I’m now two months out from my move—TWO MONTHS! This year has really hurtled by, and I’m equally grateful and stressed about that because it means I’ll be driving to Mexico in no time. Almost every day, I’m looking around the house Ariel and I shared for almost a decade and am overwhelmed by the sense of urgency to declutter and get packed.

As you likely know (if you read my previous blogs), I have been low-key planning this move since January of this year. Of course, some major changes have happened since January, BUT, the plan to move has always been in place. In January, I thought it would be ALL of us moving (2 people, 2 dogs, 3 cats), so with a sense of urgency, I dove into a plan to start unloading the decade's worth of STUFF we had acquired. Our garage was chock-full of items that we either never used or only used a couple of times and then discarded into the ever-growing pile of STUFF.

SPRING - THE BIG INITIAL PURGE

In early Spring of this year, I ordered us a big ol’ dumpster. We went through almost all of our belongings and chucked anything we did not think we could sell (and sell for at least $50; we didn’t want to waste our time selling items for $5 or $10 over the course of the coming months) or give to charity. This created some room that allowed us to sort and organize the smaller items a little easier.

SUMMER - SELLING THE BIGGER THINGS

After the initial big purge - I had a rough inventory in my head of all the stuff that remained, and I started deciding what would go with me (by this time, I knew I would be making the move solo and that we would be dividing up the household items), what would stay with Ariel, and what could be sold. The larger ticket items, such as our RV, kayaks, generator, etc., were all put up for sale. The kayaks, generator, and other fun toys sold relatively quickly, but the RV took several months before we sold it. But it did finally sell! Ariel then sold the truck, as we no longer needed it. Everything was sold exclusively via Facebook Marketplace, except for the truck and RV.

SUMMER INTO FALL - MARIE KONDO’ING MY LIFE

The smaller stuff is where you can really get bogged down.

The first room I tore through was the kitchen. We had so many things in there that we had never used. And duplicates of so many items (which is kinda great when splitting a household). But there were also single items we both used daily. The first step was to remove anything neither of us would use or want. Items were donated to family members or shipped off to Goodwill. Then, I took an inventory of what items we had and earmarked in my head who would take what. While I haven’t packed anything from the kitchen yet, as we will need to use a lot of it before the move, I have a general sense of what I’ll take, what I’ll leave behind, and what I’ll need to purchase before I go (as many items are less expensive to buy in the US than in Mexico). If anyone is interested in contributing to my cause ;-), I have an Amazon Wishlist for items needed (mostly all are kitchen items). Having a general sense of what I will bring helps me keep space in my packing for those items.

The second set of items I went through were all my books. I had a lot of books, and I donated about 95% of them. I only kept the ones that “sparked joy” in me, I knew I’d read again, or held sentimental value. The rest were outta here. I could not justify the space and weight of bringing books with me just to sit on bookshelves.

Third was my closet. I was ruthless is thinning down my closet. Gone were the clothes I had been keeping in hopes of eventually fitting back into them. Gone were the formal dresses I had worn to one event and then hung on to … just in case. Gone were the ridiculously high (and even not so ridiculously high) heels that would break my ankles (but were “so cute” I just could not part with them before). Almost anything I had not worn in the previous year was outta there - and lemme tell ya - that was a lotta things. I still have to make another run or two through my closet before officially packing things up, but I found that the easiest area to clear out.

Finally, I had to sort through all my outdoor adventure toys and their accessories. This is where I had to picture the life I wanted to start living once I got to La Paz and determine which of my outdoor adventure toys were best suited for that lifestyle. I prioritized my kayaks over all else, as is to be expected. But I also prioritized snorkeling gear, wetsuits, and camping gear, and I even grabbed a used mountain bike off the Facebook marketplace. Most of what I bring with me is going to be outdoor adventure-related, and I’m completely good with that, as that’s the life I want to be living.

HOW TO GET IT ALL THERE

At first, I thought I’d have enough room in my Subaru Crosstrek for myself (driver), Ariel (passenger who is kind enough to escort me on the drive down), two large dogs, and all of these things. I laugh at myself now - that was nuts. I quickly came to the realization, however, that while throwing a couple of suitcases in a car and taking off works for some folks, it won’t work for me. First step was I got a bigger (and newer) car. I upgraded to an Outback for many reasons, but having a little extra cargo space was a big one. I then started looking into what it would cost to ship some items. I had heard that it was exorbitantly expensive, so had not even considered it, but as I started seeing the size of all the things I wanted to bring down, I started reaching out to moving companies. I found out that there are a number that specialize in shipping from the United States/Canada to Mexico and they offer a variety of shipping options. I landed on one that offered me a flat rate to take a pallet worth of items, which is 4 feet x 4 feet x 6 feet high, which I felt was going to be perfect, as while I have some stuff, I don’t have a full container’s worth of stuff. I stole a little corner of the primary bedroom in our house, marked out 4 x 4 on the floor, and have since been cramming it full of totes and larger miscellaneous items (tent, inflatable SUP, beach wagon, etc). I will reach out to the movers in early December to make the final arrangements. Barring any issues, my items should arrive the same day I do.

Eeked out a 4’ x 4’ x 6’ area of the primary bedroom to help organize the packing.

I also realized that while the Outback has more cargo space than the Crosstrek, it’s not THAT much cargo space, especially when I’ll need the full backseat for the 200 lbs of dog that’ll be coming with. And while I’ll have the movers taking things, I also will need to bring quite a bit of stuff with me, so I went hunting for other ways to haul gear with the car. I looked at rooftop carriers, but as I plan to bring down my two kayaks, I would be pushing the roof’s weight limit real quick. I then looked at hitch cargo carriers, but they are $$$$ and also don’t carry all that much for the amount of money you gotta spend on them. Finally, one day when on Facebook marketplace (that’s the drawback of listing items for sale on FB Marketplace, you end up perusing what’s for sale also), I found a small, enclosed cargo trailer for sale for less than $500 and jumped all over it. It was small enough for my car to tow safely but large enough to take all the large items that would not fit with the movers (office desk, office chair, mountain bike, e-bike, some totes, clothes, etc.). HOPEFULLY, everything will fit with ease.

These final two months, I will spend further thinning my items down to the essentials, hoping that final packing will be a breeze. I also have to prepare a detailed inventory of everything I’m bringing with (or sending with the movers) for the purpose of Mexican customs/duty … so the less I have … the less I have to document … which is also motivation to only take what I’ll really, really need.

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