Stuff, junk, clutter and crap accumulated over the years has made us the happiest of people. Did I just say that? Over the past four years we’ve found that living without mountains of stuff is far less stressful, far cheaper, and allows us to be wherever we want, whenever we want.
When we embarked on our round-the-world trip on October 18th 2013 we gave our larger furniture items away and crammed the rest into a 10’x12′ air conditioned storage unit in South Florida. Assuming it would only be there for around a year we paid the amount in full, then year two came and we paid again, then years three and four, and we kept on paying. Eventually totaling well over $4000 it was time to call it a day – it was sickening knowing that we could have given everything away at the beginning, moved our personal belongings to Andrea’s family, and bought new stuff when we eventually returned. Over the course of a week, and well before our fifth years storage rental was due, we emptied the unit, sold a bunch, gave a bunch away, and uhauled the rest 1000 miles north to Kentucky.
We now have very few things between us, mostly consisting of outdoor gear, bikes, clothes, books, and a few bits that we just cannot let go of yet! It feels totally liberating not having oversized TV sets, display cabinets showing off the crap we’ve acquired over the years, and tacky Chinese ornaments. Contradicting this philosophy there is ALWAYS room for one more bike, one more pair of hiking shoes, and more Goretex!
Early Days!
