It's Official! We sold our house!

October 14. It’s Official. We signed the papers. Two years ago we made the commitment to sell our house and open a new chapter in our book of life, and our future. We retired, and got our house “ready” to sell. In two years we repainted in and out, fixed many issues, installed new doors, and baseboards.

But truly, the biggest and most difficult task that we undertook was going through 30 years worth of family items. Everything from clothing, memorabilia, children's toys and clothes, photographs, the cute “things” we have collected, cooking items, office accessories, the list goes on and on. We donated MANY things to donation/collection stores and bins of items we didn’t use, or didn’t need anymore. Several yard sales of items that seemed to have more worth than just donating. Giving items to friends and family, and most difficult, finding a new home for all my indoor plants and garden plants. Also going through “hobbies” that once occupied my time turned to, “do I keep or give away?” And of course our animals. We had 11 cats, tried to rehome one, but that ONE didn’t even work out, so moving the cats half way across the country where my sister has been helping us take care of them. But the hardest of all was rehoming my dog. Not because I didn’t want her anymore, but because ever since her partner died, she had been visibly depressed for over a year. My best friend had just lost her shepard, and she wanted an older shepherd to fill that hole in her heart. It was a great alternative to living at our house all alone or going to a kennel when we went overseas to see our kids. My friend adopted another shepherd cross, and my dog now has a family that is with her 24/7 with another dog to play with. Yes, it left a hole in my heart, but I hear about how great she is doing all the time, and my heart is filled with joy that she is happy too. Her happiness is more important than mine.

Top 8 things that were hardest to give away when downsizing:

Clothing that you may wear if…..

Presents given by an important person in your life,

Heirlooms passed down, that you really don’t have interest of

Family pictures that you don’t know who they are anymore

Your childhood memorabilia

Your children’s memorabilia

Your marriage memorabilia

Craft or hobby Items you used once a year, but will use again, maybe, canning tubs, and jars, soap making, models

But here is the BONUS: Now my children don’t have to go through and make these

difficult decisions of what to get rid of once I pass on.

A difficult task is clearing out your parents' apartment or home once they die. Not only are you dealing with the loss and arrangement of the loss, but now you need to decide what you are going to do with all their belongings. And if you have a parent who keeps EVERYTHING, it is even more difficult. We didn’t want our children to have to return to their childhood home, deal with losing a parent, or both, and having to clean out the property, sell the home while in college, or working, having their own family and children and take on the extra burden. Among many reasons we decided to sell our house, this was a really big one for us, because both Will and I had to deal with cleaning out our parents' things from their homes. It was costly, time consuming but most important, it was emotionally draining. Our children were not interested in keeping our home, or resettling back into their childhood home, there was no reason for us to keep the home. So many reasons, but still a difficult decision.

We are now untethered. Untethered to a burden of responsibility we no longer

were able to care for as we grew older.

Our children are untethered to the burden of responsibility to ‘clean up

our mess, when we are gone.

We have an open slate to where we live, how we live, with no limitations of home opportunities. It is a strange mindset, and somewhat of a culture shock, as we have been taught 50+ years to have a home, hold onto material goods, and stay in one place….but now at 60+ years old, we now have the opportunity to see

where our “freedom” takes us.

Stay tuned!