Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Dylan & Dee Dee Homeless?
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It's true. It's been a busy week. But now after living in Castine, Maine for almost 21 years, we've put our house on the market and are planning to live on the boat full-time.
We've started the process of getting rid of everything we've collected over 29 years of marriage. Some things were just put out on the yard with FREE signs and we've managed to sell a bunch of exercise equipment and office furniture on craigslist.
As for Dylan and Dee Dee, so far they only know that from time to time they're hustled out of the house to ride around town in the Jeep or sit on the town dock. Frankly, they think they could do a much better job of showing the house than some real estate agent (whatever that is...). Well, Dylan could anyway. They'll have more to say about the experience as things progress and we all transition to being fully onboard without any land base.
65' Florida Bay Coaster
Leaving Castine
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We were saddened to lose our beloved senior canine crew member Dyna on May 14, 2013. She will never be forgotten and will always be in our hearts. We remember her on the masthead picture of her and Dylan as they began their TakingPaws adventures. You can share a glimpse of her extraordinary life onboard in the TakingPaws archives or her memorial posting.
Garmin inReach
Red Head
65' Florida Bay Coaster
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19 comments:
Hi,
There is another avenue of "getting rid of stuff" called: FreeCycle.com, and was born out of the idea to give away stuff rather than dumping it to a local landfill.
Each area has it's own rules, but the most generous one is the ability to OFFER stuff for free.
Good Luck in your plan execution!
Bob
When we moved aboard landfall, we went the auction route for most of the good stuff, donated the rest. It is kind of fun to see the things you find valuable go for a pittance and the stuff you consider nearly junk get fought over in a bidding war.
Best of luck with the transition. It is exciting closing one chapter of your life to start another. Enjoy it!
Congratulations on taking the plunge! We took the first (baby) step 3 years ago with a major downsize and haven't looked back. Being free of a large property and purging the trappings accumulated during 30+ years of wedded bliss was quite liberating. We are now free of encumbrances like large property tax and insurance bills, maintenance and upkeep costs (and worry) of maintaining a large property. And the best part is now a terrific family is getting to enjoy the wonderful home where we raised our children!
Many family and friends have asked if we ever "miss the old place" and our reply is always the same-- not for a minute. We will always cherish our memories of that season but enjoy every moment of our new found freedom!
P.S. tips for the purge -- We gave many items such as old fixtures and building supplies to Habitat for Humanity's Habitat ReStore. What didn't sell in the yard sale went to the local mission. We also found that posting "free" signs on items on the curb worked surprisingly well. You can always post free items on Craig's list as well -- Good Luck!
Friends on the Water ~
We made the same decision and, while we know we will go "feet dry" again some day, it was and still is the right course for us after six years of cruising the eastcoast and Bahamas. Welcome home !
We met you in Southport NC a while back and hope to cross wakes with you again some day.
Bob & Jane Fulton
s/v Voyageur
bfulton106@aol.com
www.sailblogs.com/member/voyageur
So encouraging to see your post. We just took Step 1 in this same process by posting the For Sale sign on our house this past Saturday. I keep telling myself, as we winnow and winnow, 'it's just stuff.'
Will follow your adventure eagerly.
Wow!! Congratulations on making the decision to go full time on the water. I'll be interested is reading whether you have any regrets, but I somehow doubt it. And if all your "stuff" is not already gone, I agree with Bob's suggestion to try FreeCycle. We used it when we down-sized, and were amazed at the gratefulness of almost everyone who came to accept what we no longer needed.
Been there, done that. Just donate, donate, donate. Don't forget to ask for a receipt as you can use it for tax purposes. Good luck.
I'm engaged in the same transition, although without having purchased the boat yet. The heirlooms have all gone to the kids, so that was easy. What I find hard to part with are my tools. A lot of them are antiques, and almost all of them are far better built than their modern equivalents. It amounts to tons of stuff - literally.
We are going through the same decisions and have posted about it on our blog: www.creampuff.us
For us, the plan was always to be homeless as we are not sure where we want to settle down after our travel adventure.
We too have lived in our house for 20 years. We are prepping to set sail for the Bahamas in November/December.
Dissolving land life was much harder than we imagined and has taken twice as long.
Mark and Cindy
s/v Cream Puff
We just completed purging everything and moving fulltime onto our boat in May. During the process we referred to it as having our estate sale while we were still living. Had the family take all the items that we would have wanted them to have when we are gone. Sold and donated the rest. It is really nice to nothave any bills.
Mike & Lisa
s/v Fat-Dash
We just sold our home. This weekend we begin doing exactly what you will be doing.. storing those few pieces of furniture and art work. How are you storing your art? We have large paintings done by Michael and large metal art done by Navajo and Zuni Indians. We secured climate controlled storage but do we need to wrap or cover the art? Some will fit in bins. Thank you. JLee
JLee,
Check out uline for specialty storage boxes: http://www.uline.com/
Mark and Cindy
s/v Cream Puff
Homeless? I think NOT ... Home is where the pup stars are!!
WOW - i should have seen that one coming, but did not. This is awesome news!! Beth,
I agree about FreeCycle but the correct URL is FreeCycle.ORG
Richard Nelson
Oriental, NC
Trees in Castine already changing color? Anyhow, will you keep 'Castine Maine' as the home port on aCappella's transom?
- or maybe 'Earth' ?
- or how about 'Here' ?
- or possibly 'TBD' ?
Castine will miss you but be assured that a mooring awaits anytime you can swing by.
- Sheila and Bill
Homeless? Not really, "Home is where the heart is" and that travels with you.
Jack
S/V Azure Te
RH 43
Sausalito, CA
Our problem is not the furniture but all those mason jars. We grow our own veg and raise our own meat here for the year ahead. Taking our self sufficient life-style aboard the boat is going to be a challenge. Getting rid of my 2 horses is also going to be very hard. Best of luck and looking forward to your updates. Jim & Beryl
Charlie says he understands Dylan and Deedee's frustration having just gone through the same fate. He was so very happy to finally be on the boat full time. Good luck with the house sale. See you on the water sometime in the future.
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