This past Thursday, my sister came over and helped me go through a lot of tubs that have been stored downstairs in the basement.  In it, we found uniforms, old collectibles and an entire tub of letters written during Desert Storm.  It's amazing how long it takes to clear out just a little bit of stuff.  I realize now that it will take the entire year to get through all this stuff we have in this house.  I've now spent one entire day scanning in these old letters - they are moldy and disintegrating quickly.  It will probably take me at least one more day to continue and finish this project.

Dave emptied out his tool cabinet and two file drawers.  This is an emotional journey. As we find things we hadn't seen in twenty plus years, the sentiment hits us and takes us back to another time.

But I think that our leaving has begun to hit home.  We had dinner with very special friends last night and talking about it just made it more real.  We are going camping this coming weekend, and we've agreed to look around and talk about how much space we each have to store personal things.  This may seem trivial, but when you have a "master collector" in your marriage, it seems that the actual visual is necessary for them to understand that they can't take everything with them.

I'm so glad my family has been so supportive of us and our decision.  My sister and I talked and we realized now why we don't make good travelling companions.  For me, travel has always been about the experience, whereas she likes to buy things on our travels to remember them buy.  She is a nester, and I'm not.  As a matter of fact, I said last night at dinner that the thought that I don't have to be a domestic diva much longer is so freeing.  I want my little 300 sq foot house and nothing more to take care of.

Driving down the road yesterday, I saw so many people outside in their yards, mowing, weed eating and sweating like crazy.  My thought was, you work all week long to afford that house you're living in.  Then you spend your spare time doing nothing more than maintaining that same house.  What a waste - I'd rather be out living life and enjoying it than to be consumed by things.  I know, to each their own, and I'm not judging.  I've just come to realize that this is not the life that I've ever wanted for myself and now that I'm leaving it behind, all I can do is smile.

Now that we've set a date to leave, Jan 1, 2017, things seem more real.  Our goal is to be out of this house by Oct 2016, so we can redo the floors and put it on the market.  We'll spend the last three months living in the RV.  Not only will this help to sell the house, but it will give our other fur babies, Quincey and Chaco, a chance to get used to living in an RV and not a house before we take off.  I'll have three stationary months to train them to a new lifestyle.

We're excited and scared at the same time.  Right now, though my primary feeling is overwhelmed.  Looking at 29 years of stuff that we have to get rid of can make anyone prone to a panic attack.

One thing I've done is to set up a monthly calendar and set goals of what I want to get done.  Our first priority is to start on the basement and the dozens of tubs we have down there with lord knows what in them.

I've also agreed to sell our bedroom and dining room set to my mom.  My sister will get our printers and record player.  Next up, all books, cd;s and dvd's will go to McKay's to be sold.  This includes the hundreds of travel books that I've accumulated over my years of travel.

I've also scanned in all important documents, such as personal, military and other records that we need to have.  We'll still take our fire box with these papers in them, but I wanted a digital copy of them, as well.  I've also been working on getting all our bills online instead of on paper.

We have our first winter home.  We'll be spending January through March at Avalon Landing in Milton, FL.  We decided on Fl because it was closer to home in case we needed to come back for anything not completed.  We're also moving our domicile to FL.  No state income taxes, tags and license easy to get.  We'll also use the Escapees mail forwarding system for any snail mail.  This fall, we're going to go down for a couple of weeks and check out our winter home and the escapees process.

In looking at how to downsize, I knew last year that one of my challenges would be my love of reading.  I can't make it through a day without reading.  But as fast as I read, buying books in bulk like I used to is not an option.  So, this past Christmas, DH bought me a new Kindle Voyage along with the Kindle unlimited plan for $9.99 a month.  It is truly one of the best investments we ever made.  I am never without my kindle now.  With the unlimited plan, I have over 700,000 titles to read for free, and believe me the selection is great.  I can also read books for sale on my kindle.  It's cheaper than a book and I'm not stuck trying to get rid of the weight.  I never thought I would adjust to not having a actual book in my hands, but I have and I wouldn't go back for anything.  My kindle is a treasure that makes it easy to continue reading on the road.

So far, my biggest challenge is getting DH to understand that he can't take his "Stuff" on the road with him.  Downsizing to him is cause for panic, while for me, it's a great thing.  I see many battles ahead as reality hits him about what he'll have to give up.