This weekend we researched storage units and moving pods. We want to start (have already started) putting things in boxes that won’t see the light of day until we get to the next place. We bought 20 of these 27 gallon containers that are waterproof and stackable.
The packed containers were starting to crowd Steph out of her office, so we needed a new plan.
After calling around we determined that we were looking at several hundred dollars a month to store our stuff while the house is on the market. Ouch!
But…storage is one thing this house has in abundance. We have four garage spaces. The fourth garage has housed the band’s PA trailer. But that is going up for sale imminently so that space is open for storage. And it’s free!
We moved all of the containers down to the garage yesterday. We still have plenty of space for more containers and furniture.
We want to have as little furniture in the house as possible during showings, so we’ll store any nonessential items in the garage.
Why do we need storage?
Early on our blog posts talked about getting rid of everything. Even our blog’s tagline (moving from a five bedroom house to two suitcases) assumes no possessions. And that is still the goal.
But, as we have mentioned over the last 6 or so months, the kid will be attending college locally, and Gene’s job requires us to be in town for 8 months of the year, so we’ve had to modify our plan a bit for the next few years.
We will be buying another house (we’re not in love with owning again but we couldn’t argue with the math) and will have two living spaces in that house. We don’t know what that will look like: duplex, basement apartment, ADU in the backyard, all are options. It will depend on what is on the market in the spring.
So we’ve stopped getting rid of stuff because we will have two “houses” to furnish. We’re going to hang on to everything until we know where we land and what we’ll need. Then we’ll shop our own stuff and get rid of whatever is left over.
But what if we need something?
We devised a system! Each bin has a number. I take a picture of everything that is going in each box and I label it with the bin number:
Then I put the bin number in a spreadsheet with the room it came from.
If I need something from the kitchen bins I just look at the pictures from those bins until I see what I need. Then I pull that bin and grab the item.
Of course, the plan is not to need anything from these bins until we move. But you know how that goes!
Next week: kitchen renovation after pictures! It’s looking great!
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