In April of 2014, we decided that we wanted to live on a boat. At that point, we weren’t sure which boat, but the sea was calling us and the simplistic life of minimalism and low carbon footprint made a lot of sense to us. We spent so much time on board anyhow, it seemed like a natural fit and perfect next step for us. Plus, we were ready for some adventure, and were extremely inspired by Adam Baker TED Talk by Adam Baker’s TED talk, entitled “Sell Your Crap, Pay Off Your Debt, Do What You Love.”
Then the debates began of whether or not we should live on our current boat at the time- the Mia Alma II. Although a fantastic boat, and built extremely solidly, we decided that her living quarters were too tight for us for a full-time basis. She was 40 feet with a 10 foot beam, and boasted every single trait that is expected from a ‘Blue Water Boat’, which is the kind of boat that can handle open waters with ease and deliver her crew safely on long ocean passages. We realized that in order to make her ‘liveable’ for our needs, we would have to do a refit. This didn’t appeal to us as we didn’t want to change her. She was already pretty perfect and we didn’t want to deface her ‘classic’ look. So, we decided she would go up on the market after we sold our house.
Which brings me to the next part of our adventure, which is really only the beginning- we now had to sell our house and nearly all of its contents. I can tell you from this first hand experience, that deciding to sell everything and move onto a boat is the EASY part. Putting forth the plan to do it is HARD work! (But oh, SO worth it as we know now…more about that to come!)
So, we started selling our excess stuff to make the house more presentable and easier to sell. This took a few weeks and we finally listed our town home at the end of June- albeit with a garage full of ‘stuff’ still! Over the summer, we sold things on Craig’s List, Facebook Pages and donated items that weren’t worth selling to a local charity. Excess dog supplies were donated to the local no-kill shelter. It was a LOT of stuff. Seriously. We were completely blown away by how many ‘things’ we had accumulated over the 10 years we lived in that house. We had stuff in storage that we thought we had gotten rid of…..yikes! So, I worked my butt off every single day and sold around 600 items. Clothing, shoes, toys, furniture, home decor, art work, electronics, you name it. It went. I had people picking things up at the back door. I had people picking things up at the front door…. one pick up after pick up after pick up. It was a lot of coordination and a LOT of time, but it all got done. I barely had a moment to myself during this process, but we did make a point to spend every weekend on the Mia Alma II in Blaine to keep our dream alive and allow us some much-needed down time as well.
I cannot begin to tell you how amazing this process feels once you get into it though! It is an amazing feeling of clean, simplicity to get rid of things you no longer need. It makes so much sense! It feels great when you get a bit of money for something and the person buying the items walks away with a smile on their face- so happy to have found something that they need. For more inspiration on minimizing, check out Becoming Minimalist
Our house sold on September 13, which also happens to be my birthday. It was the BEST birthday present ever. Now we could start coordinating our final furniture sales and start looking for a new boat to live on! Stay tuned!