#176: The Part Of Downsizing We Did not Expect

We are in Florida (!!!) and we have Plenty to tell you about all that went down on our moving day and throughout our first couple of weeks in our new home. We are covering a lot of ground, like how we made the 13-hour drive feel faster, which of our moving predictions from our last episode came true, and what we truly thought about using those travel pee bags. Plus, getting unpacked and settled into a smaller home has presented some challenges that we did not anticipate, so we are sharing what those were, and why they are giving us a whole new appreciation for this part of the downsizing process. We are also recapping what items we overpacked (even after leaving around 50% of our belongings behind when we moved!) and why those “extra” things are not working in our new house.

You can also find this episode on your go-to podcast listening app, like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.

What is New

• You can see our live Instagram updates from our moving day saved to the “Moving Out” story highlight on our IG profile (moving day starts about halfway through the highlights)
• And while you are there please also check out our “Make Change” highlight for some slides sparked by the murder of George Floyd, where you can find some concrete and specific ways that you can assist.

• The picture above was our parting shot of our old house in Richmond, taken as we pulled out of the driveway early in the morning on our moving day.
• Our drive to our new home in Florida ended up being about 850 miles and 13.5 hours long, but felt remarkably fast thanks to some of the tricks we used to celebrate several milestones along the way (every hour passed, every 50 miles covered, and each new state that we entered).
• Sherry also mentioned the magnetic license plate game that our neighbor handed down to us before we left, which was a big hit. Here is a cheaper sticker version too (only $5!) that has other road-trip activities as well.

• And of course, here is a link to the Travel John portable “pee bags” that turned out to be a big success on our trip. They helped us fully avoid public restrooms during the pandemic and also cut down our travel time significantly.
• If he or she makes a reapprance, we will do our best to snag a pic!

Updates: Astrocartography

• If you missed our original discussion of astrocartography, you can find it in “That Time A Psychic Came To Our House” (Episode #174)
• Also, if you want to contact Pati Carlson you can find her at – ready for it? – paticarlson.com. We will be sure to update you once she has completed Sherry’s analysis!
• Or if you’d rather simply see where a “celebrity astrologer” says each star sign should reside, you can check out this article that we discussed in today’s episode. Sherry’s is fairly accurate – mine not so much.

The Unexpected Side Of Downsizing

• Even though we pared down A LOT before we left Virginia, unpacking everything into our smaller Florida home was still a challenge – and the scene above was fairly much how the first 10 days or so looked around here as we found places for things.
• Besides getting all of our storage furniture unpacked (dressers, bookshelves, etc) it was a big assist to install some systems so the few closets that we have can be a lot more high-functioning. Like adding this plain twin-rail shelving system into our hall linen closet. We will likely build in some more permanent wood shelves eventually, but we did not want to commit to specific shelf heights yet, so this straightforward & adjustable shelving kit worked like a charm.

• Our laundry closet was also totally empty when we arrived (apart from the washer & dryer sitting on the floor) so one of our first builds was creating a floating countertop on top of the washer & dryer and adding some pleasant deep shelves above them using plywood and pine 1x2s” (in short a swift and dirty version of our pantry shelves).

• The counter & shelves that we brought in are still raw wood for now, but we may end up simply sealing them (not painting them) so they tie into the hardwood floors. Swift note: the countertop not only floats on brace pieces on the wall above the washer & dryer (as opposed to resting on them), but it can also be easily lifted off in the event that we need to access the plugs & hoses.
• And as intense as the last couple of weeks have been for unpacking and getting settled, it feels STRONG to have our POD fully empty and ready for pickup this week, simply as we predicted when we recorded this episode last week. Phew!

We are Digging

• This is one of the mail-order Mother’s Day plants that the kids and I got for Sherry this year so she’d have a few new ones for our new home. I ordered them from The Sill and, while not the cheapest way to get plants in your home, it is comparable to sending someone flowers – plus you get a strong pot and some greenery that will last longer than flowers!

• The two we ordered Sherry were a Bird’s Nest Fern in their mint Prospect pot (above) and a Marble Queen Pothos in their cream Balboa pot (seen below, which you can also order separately without a plant). We were both especially impressed with the quality of everything!

• And I will spare you an image of my new appreciation for bathing, but here is a picture of the plain and affordable tub that we had installed in our Florida bathroom (it is the same as the ones that we used in the duplex, which is pictured below). I can stretch my legs out fully in it!

If you are looking for something we have dug in a past episode, but do not remember which show notes to click into, here is a master list of everything we have been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we have recommended on our Book Club page.

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