Category: Moving

We didn’t bring much with us when we moved to Kaua’i in 2014. Our things barely filled half of a 20-foot shipping container, and that’s with everything wrapped and packed within an inch of its life. In the almost four years we’ve been here we’ve only bought the following items: a washer and dryer, a microwave oven, a small two-shelf bookcase, a nightstand for the girls’ room, a chair for the living room, and a stainless steel worktable for the kitchen. Other than new clothes and replacement electronics, that’s it.

But there is still So. Much. Stuff. Or at least it seems that way.

We’ve got around six months to get rid of all of but a very few things, which will be going into storage in July. We plan to hold a moving sale in early July to get rid of as much of what remains as possible. We started our downsizing last month by cleaning off one set of stainless shelves in the garage and getting them ready to hold items that will be sold at the moving sale. This month I’m cleaning out the hallway closets (which we use for pantry storage), and next month I want to declutter the tansu in the living room, clean out my bedside table, and get started in the kitchen.

Friends Cheryl and Alan bought several pieces of furniture from us when they visited last December. They will be moving here in early summer and our things will get them started on furnishing their Kaua’i home. Our landlord also wants to help up sell some things, and he has loads of contacts around the island. Combined with a big moving sale in early July, we’ve got our fingers crossed that almost all items will be taken care of and gone, and our travel savings total a little larger.

However, before July arrives, there’s an awful lot of stuff around here that we don’t intend to sell but that’s still usable and needs to go. We’ve given ourselves a goal of taking at least one bag to a local thrift store every month. So far we’re on target this month to take at least four bags. The other day I went through and cleaned out the girls’ closet, a veritable gold mine of junk, and filled three of those bags with clothing that’s no longer worn, purses, tote bags, etc. Every day though I try to put at least one thing into the thrift store bags. We’re using up odds and ends of travel-size items we’ve accumulated over the past four years. It took us over two years to downsize for the move over here, but that provided an invaluable experience and a solid roadmap for getting it done now. The most important lesson we learned was we had to work at it every day, even if it was only one thing that got tossed or put on the “for sale” pile.

We’re also trying to downsize food supplies as we go. Although buying in bulk is the way to save here, we’re trying not to buy as much at Costco as we have been in the past. We’re trying to use up supplies on hand, and buy more items individually as they’re needed. We don’t know yet how much it will affect the budget or even if it will.

Both Brett and I are in a downsizing state of mind, and determined not to be stuck with an overwhelming amount of stuff, and lots left to do, when the end of June arrives. For now we’re keeping at it day by day, item by item. Brett is the more ruthless of the two of us, which is a bit surprising because he held the title King of the Packrats for more years than I can remember. I’ll remark that maybe we should keep something and he’ll reply, “let it go.”

And so it goes, or hopefully at least most of it.

We recently moved, about eight miles, from an older house that was being sold to a nearly new home that is MUCH closer to Kapa’a High School. In order to make the move easier on all of us, we paid the deposit and one month’s rent on the new place and gave 30 days notice on the old place. However, with four month’s rent in play, there was nothing left in the budget to pay movers, so we moved what we could daily in our compact car.

Still, beds and large, heavy furniture would remain at the old place for awhile, beds being the most crucial piece of the puzzle because until we had a place to sleep, we really couldn’t stay at the new place. We rented a 9′ van from Uhaul mid-month to accomplish that big task, and maybe, just maybe a second trip. So, mattresses and disassembled bed frames fit in both houses, and in the Uhaul van, but getting them out of the old place—out of the bedrooms, down the hall, then down the 15 steps (15 levels of Hell if you please)—would require some thought, followed by sweat.

Can I do this, by myself? Archimedes, and Pythagoras to the rescue!

A simple turn of the screw(s), and an inclined plane or two were all I needed, besides the sweat and muscle derived from preserving the trails. A year ago I would have told anyone who suggested that I was physically capable of doing a self-move that they were certifiable.

When I picked up the van on Saturday, I was still somewhat doubtful after having disassembled beds the night before. The van was a dream to drive, not too bad on fuel, and tough enough to get out of the way, quickly, and I was able to back it up square (more advanced math) to the bottom step. First to be loaded were the side rails from the wooden bed frames, followed by our Queen-size mattress, which was too heavy to lift. Taking advantage of its span of steps, it went down the impromptu inclined plane rather smoothly, and then went end over end near the bottom to slide up into the van. After that, I loaded the remaining frames, and wooden footboards and headboards, with single mattresses stuffed in between. One of the single mattresses was equipped with four handles; the other was not, so went down the inclined plane and end over into the van, last.

So far, so good. Inclined plane assumed greater meaning at the new place, certainly nothing to sneeze at.

However, once I backed the van up to the top, I only had to move things a short distance across a CLEAN, dry double garage, and up four steps straight into the house rather than twisting and turning, and hanging large heavy things out over a narrow landing in order to get through the door.

Over two subsequent trips I moved the deep freezer, storage chests, dining room table and chairs, lamps, bookcases, dishes, two sets of stainless steel storage shelves, and four very heavy porcelain hibachis, and two rattan chairs from the living room for the lanai at the new place.

All I managed after trucking it all into the house was getting the beds set up, and I don’t even recall what we did for dinner that night. After a shower and a good night’s sleep, I got up and returned the van on Sunday. Upon returning I still had a few more carloads of sundries to move, and some of the rough cleanup to go.

Ultimately, we went another day with the dining table top resting on the floor, but had no trouble getting the girls off to school on Monday. And I heard through the grapevine that they were impressed at how much a man of my advanced years accomplished in a little over 24 hours. Well, it’s easy when you know a little calculus.