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08/22/2006 Archived Entry: "Downsizing"

Downsizing

Raving Reporter Thunder here.

It's done. Lightning and I have officially moved. I'm quite sure there are people we work with and family members as well that all think we're nuts. Heck, I sometimes wonder if we are myself. It's hard to explain to people why you're selling your house when they've been taught for years that equity, a mortgage and owning a home are the best things ever. They find it extremely difficult to grasp the concept that owing more than you make isn't a good thing. When you are in debt, you're owned by the lender. There's no way around it. We've developed an entire culture around the concept of borrowing money from each other for things that we can't afford and probably don't even need.

Speaking of things we don't need, in the process of moving, Lightning and I held a yard sale. We were able to sell a lot of rather large furniture items as well as a large amount of the little trinket type stuff; the usual yard sale fare. We thought we'd make around $200-300. We ended up making about $600. And all of it was stuff we didn't need and had accumulated over the years. If we were able to sell all this stuff for $600, imagine what it cost us brand new?!? Imagine the money we'd have right now if we hadn't spent it all on that stuff that we didn't need in the first place? Sure, the paintball gun and plastic scale models were fun at the time, but did I really need them?

We still have too much stuff. We moved into an RV in an undisclosed location and with the addition of an 8x10 storage unit, there's not a whole lot of room for extraneous junk. Slowly, we're getting settled in. We're still wondering little things like: "Where in the Hell did we get so many laundry baskets and why won't they go away?" or "How do you work this awning thingy?" but we're learning daily. We've rediscovered the wonders of the gas stove after slaving over an electric one and marveled at the efficiency of an RV toilet. Our internet access is a bit splotchy at best, hair-pullingly frustrating at it's worst.

Is it easy? No, but it's not as bad as you think, either. We're one step closer to a gulch of our very own. We no longer have a mortgage to worry about, our "house" will be paid for soon and we'll be able to use it while we build the gulch house. I'm also going to pay off my truck and get us almost completely out of debt. It's a win-win for us. No one said it was going to be easy, but damn, it sure is going to be exciting!

Freedom is the key: to life, love, and the spirit. And, we just made a huge leap forward down our personal paths to freedom.

Posted by Thunder @ 05:24 PM CST
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