Making Preparations

Right now we are in the preparation stage. We have read blogs and magazines and articles, we have watched instructional videos and documentaries. We have daydreamed and talked for months upon months on end. And now, here we are.

The first challenge for us, is to let go of our dependence on material possessions.

We uncluttered the house Six months prior, selling a large amount of items on TradeMe and donating many others to charity shops, and now we are doing the same again. Our goal is two-fold - less items to have to move with us, and less items to have to put into storage.

My office is crammed with boxes of unwanted books, ornaments, clothes and even antiques.

We shall keep the things that are not up for negotiation: Our beds, for example, or the armchairs, dining table and chairs etc etc. Specifically, we wish to bring our possessions right back to the fundamentals and, again, start from scratch.

Eliminating shelves and cupboards has been liberating. Once they were gone, we were left with a plethora of items with nowhere to go. The purpose of shelves is to put stuff on them - just like cupboards exist to be filled. Reduce your storage space and you will find you reduce your stuff too. Shelves and cupboards only justify the existence of material posessions.

At this stage we can fit everything we own now into a 20m3 rental truck and make the move in one trip!

The cost of moving shall be, at this point, about $600 all up (thats including bond and insurance on rental truck). Same price as making four car trips, but much more convenient. Let's see what tomorrow brings.