietzsche and leave the rest.
Dear Angie, Thank you! With regard to my countdown, I guess I have not been explicit with the plan. My goal is to be in the RV fulltime by May 1st. That gives me a month to live in it before I have to depart for the Arctic (a time-sensitive trip).
We will leave the frozen north in mid-January. At this stage in our lives, we can’t imagine being anywhere but in our home over the holiday season. Someday our children, who are young adults, will enjoy traveling to warmer climates in December, but that is impossible for them right now. So, after we are done with the festivities, we head for Venice, Florida and will stay there for 2 1/2 months. We allow ourselves a week to get there from Minnesota so we have time to stop when we get to warmer climates to de-winterize our travel trailer. We don’t know where we will do that, we will just see what happens. We have family in the Venice area. They are the reason we discovered this area and we absolutely fell in love with the possibilities last winter when we were there for two weeks. We have found an rv park there that is comfortable and unassuming, which fits us. We are booked in Venice until the 1st of April. We then cross over to the east coast and stay in a state park in St.Augustine for a week. We will then drift up the east coast and eventually turn west and head back to Minnesota. Spring camping here at that time of year here is so incredible. That is our plan. We are very anxious to head south. Once we experienced our first winter out of the snow belt, we knew we would explore warmer climates every year! Hopefully, we will head southwest in 2011.
Dear Barb,
That sounds wonderful! I have a feeling you will love your trip through the southwest the following year, as well. I look forward to following it all on your blog…
Jennifer
Sounds like an awesome plan Jennifer!
Thanks for clarifying that for me. I thought I missed a really important blog post or something.
I havent exactly been 100% lately. I have had several nights in a row without sleep due to a tooth ache! Theres NOTHING worse than a sore tooth! Well there is actually…a sore tooth WITH screaming kids! Oh my!! I went to the dentist yesterday and turns out I need a root canal – ugh! So he did the first part and I go back on Dec 14th to have it finished up. Thank God that the throbbing pain in gone. My mouth is sore – but not anywhere near what it was.
OK – probably too much information about my tooth..lol.
Have a beautiful day!
Dear Angie,
I am so sorry to hear it, but thank you for sharing. I actually LOVE it when you (and others) share their stories with me. It makes me feel more connected (and you can only say, “You go girl!” and all of its variants so many times, right? ; )
Hope you are feeling better…
Jennifer
Ahh…books. They are the absolute hardest thing for me to part with. I started paring down the collection months ago, yet every single weekend I find myself at a bookstore buying more! I absolutely abhor the idea of e-readers like the Kindle, since they just aren’t the same thing as a good old fashioned book. I’m starting to think it may be the only option for me though, at least in terms of storage.
Dear Japhy,
I think about your books all the time! Ha ha. Like you, I am ashamed that I have already added many, many more. (I want to read about the Arctic, you know?)
I am going to pile my RV full of books. One thing I realized as I was going through them is that those I might want to carry along are far fewer than I originally imagined, so that was encouraging. (I’m going to throw in quite a few Norton Anthologies, though. That covers a lot.)
Good luck!
Jennifer