Sunday, August 23, 2015

Minimal Wardrobe

We have no drawers in the trailer. We have a closet and a tiny shelf above our bed.  Ignore the peeling trim - fixing it is on the to do list.  There is no storage space under the bed; no room to put anything extra in our room.  I kept hearing about capsule wardrobes in full timing forums.  I simply couldn't limit my choices to  one or two colors.

Michael had no trouble picking out clothes for the trailer. He put the rest into storage. I thought I had my closet whittled down. Close comparison of these two photos raised a few suspicions.
 
I happily loaded the clothes into a suitcase...and went a long way to filling a second. Reality hit. There was NO way I'd get two suitcases of clothes into the space in the first photo. I put the clothes back in the closet and stared at them. These were my favorite clothes. I had to reduce by another 50%. I donated several items and gave myself the freedom to put the rest in storage. 
Yes, I pack on hangars. It's nice to have the hangars and they don't wrinkle.
I decided denim was my core color. LOL Jeans, capris, shorts, jacket, skirts...and they'll go with any color shirt. I also have a pair of gray and khaki pants. They'll also go with most anything. Each piece (except the dresses) can be paired several different ways. As for winter - I'll add long sleeves and jackets - included here.  I narrowed down the shoes to these and a pair of shower shoes, sandals and tennis shoes. Michael said he thought this would fit in the trailer. I'm not 100% sure.
 
The shoes and sock proved to be the hardest to downsize. I did NOT donate any socks to Airmen's Attic. I pitched them. LOL These socks prompted Stacia to suggest we buy a pair of socks from each stop, rather than a magnet. I approve - not sure the rest of the family will.
New Mexico, Arizona
 
To the above I added jeans, workout clothes and undergarments. It all fit in one suitcase. Why a suitcase? Because the trailer isn't here to pack!  It's not a capsule, but it will work. 
 
I still have never soaked in this tub. Why soak inside when you have a backyard onsen? LOL We stored the mattresses from the trailer here - ready to camp out at home until we can load into the trailer.  And all my clothes are in that one suitcase.

I keep reminding myself this downsizing, this tiny living - is all training to live in a small Japanese apartment. We can do this. We can do this with a sense of humor and joy.

No Sabbath Rest

There was no Sabbath Rest in our home today. None. We all worked - all day. But I think we're ready for the movers.

She took the second line down...."is faith that's been shaken"
 
The boys continue to sort through trailer stuff
 
The surround sound is none
 
It took a lot of work to produce this picture. Stacia's trailer tub. She'll also have two shelves. Every item we had to make a decision on - storage, Airmen's Attic, Caboose - came with a story.

Finally, we think we're ready.....the white slips say "Please don't pack."

We still can't figure out how to safely carry five bikes with us. We've looked at Thule, Yakima and Swagman bumper/hitch/carriers.  Michael even called and talked with Swagman. We thought we were ready to purchase, until reading what others have experienced on a couple of forums. Most recommend a roof carrier over the bumper carrier....but our roof is VERY high....and I'm not sure they'd be much more stable on our roof. We could put them in the back of the van - but that would fill up most our storage space.  We are considering something between the trailer and van...or the front of the van...or leaving the bikes at home...or leaving the books and food at home....

Naked Shoeless Family.......

My last blog post centered on the Kayak in the living room.....it's gotten worse in the past three days.
 
THIS stuff is destined for the trailer... We'll sort through it after the movers leave - when we have a trailer. There is more to be added. Much  is containers waiting to be filled. It's more manageable than it looks. I hope. ::snort::  Michael informs me much of it is "infrastructure." I asked if "infrastructure" counted in my 2K allowable trailer pounds. I still need to add food and kitchen essentials to the pile. A couple of stacks are projects we hope to finish and get rid of  rather quickly: Michael's medical claim (four huge notebooks of records) and our photo albums.

I suspect we'll be the naked, shoeless family riding around the country on bikes, wielding tools, eating raw and toting books. That shouldn't raise any alarms, should it?

The owner of the moving company came Thursday or Friday. He is impressed with all we've done to make it an easy move for the packers. He also took some things in the donate pile. He offered to take anything we haven't donated at the end of the move. His church has an outreach here in Olivehurst. One more full day and we should be good to go. They had planned three days to pack and one to load. He thinks they'll pack and load in two days. We're down from 17,000 lbs to 8,000 lbs - or so goes the guess.

In the midst of the week we've fielded doctor calls, procured refills for meds, I had a mammogram, four of us had our eyes checked (three need glasses), we've visited with friends and explained the commotion to neighbors.

Cheri came on Friday and we FILLED her mini-van with things for the Airmen's Attic. Saturday we planned to deliver our freezer to the O family and another load of stuff to the Airmen's Attic. Michael hoped to fit it into one load - one trip to base.

It became apparent the freezer wasn't going out the garage door - the door is spring loaded, so we didn't remove the door from the wall. 

It was a breeze (though we missed the hand truck) to move it out the front door.... 

Thanks to Cheri's load the day before we were able to fit everything in and around the freezer. 

 
Phil and Beverly stopped by and we loaded their truck too.
These two are getting GOOD at moving furniture

 
Katrina came by in the afternoon for her bookshelf and things are starting to look doable.
 
This is all that's left of my wardrobe. It's not a capsule closet - but it is certainly paired down. The problem? The  closet in the Caboose will hold about 1/4th of this....time for more minimalizing....on the agenda for today. Michael and I have no drawers in the Caboose. This is a serious oversight.
The shoes - I just can't get rid of more shoes....
 A month or so ago, in the throes of a sorting fit, I found our "Flat Daddy." We put him in the alcove and he stayed there.   It cracked me up to have a benevolent father smiling down on us as we worked.... :::snort::
 
Tonight he came down to go into storage (no symbolic significance here)

Answered prayer! I think our last post mentioned our disappointment with Al Rite RV repair. Mike, at Discount RV Repairs, called yesterday. He said the front is sealed, the back and roof are repaired and he wanted to know if we wanted a rebuilt or new AC installed.  It will be done Tuesday, we'll pick it up Wednesday (26th) - five days earlier than estimated. It will be too late to pack the trailer before our storage leaves the house....BUT it will be early enough for us to pack and clear the house on the 31st.  We may even get a bit of trim painted before we leave. We prayed he would finish early - on Saturday the 29th.