Leaving on our next Alfa Adventure in 55 days!
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| I hired someone to do it! Craig wanted to, but he can't do everything. |
As I compose this post, Craig and our handyman, Mick, are installing a new vanity in one of the bathrooms. Still to come are the mirrors, medicine cabinets and details like towel bars and new baseboards. If all goes well we will have three complete bathrooms by the end of the month. Well, almost complete, Craig had to special order some woodwork for around the doors and it might not be here for a few weeks.
I, on the other hand, have not been doing very much. There really isn't much I can do without Craig's help. It is a waste of my time to clean since new clouds of construction dust seem to settle over the floors every day or so. I refuse to get serious about it until the last really dirty job is done. I would like to be washing windows, but we still need to sand three sets of stairs and two deck surfaces. That will cover the windows with sawdust for sure! Best to wait until the deck is done.
Many drawers and closets are close to being emptied, but that doesn't mean their contents are gone. Much is piled up in the garage waiting for either a flea market day or donation. There are also lots of piles of stuff around the house. If I take it out of a closet, it doesn't go back in!
I really need Craig to work with me in getting rid of things. The stuff is both of ours and many things might still be needed before we are out of here. Last week I went through the garbage cans, or bags of junk in the garage, three times to retrieve something I had tossed.
But I find it very difficult to deal with the disorder. There are little collections of tools here and there waiting to be used to finish this or that.
I'm not a very good housekeeper to begin with, but I find having the additional mess everywhere very stressful.
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| Every room seems to look like this. Stuff everywhere! |
Oh well, this too shall pass. We will get there. It is our time!
If you are a full timer, who got rid of all your stuff and sold your home, what stage of the process did you find the most stressful?
How did you deal with it?
Right now our daughter and her family are living in our sticks and bricks...I refuse to call it our home because we have not lived there for almost 2 years. They are to buy it in a year or so...we will see? We have a few things in storage, everything else we left for them to use/have. If and when we no longer want to travel full time we want a very small place and will furnish it according to our needs then. That's the plan, but you know how that goes...I do feel you frustration about the mess. But you are right, this too will pass.
ReplyDeleteone day and one job at a time! don't be too hard on yourselves, it will all get done eventually!
ReplyDeleteBy far, I found getting rid of the stuff the most stressful. I don't miss any of if and wish we had not accumulated so much of it. However, keep the prize at the end of the journey in focus. This time will pass, it will all come together and the freedom is awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteThe time you're going through right now is what we found the most stressful, because it seemed we would never get it all done. Finally, though, we did, and you will too.
ReplyDeleteOnce we listed the house we didn't stay in town very long and it was less stressful not living in the house when people wanted to come look at it. We took the Rv to Florida and waited for the Realtor to call with a contract! THEN we went back and finished purging...oh yeah, that was pretty stressful too.
Despite the clutter in the dining room, it looks like a beautiful room and I'm sure will wow some future buyer. Love those windows.
In hindsight, we should have purged more stuff before we left town for the winter, because it was difficult getting rid of everything in the time frame that we had. We had to make a LOT of decisions and that's the most difficult part. Keep, trash, sell, donate? Will we need it again? Where will we put it??? etc....
It will all get done. Really, it will!
ReplyDeleteLooking back, the last few weeks of getting the house ready to market was probably the most stressful. The three weeks between offer and hitting the road were stressful, too. But, we were fueled by a healthy dose of excitement!
Keep your eyes on the prize! It's definitely worth it!
Hang in there. Y'all are doing amazing work! To this day, we look back at the time where you are now and are in awe at how much we accomplished. Some day soon you will, too!
I can't comment about going through the house to prepare for full-time, but I will say I would find the chaos of stuff around to be VERY stressful. I would end up wasting much time putting stuff away (hidden) and the then getting it back out again. But it would be worth it for my sanity. At least for the rooms that I live in - the ones I can close a door on, well that's another matter! At least you can escape to the Alpha for some calm time :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Merikay and Happy Father's day Craig. The hardest part of fulltiming for us was just making the decision to do it and making a plan, a budget for it. Doing is easy for us. Waiting for the "done" was what was and is hard. Your house looks beautiful, today's pics.
ReplyDeleteHaving to spend every weekend working on the house was the most stressful thing for me. I was still working 12 hour days during the week, so it seemed like I never had any time off.
ReplyDeleteGetting the house ready wasn't too bad, as it was small anyway. We had so many piles of stuff - Salvation Army, E-Bay, Yard Sale, ship to kids.
ReplyDeleteThat part wasn't too bad either because we had it all in piles in the mobile home next door. It was deciding which pile it should be in that stressed us out!
We did the same as Gay and Joe. However, our son and his wife really didn't want very much of our "stuff" so we had to get rid of most of it. I was just so excited about the new life we were getting ready for that I didn't have trouble getting rid of stuff. I just wanted it gone. Jim had a lot more trouble with his tools.
ReplyDeleteThe stage most stressful? The stage you are in right now!!! It was terrible. I tossed things that I now wish I had - like my Cuesinart food processor. I thought it would be too large and too heavy. I need it on a weekly basis. I brought my break maker and have yet to make a loaf of bread. John needs tools he gave away! We both have clothes that we have yet to wear.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is never a perfect transition. Win some and lose some.
As for the clutter. I finally attacked one room at a time and made "final" decisions. The keeps went to the motorhome and were put in their proper place. The not keep went to either yard sale or were given away or donated to charity. THEN I SHUT THE DOOR TO THAT ROOM! I finally helped me to calm down a bit.
One thing I know for sure is if you need it again you can buy it if you have too. The main thing to me is get rid of the stuff...maybe not the tools but everything else you won't use in the motorhome. If you are going to use it in themothorhome put it in now...the cooking etc. has to go on the back burner for now...simple eating is the best for now.
ReplyDeleteKeep saying, this too shall pass. yes it will and you'll soon be the one commenting encouragement to other newbies. It's very stressful getting the house ready for sale. I resented that this was done for someone else's enjoyment. Why didn't I do these upgrades for us to enjoy also? Our house was built in the 1940's, so we were continually worried of what might be found unexpectedly wrong and need fixing $$. Luckily, we did not have too much trouble. Then waiting for the results of the inspection. This is the worst period of your journey to FT. This is worse than purging!!! I did 85% of the purging. My husband really only did his computer room. I even set aside his clothes and our tools that I wasn't sure about.
ReplyDeleteFor Bob it was getting rid of his extensive Star Trek collection. For Jo it was going through the house after the estate sale was setup.
ReplyDeleteIt was worth it.