One of the most significant changes from a land-based life to cruising will be moving into approximately 100 square feet of living space aboard Kaleo. Fortunately the backyard will be the size of an ocean.
This week we made a significant decision that will help us better prepare for the move aboard and more importantly, help us rightsize our life. We are moving from our 1,400 square foot town home to a 650 square foot studio apartment.
We’re betting that life will be just fine with less. Less to distract, less to clean, less to maintain, less to worry about. And most importantly “less” will allow us to focus on the “mores” in life. More time together, more chances to experience the world, more money to help others, more focus on the joys of life.
Here are a few tips we’re learning in our rightsizing adventure:
- Have a friend or family member help you. They don’t have the emotional attachment or remember the price you paid for something that you never use.
- Make a deadline (moving helps that) in which you have to reduce the stuff in your home by 30%.
- Start treating space as a commodity rather than your things.
- Before you buy something, decide where it will go. Loving it in the store doesn’t usually translate to loving it three years later when it’s stored in an overcrowded closet.
- Shop your living space. Would you re-buy that chair? That lamp or rug? If not, it might be time to release it and not replace it.
This process may sting a little now but we believe this intermediate step will be an easier adjustment than going from 1400 to 100 at once. Gotta get back to packing and Craiglisting.
