The biggest obstacle in preparing for our trip has been all of the stuff we’ve piled up over the years.  What are we gonna do with all this stuff while we’re on our trip?!  We didn’t want to pay for storage, so we did what any rational couple that is planning on quitting their jobs to travel around the world would do.  We started selling it.

Two years ago, we were in a two bedroom apartment.  Why two bedrooms for one couple?  Simple…we had a lot of stuff!  To Craigslist!  And Facebook, and sometimes…to the dumpster.

The first thing we did was go through our storage out on our patio.  This is crap we haven’t touched in years.  Some of this stuff came with us when we first moved to Texas over ten years ago and was still in the same box.  Why?  Why is this still with us?  Some things we sat aside for Mandy to take to Oklahoma for her family.  Most of it went to the dumpster.

We had never used Craigslist before because the idea of strangers showing up to our residence to buy our stuff freaked us out because who does that? What we quickly found out was something I expect we’ll discover as we travel…people aren’t as scary as we make them out to be.  We became pretty good at selling stuff there. I made sure not to give out our phone number and it’s set up so that they can email you, but not see your actual email address.  Our dining room table, IKEA bookshelf, DVD’s, tv stand, couch, and my turntables (sob) all sold on Craigslist.

We got lucky last month when our new apartment complex held it’s annual yard sale.  For $10 we reserved a table and I had no idea what to expect.  We sold so much stuff that day.  We made our $10 back within the first five minutes.  Patio chairs, an ikea mirror, shirts, pants, power drill, art, and all sorts of other stuff we had lying around the house all got sold that day.   I couldn’t believe people not only wanted this stuff, but were willing to pay for it.  Everything that didn’t sell went to Goodwill.

We have some stuff left.  I’m going to try and find a place to donate our four year old bed. Maybe a women’s shelter or something.   We’re selling our washer and dryer next week. We’re selling my car two weeks before we leave.  We’re getting rid of a lot of our old dishes and tossing our cheap coffee table.  A funny story about our TV, a 46 inch samsung hd smart TV.  Do we sell it?  Do we hang onto it so we don’t have to buy a new one when we get back?  Will it fit into Mandy’s car for the drive to Oklahoma?  The TV decided it’s fate for us.  It turned off the other day and it won’t turn back on.  Thanks TV!  We’re going to drop it off at Best Buy so they can recycle it.  And we’re never paying that much for a TV ever again.  It was only 4 years old.  I realize we could take it and get it repaired, but that’s not conducive to our situation at the moment. Oh, and a big thank you to Jennifer, who works with Mandy and is letting us borrow a TV so we can still watch Netflix and football games!

This whole experience has been cathartic.  Our stuff no longer owns us.   The money we made has paid for our shots and we’ve been able to add to our savings for our trip.  We don’t miss anything we’ve gotten rid of and when we move back, we’re not going to start buying more stuff again so that our next trip around the world will be seamless.

Stuff.