Another weekend of painting, carpet shopping and selling items on the net.  I realize why this is so difficult for me.  There are people who love to change things up, follow the latest home decor motif or need to have the newest color making its way to all home accessories.  My daughter is such a person.  When she was old enough, she changed the look of her room at least five times, much to my chagrin.  New color paint, bedspread, pillow and pictures.  It drove me nuts and put a dent in my pocketbook.

Me on the other hand, if I like it, it stays static unless it breaks or gets worn out.  The way I designed my house brought me joy each and every time I walked into a room.  As items leave my home to go to another, a little piece of me goes with it.  My husband keeps telling me how much fun it will be to start again when we settle down on our Golden pond abode.  Not my idea of fun.  If I had my way, I would get the biggest storage unit and move it all in there.  When we finished traveling in the RV and found our last home, that’s when I would sell items if the house was too small.

Is there one room in the house loved more than any other?  Which one is your favorite?  For me, it is my dining room.  It took me 10 years to find just the right set and one big enough to host holidays and family dinners.  Each meal served was with love and intended for each person sitting in those chairs to feel special.  This is non-negotiable item.  It comes with me regardless.  I get no argument from hubby as he knows how I feel about my dining set.   I hope someday, one of my kids will want to have it and continue the tradition of good food, loud laughter and the happiness of being around family.

Isn’t that what it’s all about.

Since my first posting, I decided to reach out to the RV community to see if there were others out there going through the same emotional turmoil in their process of going RV full time.  Responses were varied as to the length of time they would be ready and if they were having difficulties downsizing.

Good to know, I am not alone. One suggestion was to hire an estate sale professional to sell your items. No hassle, no fuss.  Eventually, we will have a garage sale. However, I don’t plan on being there.  I am engaging my sister to be there on my behalf.  I really don’t think I could tolerate watching my things being sold as people haggle over price.  Instead, I will sit on the beach and think about all the beautiful places we will visit. This adventure will most likely have the most impact on us when we look back on all we have done in our lives.

I look forward to getting on the road and meeting others.  Exchanging tidbits on where they have been and telling us about places we just have to visit.  More and more people seem to be intrigued and joining the RV lifestyle.  Even as I write this, I know I am not alone on this journey.

See you on the road.

How many of you are married to computer people?  Luckily for me, I am.  It’s great when you are not a computer guru and need someone to help you with spread

sheets and trouble shooting.  However, when you are already frazzled, the thought of a project timeline is the last thing you want to be doing.

He is developing the spreadsheet of all the tasks needed to be done and when we are going to complete them.  To take it one step further he puts a conditional cell (who knew of its existence).  For those like me who don’t know what that is – I will explain.  If the task is not completed on time the cell turns red as an alert to let you know you are behind.  Like I need a red cell to inform me the task has not been completed.

As I am trying to put items on Craigslist, he keeps pulling my attention back to the darn spreadsheet.  He just continues to spew questions of “When are we going to do this, when are we going to do that?”  I want to scream enough, “Let’s just take this one step at a time”.  I love to be organized but this was too much even for me.

There are so many tasks to be completed before we can put the house on the market.  So many that the printout he put on the refrigerator is so small

I can’t even read it.  If we can complete the list without a single red cell it would be a miracle.

Anyone care to take a bet?

The house looks like a tornado hit it and my inner turmoil matches it.  Initially, this house was a four bedroom, but we took out the closet in the back room and made it a den/work-space and it has served us well over the years.  Realtor said put the closet back in and remove the sailboat border – too personal.  The room now sits empty waiting for new paint, rug and closet to be put back in.

When the kids left, they didn’t take all of their belongings.  Emptying out their closets have been the hardest.  Opening boxes only to have a flood of memories hit like a ton of bricks.  Old recital tutu’s, Girl Scouts vest filled with badges, christening clothes and a host of trinkets.  Each reminding me of how I wish I could have kept them small and thinking where has the time gone.

My daughter is extremely practical as each time I call to say, “Do you want this” or snap a picture to show her the item her reply never changes – GET RID OF IT. On the other hand my son, being the more sentimental one, wants to go through his stuff.  Problem is we have a time schedule and he is a procrastinator.

I guess if you were the type of person to clean out your house and donate it all without ever looking back this wouldn’t be such an ordeal.  Unfortunately, that’s not me!  I am the person who can tell you who gave me what, for which occasion it was given and even if I wasn’t crazy about it kept it anyway because someone special gave it to me.

They tell you to make piles – trash, donate, sell and keep.  The challenge is to reduce my keep pile.  Easier said than done.  All money received from sales goes into a camping fee envelope.  We want to see how many days of camping fees we will get when all is said and done.

It’s been said many times by those who have gone through this and are now on the road full time -it was a freeing and uplifting experience to rid oneself of all the baggage.

My take at this moment in time – doubtful, but only time will tell.

There are times when you evaluate where you are in life and where you want to go.  This is one of those times for us.  We have been weekend warriors for several years now and we love every minute of it.  We starting thinking wouldn’t it be great to do this full-time and see the wonders of the United States and beyond.  We are ordinary nine to fivers, living on auto pilot and getting trapped in the proverbial rat race. How do we simplify our lives?

We have been bingeing on You Tube videos and Facebook post by others living our dream.  Each vlog and post provides us education but drives the point home that NOW is the time for action.  The first step was a decision to sell our home. A very scary proposition for me but brings elation to my husband. 

Let me explain because somewhere down the road you may have the same exact trepidation I am currently feeling.  We live in a beautiful 3,800 sq ft home we had totally renovated over the years to make it our perfect dream home.  Our family has had many happy memories here and I always thought I would see my grandchildren running around our home and creating even more memories.  Now on the other hand, my husband is tired of yard work, maintaining the house and would love to have a weekend not crowed with all those necessary chores.

So the decision was made to sell the house and move full time into our RV.  The rational side of me agrees it is too much house to maintain while we travel but the emotional side is really having a difficult time accepting it.  I put him off for a while but in life there are no guarantees and you have to seize the moments while you can and are in good health.  So, as I am writing this we have started the downsizing process and it makes me ill.  Deciding what to sell and what to store for when we finally settle down.  The ultimate goal is to find a house on a lake. When we retire, we plan to travel the United States in our 5th wheel seeking out our Golden Pond.

Join us as we move beyond the ordinary!