Al McCullough, and his wife Shelly, made a bold move a couple of years ago. They sold almost everything they owned and moved to a foreign country. They also started a blog about their journey. Today, I visit with Al McCullough from the blog, Sell All Your Stuff.
If you’ve never visited Sell All Your Stuff, I encourage you to check it out as soon as you read this post. Just go to www.sellallyourstuff.com.
Could You Sell All Your Stuff?
Al and Shelly McCullough started their blog in July, 2015, after a bold move. Al said it wasn’t without some forethought and planning, but the couple sold everything and moved from their homeland of Canada to Panama. That move prompted Al to write his first book. That led to the blog, Sell All Your Stuff.
When I asked Al if it was hard to let go of all the stuff, he said that in the end it’s about:
What you can do without having stuff hold you back.
Throughout our talk, Al McCullough kept emphasizing “experience.” He told me that when you let go of all the stuff, you can put an emphasis on new experiences. Experience is something Al and Shelly know a lot about.
The Fine Art Of House Sitting
I’ve always heard that one can travel the world while housesitting. But it can’t be that simple, right? Wrong. It’s easier than you’d think.
After a short time in Panama, Al and Shelly discovered that many of the ex-pats there needed help. They wanted someone to watch their pets and houses while they traveled. So Al and Shelly started house sitting. Al said they just kind of fell into it. But it doesn’t end in Panama. The McCulloughs were able to travel from Panama to British Columbia, Canada as house sitters.
Currently, the McCulloughs are living in Vancouver BC as house sitters. In over two years, Al said that they’ve only spent about 30 days not house sitting. That sounds like a pretty cool way to live.
Al Mccullough On Minimalism And Money
During our conversation, the term minimalism came up a couple of times. Here’s what Al said,
We’re not minimalists, we just live a minimalist lifestyle.
This is something that Al an I have in common. We both get a little annoyed with the rules that seem to get tagged to minimalism. He told me that a minimalist lifestyle isn’t about owning a certain amount of items or living in a tiny house. Living the minimalist lifestyle is about living with less so that we can experience more. Sounds good to me.
Al also mentioned that they have fewer bills since selling their stuff and moving abroad. This brought up the topic of money. “How can you live without a job?” I asked.
Although Al and Shelly own and rent out a few properties, the rent simply covers the mortgage payments. Other than those mortgage payments they have very few bills. They saved their money before their adventure and occasionally take on short-term jobs along the way. They also continue to write books and develop their blog as a source of income.
What About Kids And Stick Figures?
So all this traveling around the world is great for single people and couples without kids, but what about those of us with kids? Is it out of the question? Actually, the McCulloughs have met several couples with kids living the lifestyle. Al said it’s not too hard when there are so many opportunities for online work and homeschooling.
When you visit Sell All Your Stuff, you’ll notice something that most blogs don’t have: Stick-figure art. When Al first started the site, he wanted to do something different. So rather than using stock photos, which is the norm for most blogs, Al started experimenting with cartoon art.
Using software from paint.net, Al spent hours designing his first cartoon. The stick figure stuck, so he continues to create new artwork for each blog post. Pretty cool!
New Stuff At Sell All Your Stuff
When I asked Al about the future of Sell All Your Stuff, he told me that he’s just completed a new book, Sell All Your Stuff And Declutter Your Life. He said that they’ve also considered becoming partners with other minimalist sites to develop a new e-course. And finally, he’s got another book in the early stages.
Sooner or later it’s good to settle back down. Al and Shelly are considering settling back down in Western Canada. That means they’d have to get a moderate amount of stuff again. And that would be the theme of the next book. He said it would be something about reintegrating stuff back into life, how to focus on the things we really need and stay simple.
More About Al & Shelly In Their Own Words
We are Shelly and Al McCullough and back in 2014 we made a huge change in our life. We sold all our stuff, quit the cubicle, and moved from Canada to Panama.
We were never the type to accumulate a lot of stuff, and we often had yard sales just to purge stuff we no longer used and/or wanted. Every spring and fall we would go through our closets and figure out what stuff we didn’t wear so we could donate it and get rid of stuff.
Prior to our move, we sold EVERYTHING. And after a year of living abroad an opportunity presented itself for us to travel. So we sold everything…AGAIN!
And all that stuff brought us here. SellAllYourStuff.com was created to help others that want to lead a minimalist lifestyle. With eBooks, worksheets, and firsthand experiences galore, you may want to start selling your stuff right away.
I encourage you to take a few minutes and learn more about Sell All Your Stuff.
