The inspection is completed. We’ve negotiated a price. The appraisal is done. A new apartment is secured. Now it’s a waiting game. But there are still plenty of things to do.
As Tom Petty once said, “the waiting is the hardest part.” I agree. I know moving sucks, but I’m ready for the change to be done. I can already envision the new place with some updated furnishings. I’m already thinking about the convenience of living in town, closer to my work and all of my daughter’s activities.
Purging in the Meantime
This move is another step in my journey to live a more simple lifestyle. That means we’re going to get rid of some things. We’ve already had two garage sales since April. We’ll need to have one or two more before July 15. That’s our potential closing date. Hopefully, we’ll be completely moved by then.
Over the years, although I’ve lived fairly simply, I’ve accumulated quite a few antique-store furnishings. My sofa and recliner are now over ten years old. My daughter needs a new bed. So it’s time to sell. I’ll probably be selling 80% of our furniture. We’ll do a few updates in a minimalist style when we move into the new place. That’s going to make the move a lot easier, too. And in the end, we’ll have less stuff.
The Boxes in the Garage
About three months ago, when I first started making plans to sell the house, I started boxing things up. There are about 30 boxes and containers filled with our stuff out in the garage. Guess how many things we’ve missed from those boxes? About four.
That’s right. The majority of the stuff in the boxes have not been needed. Granted, some of those things are winter-based. Others are for camping or music projects. I’ll keep a lot of that stuff. But there are plenty of things that can be let go.
So as well as selling most of the furniture and yard tools, I’ll also be going through some of those boxes to either add to the yard-sale pile, or just give away.
The Journey Continues
As you know, I’ve been working toward writing more at my other blog, www.danerickson.net, and phasing my writing out here. That’s still the plan. Many people have asked me why? After all, this blog gets three to five times the traffic. The answer is simple. Although my journey as a writer, a musician, and creative soul continues, my journey to live with less will be reaching a point of newfound stability.
I started writing about simple living and minimalism here in 2014. People still love my first post here, Take the 10-Step Challenge to Simple Living. That wasn’t just a challenge to my followers, but it was also a challenge to myself. In fact, the mass majority of my posts here at Hip Diggs were self-motivating messages. Hip Diggs has been a sort of journal on my quest to live more simply. Although that quest will never really have an end, I think it is reaching a point of satisfaction.
And so again, Hip Diggs is nearing a resting point. My goal is to reach 500 posts before the end of this year. I’ll continue to document my move and my new apartment-based lifestyle. But after that, I’ll be putting my efforts more into my Dan Erickson blog, Anderhill Music, and my creative writing. But remember, simple living is always part of who I am, so it will always be a core part of my work no matter where I post it.
