5. Downsizing Our Farm 2018
As I look back at my journal entry of 11/27/2016, I’ve got to laugh at my to-do list as it seems so easy:
Get farm ready to sell
Buy a travel trailer (done!)
Sell farm & stuff. Put some stuff in storage.
Live in trailer. Go to coast.
Take sailing lessons!
Buy a sailboat. Live between the boat and trailer, depending on hurricane season.
Maybe eventually settle down again?
Buying our trailer was the easiest thing to do on my list by far. “Get farm ready to sell” was the hardest. The many projects we undertook to have our farm in tiptop shape was physically demanding, but the downsizing our our stuff was mentally draining.
Another journal entry was:
“We are still working on #1: Get Farm Ready to Sell. I think the worst is over (ha ha…NOT), but there is just so much to do, because we have so much stuff! It would be much easier if I were the kind of person who could just throw everything in the back of a pickup and take it to Goodwill, but no. I have three boxes (so far) labeled “Future Grandkids”! (There wasn’t even an inkling of them yet, but I knew they would show up sooner or later). I have art supplies that could go to my daughters or the art teachers at school. I have mementos that I want to give to various friends. So I’m sorting everything.”
When you’ve lived on a farm for over 14 years, you accumulate stuff. Just the equipment and tools necessary to run a farm is daunting. Plus, I love to “treasure hunt” at thrift stores. So downsizing from 160 acres to a trailer that is maybe 260 square feet was quite the challenge! We just kept at it, a little at a time.
House and Farm Projects we completed by Summer 2018:
Ground off the old flaking stucco on the entire outside of our house.
Replaced it with tan Stuccoflex (nice!).
Painted outside trim white and doors Paprika.
Painted laundry room aquamarine.
Painted computer area and stairwell
Removed old tiles from basement floor.
Ground off old black adhesive from basement floor.
Epoxied basement floor (looks so much better!)
Painted two closets
Had a yard sale with the neighbor: what didn’t sell went to Goodwill
I downsized to eight large totes that our oldest daughter is kind enough to store in her basement, saving us the cost of a monthly storage unit. The totes are mostly full of books, photo albums, and mementos. John saved only a shoe box worth of stuff. (He isn’t overly sentimental, obviously!)
Of course these projects were all on top of our full time jobs and taking care of our livestock and hay! I really think the reason I was able to downsize so much was that I didn’t really have a choice if I was going to live the kind of life that I’d envisioned. AND I had a definite ending date. That really helped give me a boot.
John retired 8/14/2017, and I retired 6/13/2018. Woohoo! We’re ready to start our adventures!
Join us in “6. June 2018: Sailing Lessons!”
