In February 2018, Rocky and I decided to put our house up for sale and start the downsizing process so we could eventually move out of the country. At that point, we were not sure if we would end up in Ecuador or Spain but knew we wanted to travel more and become ex-pats when Rocky retired. We had been taking care of my mom for 13 years and dreamed of a more spontaneous life in the future.
We sold our house in ten days and moved to a two bedroom apartment in Tacoma. This quick sale necessitated hiring an estate sale company that helped us get rid of at least half of the stuff we had accumulated over three decades. We did not have much time to decide what was essential, we just had to get out. Sadly, once we got settled in our new apartment, our house sale fell through. It ended up taking another eight months to really sell our house and we took a loss. Not exactly what we had planned.
We didn’t let that deter us from our goal though. Even without making any profit on our house, we found that we started to save money, just by not having any surprise home repairs. We have rarely been lucky in real estate, often choosing to buy houses that have lots of character (in other words, need more repairs.)
We rented two storage units for the treasures we couldn’t part with immediately and made the intention to empty those over the next three years. This week, we accomplished our goal. We have finally scanned, shredded, sold, given away, or trashed everything except the clothes and shoes that fit in five suitcases and two carry-ons.
No more binders, file folders, birthday cards, diaries from high school (why was I saving those???), dog collars, kid’s toys, hard back or paperback books. No computer (just 2 laptops). No furniture. No car. Not even a spatula.
Admittedly, we kept a small amount of our art work that we could not part with in storage. When we locked the unit for the last time, we wondered if we would be the ones to open it next? We have no idea if we will return or when. We did not leave a note for our kids inside the unit although we thought about it later. It felt like we were closing up a time capsule.
We had planned to fly out on Friday, Feb. 12th, but our visas did not arrive from the Spanish Consulate in time. Instead, we moved out of our apartment to make room for the new couple moving in and relocated to a furnished corporate apartment in the same building so we can wait for our visas.
Curious about what we thought was essential to include in those 5 suitcases? What would be important to you? I’m not much of a shoe person or a fashionista so a few pairs of yoga pants, jeans and one pair each of tennis shoes, dress shoes, hiking boots and dress boots works for me. I did pack quite a few scarves though! They travel well.
What I knew I couldn’t part with was our 50th Anniversary Deluxe Scrabble board! We bought it 23 years ago when the twins were born as an alternative to going out. We’ve enjoyed countless Scrabble date nights since then. Rocky wins so often that I call him Lucy. You know how Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown and encourages him to keep trying to kick it? Then, wickedly, she takes the football away at the last minute and Charlie Brown misses? I’m that Charlie Brown.
Rocky bought us a light-weight, compact travel version this year in preparation for our trip but I never warmed up to it, preferring my old friend Deluxe. I ended up giving the new one to Goodwill. I made room in my suitcase for this giant Scrabble board and definitely have no regrets.
Rocky wanted to take all of his favorite kitchen utensils until he got an inventory list from the new landlord in Spain. Looks like the only thing we will need to buy there is a coffee maker! Instead he packed his 35 mm camera, half of his extensive shoe collection and more outerwear than he’ll ever need. After much contemplation, he chose to leave his treasured panama hat, most of his favorite cookbooks and his well- seasoned, but very heavy, cast iron pan behind.
Wilma has not decided which of her toys she can’t live without. Probably the hedgehog and the elephant, if they still have any stuffing left when we are ready to go.
In 2011, as we were about to launch our first yoga teacher training program, one of my business partner’s, Karen, gave me a large coffee mug inscribed with a quote by Mary Anne Radmacher: “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”
I love the weight, the feel and size of the coffee cup and have had my morning coffee in it every day since. I have also been inspired by the saying which has completely worn off over the years but will forever be etched in my heart.
This dream of moving to Spain has had plenty of challenges along the way. Even now, as we wait for the visas to arrive, it is sometimes difficult to have faith that we will get there. Every morning though, I get up and remind myself to have courage. To keep walking towards our dream. To believe that all of the steps we have taken so far will eventually lead us to the life we have dreamed of. A life with more adventure, travel and spontaneity. A life where we are not weighed down by what we own, but instead, inspired by who we love and where we go. A life that doesn’t include a lot of things that we used to think were essential.
