Making the Jump!

I am wanting to move aboard in the next year or two. I did a trial run for three months this summer. As I was doing some work around the house yesterday and I kept thinking how in the hell do I sort and parcel out over 25 years plus of accumulated stuff? Granted it's fairly easy to live aboard while keeping a dirt dwelling but I want to get out of the house. I am not emotionally attached to anything in the house but I am wondering if it worth while to have a yard sale or just have someone like "Purple Heart" charity to just pick it up. I really just don't know where to start!

Get a storage shed. A small one. Put everything like important papers and stuff you seriously might use in the next few years. It takes a little while to get used to living with less. It's not bad, just different.

The first time we went cruising we decided to get rid of everything so we had nothing to hold us back. The only stuff that we saved fit into a 6 by 12 box trailer that we put in storage.
We have plans to go out cruising again but this time we won't sell everything ..it took too long for us to get caught back up to the point we're at now.

The other issue for us is the Admiral has become custom to way too many of the conveniences of home she won't live on a boat full time without a washer and dryer and plenty of space for storage.
As such the size of the boat will have to go up to accommodate these requirements.
good luck on your new lifestyle
Hollywood

Timely thread as we've just started the slow purge ourselves, nowhere near taking the plunge yet though. We have made a conscious decision that retirement living will be far different and decided to start getting used to it 10 years early. Retirement will involve a much smaller house and reasonably sized boat. My garage/shop equipment is the first area I personally am focusing on reducing while the wife is purging the kitchen. It'll be interesting to follow this thread.

After my father died 3 years ago I took on the project of moving my mother from a 3 bedroom house with 2 barns and a large workshop on acreage, to a 1 bedroom apartment in town. A 50 year accumulation of stuff was reduced to a 2 drawer file cabinet and some photo albums. Yard sale was fruitless for getting rid of stuff at any ridiculously low price. I called in a local guy that does estate sales and he made me an offer on everything and everything is what he got.

I got rid of everything 17 years ago and all I've had since is my tools, clothes, and computer. Now, the greater part of what I possess is in boat parts, soon to be ON the boat rather than stored. My Admiral has two 40 ft. sea container loads of stuff, some stored in our garage, some still in Germany, and some in a 20 X 20 storage locker. All this "stuff" costs money, time and stress. Until my Admiral is really ready to make some decisions about separating from her Grandmom's doilies, I'm stuck with all 604 unpacked boxes and furniture items. It has kept us from any serious cruising commitment thus far. We put off our loop till next year, but I'm having doubts about that now.

The part that really pains me about this is if tomorrow was our last day, none of this material would mean anything, but the cruising would.

We reduced our life to a single storage shed. It was hard for Kathy, because she was into house decorating- stuff everywhere!

I got rid of a garage full of tools, air compressors, welders, and more.

The boat is uncluttered, and everything has a place.

Truly, life is wonderful living the "less is more" lifestyle.

Larry I understand, For me, I'm keeping tools, my guns and my Harley. The Admiral on the other hand not so sure. We do have a townhouse that is paid off so that may be an option for keeping a dirt dwelling but I'm afraid that if we do that; one we lose a source of income by keeping it rented out and two the Admiral may not want to stray too far away from home port. The hassle of putting up with the agony of a yard sale I'm thinking just give it away to charity. I noticed from my summer experiment of living on the boat, I did not miss anything from the house, especially the yard work that I had to keep up with.

Yeah, Knothead, but what about her. What did she miss? I'm thinking that if I got her on a loop cruise for a year, she'd realize what a ball and chain that all this stuff is, and finally make the decisions about it. I've already been through this, but that doesn't help. Slowly, she's seeing that these things do pull on her energy, but she still finds it easier to keep the stuff instead of dumping it.

I felt great when the German Movers lost a 20 ft. container of stuff when we retired last year. I know what was in that container, mainly boxes of papers, magazines and books from who knows where. Now, at least I didn't have to move that crap around any more. Then, about 4 months ago, they called. They found it.

Wow! Never realized just how easy I have it Larry. Jennifer is looking forward to the less is more lifestyle as much as I, and in fact is very much leading the charge.

I think the stress she saw me undergo reducing my parents stuff helped us both see the light. We decided it best to leave our boys with a small pile of money and investments than a large pile of knick knacks and furniture. The truly personal items we keep are small, old family albums, bibles with genealogy info and whatnot. Nothing at all large or difficult to carry.

