Next came the downsizing. Going from a 2300 sq. foot, 3 bedroom, 2 car garage home to most likely a 2 bedroom condo required a lot of thought, consideration and careful planning. We debated between shipping boxes (USPS is the cheapest carrier at about $1/pound), checking boxes on the plane ($125 each), or coordinating a container (minimum size = 20 feet and Matson has the best prices for the reputable companies – although there are cheaper companies that have questionable ratings and feedback).
After selling 90% of what we owned, we changed our initial shipping decision and ordered a Matson container… all 20 feet of it. We had the option of including our car in the container since we’d have extra space, but we couldn’t decide who was small enough to fit the 9” gap that would exist for the driver to climb out of the driver seat… Taylor, our 10 year old, offered; however, we voted against that choice for obvious reasons (although apparently not so obvious to her).
Living in the back corner of a new neighborhood made the garage sale portion of this move very difficult. Finding renters that wanted the peace and quiet was much easier! The first garage sale went smooth with a lot of traffic. We spent the following week bringing more stuff out of the house and into the garage. The second sale was a bust – both rainy weather and unbeknownst to us, someone had stolen our garage sale signs that mapped out the intricate maze to the back corner of our neighborhood known as home. Without those signs, it was impossible for casual garage-salers to ever find us. The third sale proved successful in that most everything was gone and we met a couple amazing ladies that were willing to do the yard work in exchange for our leather couches – win-win! Maybe it had something to do with the kid out front “scaring up” business…
During the course of all this we must have placed and answered over 200 Craigslist Ads, taken over 100 pictures of odds and ends at potential buyers’ requests, met over 50 folks in the Starbucks parking lot to make the sale, drove to other cities at least 10 times for the high ticket item sales and spent at least 5 hours coordinating on FreeCycle to empty the garage.
Final result – Downsizing Done.
Next came the packing up and cleaning of the house for the new renters. Do you know hard it is to get your Flat Screen TV back into the original box with all the original packaging??? Or what about that one power cable that turns up and no one knows what it went to? The day of the move, an Angel of Cleaning and a Wizard of Packing appeared, and we must express our sincerest thanks to our very good friends, Henae and Chris for that… While Chris and I loaded, delivered and unloaded the truck with the worldly belongings that made the final cut, Penny and Henae spent the day doing the deep cleaning on the house. For a family of “O.C.” folks, it’s amazing how dust bunnies can accumulate in very odd corners!
Final Result – House Project Complete.
Most of you have experienced that first week into moving where you are forced to dig through packed boxes to find your toothbrush, jeans or other items that inadvertently made it into a box prepared to continue on to the final destination, right? Doesn’t it make you feel crazy? LOL Not to mention all the last minute appointments that have to be taken care of before moving 2,500 miles away – like dentist appointments, doctor appointments, haircuts, vision exams, and last minute shopping (Why, didn’t you know? Sports Authority is having a TERRIFIC sale on all Body Glove items like snorkels and fins – 50% off and of course that’s not something we can buy in Hawaii so we must get 3 sets now – and pack them!)
Final Result – Packing Done.
And last for this segment … the car. The beloved Cadillac CTS… We had our favorite mechanic, Gary, go through it with a fine-tooth comb- replacing, tuning, and balancing everything before Taylor, Penny and I completely detailed it (conditioning everything to help ward off saltwater mist and sun damage). By 1:00 today it was ready to be delivered to the Port of Seattle. I drove it across the I-90 Bridge for the last time with tears welling up in my eyes. Needless to say, it was a moving experience (pun intended).
Final Result – Car En Route to Kahului.
Stay tuned as we move through the final 2 pieces before the Adventure really begins – the shipping container and the actual Bon Voyage.
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