It is amazing how much STUFF you can accumulate over time. Luckily for us there are plenty of folks in Portland who are happy to swing by and take your stuff. Craigslisting is now a verb in our household. We've been using it a lot these past few weeks. Portlanders are great about recycling and conservation. Portland's Craigslist certainly is the internet illustration of that fact. We've been amazed at how quickly people respond and how easy it has been to divest ourselves of our collection of things we've held onto which we really don't need. I even found a box in the basement this weekend that hadn't ever been unpacked following our move to Portland four years ago. Guess we better hang on to that box, I'm sure it contains something really important!
This Memorial Day weekend was spent squaring away all the stuff we need to hang onto for when we return and the rest of the stuff has been organized into the massive garage sale pile. Jo and I have come up with a great system for the pack-up. She can't stand a mess and I love to just move stuff into the storage unit in the garage. I just pull things like book shelves out of a room and store them leaving the books behind. Jo then swoops in and categorizes the books into boat, storage, and garage sale piles. I then move the piles where they need to go. So far this system has worked pretty well.
When you're planning to live aboard a 42 foot sailboat with a family of five, you quickly realize there are a lot of things you can do without. We've loaned out our portable basketball hoop to the neighbors. One of Drew's friends, Gabe, is now the custodian for our goldfish. And, next weekend we're hoping that the garage salers will take away most of the other items. There are a select few boxes that actually get shipped out to the boat.
Although it wasn't our most exciting Memorial Day holiday it certainly was put to good use. We did manage to have a couple of great dinners outdoors with our friends which was really nice. Eating well outside next to the fire pit on the deck is about as good as it gets. Maybe the only thing better will be cooking something we catch off the boat and grilling in the cockpit while being out on the water. In just two more weeks, we'll be giving that a try!!
This Memorial Day weekend was spent squaring away all the stuff we need to hang onto for when we return and the rest of the stuff has been organized into the massive garage sale pile. Jo and I have come up with a great system for the pack-up. She can't stand a mess and I love to just move stuff into the storage unit in the garage. I just pull things like book shelves out of a room and store them leaving the books behind. Jo then swoops in and categorizes the books into boat, storage, and garage sale piles. I then move the piles where they need to go. So far this system has worked pretty well.
When you're planning to live aboard a 42 foot sailboat with a family of five, you quickly realize there are a lot of things you can do without. We've loaned out our portable basketball hoop to the neighbors. One of Drew's friends, Gabe, is now the custodian for our goldfish. And, next weekend we're hoping that the garage salers will take away most of the other items. There are a select few boxes that actually get shipped out to the boat.
Although it wasn't our most exciting Memorial Day holiday it certainly was put to good use. We did manage to have a couple of great dinners outdoors with our friends which was really nice. Eating well outside next to the fire pit on the deck is about as good as it gets. Maybe the only thing better will be cooking something we catch off the boat and grilling in the cockpit while being out on the water. In just two more weeks, we'll be giving that a try!!
