“A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.” ~ George Carlin
Living aboard a boat or in a tiny house. That thought crosses lots of peoples’ minds, apparently. It’s a beautiful, romantic thought. But then comes another thought – not as romantic. That second thought is about your stuff. It is paralyzing to think about dealing with all the accumulated stuff that life has piled on you throught the years. At least, that’s how it seemed for me. We had lived in the same house for 22 years. When I say the amount of stuff we had accumulated was overwhelming, that is a huge understatement. Every closet, it seemed, was full of things kept “just in case” or for sentimental reasons. And so many duplicates! Did I really need four pairs of red heels? Three slightly different 1.5 quart saucepans? Why did I have four bottles of soft scrub? Who knows? But that kind of excess wasn’t going to cut it on the boat; I knew that.
So, how to begin the process? For me, it ended up having two phases: One, a leisurely, one-small-bite-at-a-time, year-long effort, approached with the ambition of someone under no time constraints whatsoever (read: no ambition, really…) and the other, a three week mad dash like my hair was on fire, ending with hauling a trailer containing all the things that remained to the boat to move aboard. I recommend a more balanced approach. Your blood pressure would thank you, I am sure! Read more