Wow, I can see this is a topic broached by mostly Captains, I think. As an Admiral I wanted to sell or donate everything and completely move aboard a Kadey Krogen Whaleback and cruise into the sunset. My Captain/husband wanted to keep his tools, art work, family antiques, etc. We compromised by selling our large family home and moving into a paid off 2 bedroom bungalow that we previously rented. We have purchased a 36 Kadey Krogen Manatee and we are about to depart on our second adventure. Great compromise and it got us out on the water! Best of luck to you!
Dotty aboard Cool Beans

We were facing the same issue...then came SANDY and solved our problem of what to keep. It was amazing how fast my 8th grade religion award went to becoming a floating piece of debris along with my 300+ record albums etc. Long story short, we don't miss any of it. I remember reading this same issue some years ago and a wise person suggested just to take a photo of your prized items and look at the photos when you want to reminisce.
Good luck!
Bob
KASSIE Manatee 3690

Here is a liveaboard version of the Coot with the galley to port (in lieu of a desk) with washer/dryer and freezer to starboard. It also has an L-shaped dinette with chairs to starboard whereas mine has a large folding table between two settees.

Only you can make the choice of whether to keep things or not. However, if you decide you want to clear the house out, not a yard sale. Instead, get a professional to do an Estate Sale. They'll know market, they have hundreds (sometimes mailing lists in thousands) of regulars they contact. They'll do all the organizing, promotion and pricing. Yes, you do give up a lot of control but they will make you far more money than you can make in your own yard sale. They know what sells and doesn't and the pricing. I've seen then sell the entire home full for 4 to 5 times what you would so even after their 35-40% fees you end up with double, without the work. Also in many cities there are less restrictions on Estate vs. Garage sales.

We don't keep our home for the things in it. We do so to call it home, have all our friends and family visit there, celebrate the holidays with them. We couldn't bring ourselves to cut the tie completely.

We're doing this right now -- although in a smaller boat than most -- a 30 ft Sedan Bridge.
We're both on board with the decision and are cutting dirt ties by selling the house and almost all of the contents. Anything that doesn't fit into the 5x5 storage unit or on the boat is gone or is on its way out the door. We had a lot of antiques filling up our old house and did similar to what CPseudonym did -- called in a local auctioneer, and they bought everything outright.
We're keeping this area as our home base so we can still enjoy what we love about our town, but since we'll have our pets with us and no other ties, we'll be free to cruise as much as we want. We live in a popular tourist area so there's an abundance of condos and beach houses available close to our marina for out of town family and friends to visit when we're here.
We moved the boat yesterday, and we figure we'll have the last of the loose ends finished up to be permanently on the boat within two weeks. The captain is ready to be done with his dirt home maintenance jobs and worries, and I am ready for our next adventure.

Biggest problem for most women....grand kids. My wife and I now live in a 1 bedroom 1 bath SMALL house. This was my plan for getting ready to liveaboard and cruise full time. Would have worked fine except she has a new focus now, the prettiest little girl baby she has ever seen. Maybe they will visit. I'm going.

Wifey B: First, I'm not an Admiral but also a Captain, so can't express Admiral views but can a female's.

Don't force it. Let what makes sense come about naturally. You don't know how it's going to feel. Work up to it. Downsize. Store. Whatever allows you to do it without feeling a sense of panic that you have nowhere to return or got rid of too much. What is right for one person won't be for another. We cruise 2/3 of the time. We love our home. Could we give it up? Heck yeah. But we don't want to. Maybe one day we'll feel different. We've found six weeks to be our ideal time away. Then three weeks home and we boat a third of that time even. Had you asked me two years ago if I could just give it all up and live on a boat and cruise the world, I would have told you sure as heck I can, let's go. I would have been wrong. Maybe it's our age. I don't know. Just know what works and doesn't for us.

And as to grandchildren, if I had any it would be very strange at my age, but if I was older and did, I'd want x amount of time a year with them and I have no idea what that "x" is. But we'd have to negotiate a starting place and see how it worked and go from there. Maybe it's a week with them every three months. I don't have any idea. But saying all or nothing never gets you anywhere.

I've been seriously considering purchasing a rental house across the street from my marina. Rent the house out for profit and keep the detached garage for tools and cars.

I don't have this figured out, but I'm seriously weighing my options.

for us, we pared down most everything large. Furniture, beds, cabinets, etc. We have it down to the point of fitting along one wall of the garage... so, the daughter/grand kids have the house, we use one small part of the garage for storage of the things that were too hard to part with yet. as for larger tools, if you 'loan/share" with the kids they get to use and keep them with the understanding that they will never balk at me borrowing them for projects.
Same with lots of other stuff.

If your kids/grand kids are just starting out in life on their own, what better way to get them started? Most families just starting would love a load of dishes and pots/pans

just a thought