Eastern Utah
EMAIL ME AT: mgypsy97 at aol dot com

Friday, February 15, 2013

More on downsizing

I'd like to elaborate a little more on my post yesterday about whether or not to hold on to "stuff" when leaving a sticks & bricks for an RV, or downsizing for any reason.

In 2000 I moved to Ireland where I lived in a rented Irish farmhouse for 3 years.  I didn't know how long I'd be there, so I listed everything I had, including furniture and furnishings, and sent copies of the list to each of my 4 kids.  I told them they could have anything on that list, and they responded quickly.

My oldest son had just moved into an apartment in Tuckahoe, NY and asked for mostly furniture items - a bedroom set, gorgeous maple corner china cabinet, etc.  The ones in CA took a lot of the smaller things that I mailed in lots of big boxes through a shipping company.  I left a few things there in the basement storage area and rented out the condo.

I returned to the U.S. in 2003 and sold my Virginia condo, deciding a few months later to move to North Carolina, where I rented a furnished apartment until I could find and buy a suitable house.  I bought everything new for that house - all furniture, linens, decorations, small appliances, etc.  I loved that furniture, purchased from a local company that had been family owned for decades.  I loved that house and everything in it, and spent 5 happy years there.

Because it was on the side of a mountain in a heavily forested area, I reached the point that I couldn't keep up with the maintenance required no matter where you live, so I decided to sell the house, buy an RV, and live in it full time.  I sold all the furniture and most everything else in the house, leaving personal items in storage in Asheville.  Two and a half years later I didn't feel satisfied with the RV life and ended up in an apartment, and now in a small mobile home, needing furniture. 

That is why I wish I had stored more of my belongings.  Many people who downsize into an RV stay in it for longer than I did, but I gave it a good try and don't feel anything but satisfaction that I did the right thing, selling the house as well as the RV a few years later.  But when I think of the furnishings I had bought and then sold, of course I wish I had them now.

I had a nice visit with Arianna this morning.  We ate breakfast together and then she started pulling toys and more Barbie dolls than you might find at Toys R Us out of the toybox.  She played and I watched mostly.  Anyone who has spent time around little girls knows that the first thing they do when they get a doll is to take the clothes off.  She had me putting dresses back on those silly dolls!  And Ken, oh my.  He was also unclothed until I finally asked her to put his clothes back on him - she handed me the clothes and I had to dress him.  I commented to myself something about him being such a dork, and she looked at me wonderingly and asked me "What's a dork".  I toned it down a bit when I told her about dorks!  Surprisingly she picked up every toy and doll off the floor and put them away, and then I read books to her until my voice was nearly gone.

When Jeannie, Donald and Autumn got back from the field trip they told me that Autumn had lost another tooth that morning.  While we were having lunch, darned if she didn't lose another loose one.  All four of her top front teeth are gone although the two middle ones are starting to come in. 

It's always a great time being with the grandchildren, especially one on one.  I'm a lucky woman.  

6 comments:

  1. You have had a fascinating life and you are also a lucky woman.

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  2. I agree with Dizzy-Dick.

    It took me five separate downsizings before I finally let go of my stuff. As I just wrote you in the email ... my piano was the last to go. I replaced it with a keyboard ~ very light and easy to move and slip under yer bed.

    You called Ken a dork? Gypsy! LOL

    oh, me... what fun you had and again that's why I'm trying to come to grips with my gypsyness. I want it all.

    I'm seriously considering buying a lottery ticket... wouldn't that be something!

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  3. Winning the Lottery has it's problems too. ha ha.......
    So glad you were able to spend time with your granddaughter, she sounds so cute, and has great manners. Wow picking up all her toys. I am sorry about your furniture, wish you had it back too.

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  4. Back in 07 when considering full timing I could never wrap my mind around the idea of simply getting rid of everything. Being a person who had already moved around a lot it just didn't seem logical to dump everything. I always read about full timers selling everything they own & hittihg the road. Fine for them but of course....different strokes for different folks.

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  5. During my husbands career we move around a lot. Some of our "stuff" we sold but most of it went into storage because we knew we would be coming back.We did not have to pay for the move or storage, so it was easy. You are lucky to have the grandchildren close by.

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  6. Yes, Gypsy, if we could only see the future ahead of time, we would
    KNOW what we should do. I do wish you still had the things you loved.

    We witnessed several situations that destroyed any ideas we might have had of full-timing. In Alamogordo, NM, we met a lady who was living in a fantastic late model Class A. She told us that she had been “stuck” there at the KOA for 10 months. Her husband had returned to their home state –Ohio?-to try to get a job to earn enough money to repair whatever mechanical problems that had developed. She was extremely lonely and upset. She had no car; I think he had taken it.

    Then there was the couple from Amarillo that we met in MN. They had sold everything they had; bought a big truck and fifth wheel. Beautiful rig. So they would have more money for gas, etc., they had chosen the retirement option that if something happened to him, she would get nothing. They were so excited about traveling. They had less than 2 years. He had to have heart bypass surgery. They ended up at a campground in Amarillo. She could not/had no intention of/ driving the truck herself. She became very embittered because her dreams were dashed. Her future was living alone in that rig on a small amount of social security.

    There was also the “campground” we came across in OK. A very sad place with several “full –timing” older couples whose lives now revolved around the meals that were served in an old, run/down building that served as the office.
    We decided that even if we could not travel, better to just hang on to what we have.

    As Al said, "different strokes"!!

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