I am taking my coffee cup. I plan to stuff it with socks and put it in my carry-on. It will remind me to be courageous, especially after we get to Spain and start this new life we’ve been dreaming about for so long.
Little did we know at the time, that we were standing in front of our future apartment!
It’s located in the white building above my head to the left.
That’s AMAZING. A friend of mine retired about 5 years ago, and she moved from Central California to Portugal. She has a blog and enjoying her time traveling. I love seeing her posts on Facebook and she said Portugal is one of the top places to retire.
About 4 years now, we REDUCED and packed up our lives (me, my husband, our two teenagers, and little dog) and moved – drove a Uhaul from Southern CA to central OR (Bend). We rented an Air B N B from Aug. to Oct. while we waited for our house to be built. We lived out of boxes and continued to reduce here and there.
Just recently, I’m going through more stuff, and reducing. It’s amazing how much we accumulate, and we think we got rid of some stuff and kept things we felt were important to just realize later, they weren’t. SO, I feel you on that!
Sandi- thank you for sharing your experience. You’re right that reducing can be a constant practice. I hope that now that we’ve downsized, we will be more careful about adding things back into our life.
I admire your dream, even though I could never do what you are doing. I like my “stuff” too much I’m afraid. We hope you and Wilma will be able to get there soon, and that we will be able to visit you some time. I am really sorry that we could not get Wilma and Sadie together for a romp and a good time. Enjoy and have a wonderful time together!
I know you would not be happy without being surrounded by your books! I’m not used to this new book-free life either. Still trying to make friends with my Kindle. I do like being more free to travel though! Hugs to Becky and Sadie and Ollie.
Beautiful reflection! It is inspiring! Thank you for sharing and good luck on your new adventures! Love! 🙏❤️🙏
Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you’ll follow our adventures once we get to Gijon and start to explore our new home.
I’m so inspired by these choices and adventures you are embarking on! I really hope that a future date will show me in the same position. I absolutely love the idea of living with so much less, but definitely need to work on the execution. 😊
Thank you Krista. It gets easier after the kids are launched!
I love being your partner in life and your partner in adventure!! (I really don’t have that many pairs of shoes anymore. 🤣)
The number of shoes you think is essential cracks me up! But I love you and will make room for your shoes forever. Here’s to our next steps!
Jeni, I’m inspired by your decision. We’ve thought about renting out our home and going to Asia. Isn’t it wonderful to have options? It’s so fun to have nice things and we already live in a much smaller home than most… but there’s real freedom in less as well. Just closing my business and selling so much, donating a ton… has been liberating. I’ll be following your journey. See you out on the road when travel opens up. Stay fabulous! Love you!
Thank you Kathy! Love how parallel our business lives were last year. Here’s to more travel in both of our futures. Love you!
You kept the scrabble board! Makes me wonder what kind of things I would keep if it came down to 5 suitcases and a carry-on. I think I need to go purge a few things. 😉
And the mug – I love that quote.
Thank you, Jeni. I love your writing so much. Also, you (both) look fabulous in that photo! Maybe frame that one once you get to Gijon! We’ll see you there. XO
Love you too, Melissa. You’d have to make room in one suitcase for your harmonium. One of our smaller suitcases is carrying Wilma’s things so you’d need a suitcase for Bodhi, for sure. Fun to contemplate what is most important. See you in Espana!
I am so excited for the both of you and cannot wait to hear about your adventures and bumps in the road in your future home. I hope you have lots of visitors and please, please, keep us all posted with your funny stories. I love living vicariously through your writings. Will you be continuing this blog??
Thank you Miche! This blog will definitely continue. If you want to be notified of a new blog post, simply check the box following the comments at the end of a blog post requesting to get the blog in your inbox. Thanks for coming along on our adventure!
You are always an inspiration Jeni! Planting seeds of thought for contemplation. Admire your spirit of adventure starting your new life chapter and hope to see you again in Spain! ❤️😊 miss you already
Thank you Trisha! See you in Espana!
Jeni you surprise me with your free spirit. Looking forward to more blogs. Rick and I are planning downsizing in order to make it back from southern Georgia to our true home in the PNW. Take care.