Packin' Up & Movin' On

[Yamaki]

The time has come to take the next step in life so we will be packin’ up and movin’ on from Oregon to Arizona in the next few months, looking for a new lifestyle and a new adventure. There is supposed to be a fifth wheel, some travels, some Snowbird like migrations and the like soon.

I’m sure there will be surprises along the way but if I try and plan this change to the utmost detail I’ll never make the move and that just won’t do.

Long winded and obtuse me decided to chronicle this new adventure and share it with all here. What a lucky bunch you are.

But what happened that led me (us) to such a decision?

It is funny how things start to pile up on you after years of stability. In our case, it all starts with a big change that occurred a couple of years ago. I retired after 37 years with the power company in late 2017. I took some time off but was lured back into the workforce by the offer of a six-figure salary assisting a high-tech company with a $3.5B construction and commissioning project. Now that the project has ended I’ve decided a simpler life in a sunnier climate will suit me just fine.

Working in today’s corporation is no fun anymore. Maybe that’s a function of my becoming old and cranky. I don’t know if that's it or not but I do know I found myself with little patience and even less desire to continue to make my way through today’s corporate culture. I will not be going back to work as I don’t need to and I certainly don’t want to.

Broaching the subject with the better half was intimidating. But she surprised me. She got on board quickly and began talking about all the exploring and traveling we could do. Of course, we’ll be back in the Pacific Northwest most summers with our tiny house in tow visiting friends and familywith some exploring thrown in which we never seemed to have time for while working for a living.

So once the decision was made, the downsizing began. Do you have any idea how much stuff you can accumulate in 30 some short years??? Its mind boggling, a bit intimidating and it is difficult to figure out where to start.

So we approached the problem by taking it one room at a time. I can assure you that doing it in a helter-skelter fashion, flitting from one room to another without completely dealing with the room you are in, is NOT the way to work this.

I am not a pack rat but I am married to one. Our start to the sorting was filled with comments like, “I need to keep that. I might need it one day.” “Oh no, we can’t sell that. It’s unique.” “Put that in the keep pile. I got it from my Great Aunt when I was 6 years old and I might need it one day.” See the pattern here?

Most of the stuff has been in the same boxes it was packed in when we moved to Oregon from Wyoming over 25 years ago. Well, if we aren’t using it maybe someone else can. It's sort of a movin' on process I hadn't really considered until it was time to get on with it.

Finally, the pack rat got the message, saw the necessity and became ruthless when making her decisions. Things are moving along pretty quickly now. I had my own struggles with some of my possessions but applying the very same logic helped me move past that.

Selling the SRT8 Chrysler still stings a bit, though. But we’ll have no place to keep it and storing it outside in the Arizona summers would have been a disservice to an otherwise excellent car. So it now resides with new owners.

And don't get me started on the tool boxes, firearms, workbenches and assorted man stuff. More tough decisions on what to keep and what to let go of are in my future.

Of course, the audio systems will remain intact and they will move to our new location. You see, one of my new abode selection criteria is to have the room necessary for those systems and that criterial is not negotiable. Oh, the Mrs. has her own criteria so having a checklist for home selection is supremely important to both of us.

But the sorting and decision phase is moving forward and we’ll focus on that for now.

So, there will be more to share later. All we ask is that you take pity upon our poor souls.

[Cohibaman]

Plain and simple, moving sucks! Especially if you’ve been at there a while. But it sounds like you two have come up with a decent plan on how to attack it. Congratulations and best of luck! When’s the moving sale?

[crwilli]

Exciting times Michael! Good for you to make this decision to move to your next phase. I was where you are a couple of years ago. Good luck to you and your wife. New surroundings Are exciting and frustrating at the same time. Keep us informed of your progress! There is grass on the other side of the road.

[Still-One]

Michael
When I cleaned out my mothers home after she passed many years ago I told our son that he should come and p___ on my grave if I accumulated crap like that. I try not to collect much of anything and have been very good at going through the house over and over getting rid of things that haven't been used recently.

[W9TR]

Michael,
I was in the same place in 2016 as you are now. I decided I didn't want to train several new bosses and stay in a corporate culture that was changing for the worse. It's not just you getting cranky - everyone I left behind is in various states of unhappy.

So Kelly and I moved from Minnesota to Colorado and into a new phase of our lives. We thought we downsized enough to move easily into our new smaller mountain home. Boy were we wrong. We got rid of half of our 'stuff' in Minnesota, but it wasn't enough. We still had to sell about 1/4 of what we moved to Colorado. It was a real eye-opener.

I combined a dedicated 5.1 home theater and dedicated 2 channel audio system into a single space - shedding a lot of gear in the process and leaving some behind with the house. What we have now looks and sounds better than it ever has.

So continue to be ruthless, it pays in the long run. I think about our kids having to sort through all this crap someday - so the less the better.

Tom

[tweet]

Michael,
Congratulations, my friend! We're in the same mode. Look forward to reading about your progress.

[Weirdcuba]

The status to which I aspire (just a few years now).

[Antonmb]

Michael, congratulations and best wishes for the new adventure, and thanks for sharing it with us. My wife and I have had the discussion about downsizing and moving to a more manageable space in warmer climes, but haven’t gotten anywhere yet, so I’ll follow your progress with interest.

[For The Love of Music]

Change is good, enjoy your next chapter!

[edkoz]

My wife and I are going through a similar process. After many years of acquiring lots of stuff that we thought the "kids" would love someday, we have come to realize they don't have ANY interest in any of our treasures. So we have begun a house wide purge! It really does feel good
Ed