How it all Started Part 2

 Hi, Welcome Back, if you're new here please go read part 1 before you read part 2. Just so this all makes sense to you. After I posted part 1 I went and read it back. I realized I left out some important details that I figured needed to be written about. 

Lets step back to 3 years away from retirement. As I said before we knew we wanted to move. We hated living where we were. We loved the house and the property but that was it. Looking around the house we constantly see "Stuff" stuff we both had held onto for years. Some of it was from before I moved into this house and some Deb brought with her when she moved in. It was just random stuff that we never used and had no desire to bring it with us when the house sold. So as we continued working on the renovations we began decluttering.  

At first it was easy to give away items. It seemed like every day we were going through boxes and bags, cabinets and closets. Pulling out things that we had not used in a very long time. We became regulars at the Goodwill drop off center. The more we got rid of the better we felt. Its funny how "stuff" can mentally weigh you down. 

Moving into 2 years out from retirement it got worse.... for Deb. We decided to start trying to sell some of the stuff we didn't want on Facebook marketplace. And put the money we made back into the renovations. IT became a game in some ways for me. I remember one day I was at home and Deb was at work.. I was constantly texting her photos of stuff I had ALREADY posted on marketplace. Or texting her saying I had sold something. But she didn't even know I was selling it. The one night she text me back and said " is there anything left in the house??? do I need to start nailing things down so you don't sell everything???

One year out from retirement. Now we really got serious about getting ride of stuff. Up to this point we both had sorted through our clothes about 6 times. Giving items to Goodwill that we hadn't touch in months. The house was really looking empty.  We gave away the kitchen table to one of the kids. Other stuff in the house had tape on the bottom with the name of one of our kids so we didn't forget who it was going to. Forgetfulness happens with old age. ;)

Six months away from retirement and the renovations are almost done. Or we thought it was at this point that we started packing stuff we wanted to keep for sure. Items where carefully wrapped and put into bins. it was funny, one day we where talking about selling the freezer that we had. 10 mins later it was empty and posted on market place.  It became that easy for us to get rid of stuff.  We had our mind set on our goals and nothing was going to stop us from reaching them. 

Two months from retirement. Now things got intense. I had taken the last 2 months off of work. now that's another story in itself. So I was at home 24/7. Working on renovations constantly. It crunch time. Somehow we needed to get the house done, finish packing and figure out how to get everything we wanted to keep into the bed of the truck and our 33' RV. we had more stuff packed then we could take. So it was back to sorting. We opened up every bin one at a time. We condensed 3 bins down to 2. 4 bins down to 1. We made huge progress. And Finally.... FINALLY!!!! the house was done and would be on the market the Tuesday after Easter. 

Here we sit today with 5 small bins in the RV and 2 more full of tools in the back of the truck. As we pulled away from the house that last time. Everything in this world that we owned was packed into the truck and RV. Its crazy for us to think back and remember how much we did to get to where we are right now. Going from a 828 sq. ft. mobile home down to a 294 sq. ft. travel trailer. It really makes you think..  

Now I challenge you.. look around your house and think to yourself.. Do I really need all of this stuff?  Decluttering is truly good for the soul. 

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with us. Check back for part 3

Ken

How It All Started

 Well where do I start to tell this crazy story of how we ended up here. The only way I can think of doing it is by giving you most of the story dating back to 2017.

Halfway through 2017 I found myself starting over on my own. I bought an old run down mobile home in a mobile home park not to far from where I worked. It was a dump, but it was my dump and I was going to turn it into my little castle. With a lot of blood sweat and tears, literally.  

A couple short months later I met this amazing person and we became inseparable. The more we grew as individuals the more we grew as a couple. The amount of things we had in common was insane. We both had a love for nature, wildlife and exploring. We constantly found ourselves on some gravel back road with no idea where we were. Oh look. there is a T intersection, flip a quarter, left or right. and off we would go.

As time went on the house renovations where progressing, we had managed to completely renovate over half of the house without killing each other and staying together as a couple. It was about this time that we both figured out that we didn't like living there. We had some really odd neighbors. Everyone seemed to know our business even though we kept to ourselves. We became the talk of the park. We were constantly being watched. Have you every heard the song by Virginia to Vegas titled Lights out? well we lived it for 8 years. It was around this time that we started making our "exit plan" I was 5 years away from retirement. 30 years in at the same place and only 5 more to go.  We had several ideas from traveling fulltime in the RV to moving to a tropical island. Nothing was out of the question but we knew we didn't want to keep living in the spotlight.

Traveling full time had always been a goal of mine. Its a big world we live in, and staying in the same area seemed very routine to me. I get bored easily and need to stay busy. So we started making plans to be nomads. I had planned out the solar system we would need to power the RV off grid. And Deb started doing research on all the places we wanted to stay and things we wanted to see. Then all of the sudden THE BUG of 2019 hit. Then it seemed like traveling would be impossible. Over the years I started watching full time RVs on YouTube and I seen them all struggling with the lockdowns and no place to go. So we morphed our plans into having some land as a home base in Canada and traveling south in the winter. Well.. that went out the window as THE BUG disappeared. Higher gas prices and stricter rules, just didn't seem like a game we wanted to play.  Back to the drawing board we went... again.

By this time I'm 2 years away from retirement. Deb had always dreamed of living off grid on a homestead and producing her own food. For me, well I have had a green thumb since I was a chid and love playing in the dirt. The more we talked about it the more interested I became. We started looking at vacant land all over Canada. From Alberta to Northern Ontario to the East Coast. That was it... the plan was set in stone, an off grid homestead it was. Now just figuring out where was the next hurdle. 

Now we are 1 year out from retirement. The house is almost fully renovated and we are more determined then ever to make our goals come true. We have been telling family and friends for the last 2 years that " once I retire we are moving" and we started to downside our belongings and de clutter.  

March came around and we were almost done renovations. We kicked it into high gear and worked tirelessly on completing the house. By the end of April all of our hard work had payed off. The house was done and listed. Now just to find the right buyer, and hide from the craziness that we lived among until we could leave. A long boring 7 weeks came and went. We had been so busy getting the house done, now to sit and watch the grass grow was diving us crazy. The 8th week rolled around and our agent called. We have another showing tomorrow.... ok here we go again we thought  another showing, another person just looking. But to our surprise, 6 hours later we had a verbal offer, the next morning we had a signed offer and 5 days to finish packing and be out. So much for being bored. 

Thanks for reading part 1 of our story. Part 2 is coming soon

Ken