The Road to Liquidation

Embracing a Life of Travel: Our Journey to Minimalism

For years, we filled our life with possessions—furniture, keepsakes, and everything that transformed a house into a home. However, when we made the decision to embrace full-time travel, we quickly realized that our belongings were more of a hindrance than a source of freedom. In this post, we’ll share our journey of downsizing, selling almost everything, and preparing for a life on the move. From the emotional challenges we faced to the unexpected joys of minimalism, here’s how we made it happen.

Our home for 10 years.

As the idea of traveling full-time became increasingly appealing, it prompted us to reevaluate our relationship with our possessions. We began to ask ourselves: What do we own? Why do we own it? And do we really need it? The answers were telling: “too much,” “just because,” and “not at all.” So, we decided to let go of everything.

While many American homeowners live in spacious homes, we had already adopted a more modest lifestyle. In 2013, we downsized from a 3,000-square-foot house to an 1,100-square-foot lakeside cottage. We had been mindful about our acquisitions, primarily due to limited storage space, but we still had a houseful of stuff. Our goal was clear: leave Rhode Island without renting a storage unit—no belongings left behind! Unlike moving to another home, even a smaller one, there wouldn’t be a new staging area to sort through what to keep and what to discard. It was truly an “Everything Must Go” situation.

The most significant step was selling our house. We met with our realtor in February 2024 to discuss the timing of the sale. Barbara planned to continue teaching through the school year ending in June, meaning our move would have to wait until summer. We understood that selling our home during this peak season would attract buyers eager to enjoy the summer at our beautiful little lake.

Preparing for a New Chapter: Downsizing and Selling Our Home

Setting the Stage for Sale

Our plan was strategic: List the house just before Memorial Day and aim to close before the 4th of July. We made a list of the repairs and cosmetics needed to get the house back to showroom condition (refinishing the floors, some repairs of small annoyances we'd been putting off for years) and then formulated a plan to responsibly get rid of everything we didn't need for our day to day life in the coming months. Lots and lots of clothing, extra linens, and household items were donated, but we still had a lot of “stuff.”

The Estate Sale Solution

Our realtor recommended "P&GL," an estate sale service. We met with these folks, who walked through our home, looked in our cabinets and closets, and gave us an idea of what they could sell and what we might be better off trying to sell ourselves. The plan was to conduct the estate sale as soon as possible after we sold the house, hopefully in June. The deal was that P&GL would promote and run the sale for 30% of the gross sales of whatever sold or we could give them 60% of the proceeds and they would take care of clearing out everything, whether it sold or not. They assured us that as much of the stuff as possible that didn't sell would either be donated or become resale inventory for them, not fodder for the landfill. We didn't make that decision on the spot, but retained them and set a sale date for the second week of June.

Decluttering Strategy

To prepare for real estate photos and open houses, we needed to declutter. Barbara's ingenious solution was to rent an on-site storage pod. This served two purposes:

1. Safekeeping items we definitely wanted to keep.

2. Storing items for the future estate sale.

We chose the smallest pod available, forcing us to be selective and continue selling or donating as we transferred items from the house.

The Sorting Process

From late February into mid-May we made our way through our things. As we came upon higher value items that we would not be taking with us we listed them on Facebook marketplace, eBay, and Craigslist, with moderate success, knowing that anything we didn't sell would be part of the June estate sale. We bought eight 27-gallon storage bins with lids as our “keeper” containers. Luckily, we have friends with a brand new home who agreed to let us stack the totes in a corner of their huge, empty basement. In these we placed personal items that we might want if we created a home base at a later date, like good extra clothing, my good knives, my musical accessories, some art and memorabilia. We also used these for a couple of “time capsules” for our kids – family pictures, papers, and keepsakes that we figure they will get a kick out of looking at in twenty or thirty years.

The Final Stretch: Selling Our Home and Possessions

Quirky House in a Hot Market

By the middle of May we had the house ready for listing. We were fortunate to be entering a “hot” real estate market, with low supply and high demand, but our house was a bit quirky. Too small for a family, a bit inaccessible for older retirees, and (oddly enough) a little too close to the urban center of Providence to really feel like a “vacation house.” It didn't get any serious offers the first few weeks on the market and we had to put off the estate sale for an additional week so that we could keep it furnished for showing (plus we were still living there and working full-time!). The stars aligned for us in the second week of June and we received a full price cash offer, closing on July 1. Amazing!

The "Going Out of Business" Sale

We finalized arrangements with P&GL for our estate sale on June 29-30. Exhausted from sorting, packing, and cleaning—not to mention wrapping up our professional obligations—we opted for the plan that gave the estate sale company a larger share but included clearing unsold items.

Following their advice, we stayed in a hotel during the sale. This proved wise when we briefly stopped by and found it emotionally challenging to watch strangers rummaging through our belongings. Monday morning, we returned to see the remaining items—and there were many—being removed, which was equally difficult.

Reflections on the Process

While we might have earned more by marketing items ourselves and arranging our own cleanup, we chose not to dwell on potential losses. By midday on July 1, we had reduced our possessions to eight plastic bins, which we loaded into a rented pickup truck. We drove to our closing attorney's office, signed the papers, and the deal was done!

Our New Beginning

From there, we headed to Buffalo, NY, to housesit for our friends with the empty basement. While they were away on their summer vacation, we further streamlined our belongings. By their return, we had condensed to five plastic bins containing warm clothes, some framed photos and keepsakes, and miscellany. Oh, and five of Bruce's cherished guitars (which he couldn't bring himself to part with)!And so we began our new, minimalist lifestyle, ready for full-time travel and new adventures.