Sunday, April 14, 2013

Back Home

What a busy tiring week it has been but now, after a year and a half our downsize is complete and as of April 23rd we will no longer have any physical ties to Alberta, just family and friends.

We listed 25 lots/items on Kijiji last Sunday and by Wednesday all had been sold or items given away.  If we had had more time to sell items we likely would have gotten a bit more money but due to our time limits we priced everything to sell.  The grand total was $1865 in sold items plus two trips to the Salvation Army and some trips to the dump.  This money will pay for the weeks gas, one night hotel, cargo van rental to move my stepson out, food and expenses.  We are still deciding what to do with the leftover - perhaps into the travel fund.

Many hours were spent on cleaning the residence as I always like to leave a home clean for the new owners.  This legally is not required but these new owners assumed our alarm contract thereby saving us $400 in contract payout as unfortunately we were locked into the fees until June 2014 (obviously an oversight on our part found out when I tried to cancel).   I hope they enjoy the home but as our new life is now on Vancouver Island we were happy to say goodbye to the house.

We put over 3000 km on my car this week - for a nine year old car it performed well.  I got two rock chips in my windshield (new one put in July 2012) so I will have to go get those filled with liquid glass this week to prevent cracking.

We arrived late last night so did not fully unpack the car of household items so that is on today's agenda, plus cleaning the hamster cage, filling up the bird feeders, mowing the lawn and grocery shopping.

I had dinner with a friend this week that kept saying how lucky I was.  Life is not luck, life is what you make of it.  She is stuck in a job she hates driving her expensive winter and summer cars and two expensive homes  (one in Arizona) with zero equity as she doesn't understand about saving and planning.   She also couldn't understand cleaning out the home ourselves as she would have just hired someone for $600 (big house 3500 sq feet) which I see as just throwing away money.  We downsized our spending and home to have the kind of life we wanted, something I hope one day she understands.

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like you have been very busy. Also sounds like it will be so worth it when all is said and done! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now you are entirely a BC resident - congratulations on getting all that work completed, saving on doing the cleaning yourselves and saving even more. No 'out of pocket' for finishing the selling of your home and the possessions that remained and the time it took. Now on with your BC saga. Love checking your posts and love your thrifty sharing.
    Joy

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am so happy for you that you reached this milestone and kudos to you for seeing it through. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, a very busy week! Great result though, you must be so happy that it's all behind you :)
    Judy xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Welcome home! I'm following in your footsteps. I've been cleaning nooks and crannies for a few weeks now. We're ready to put the house on the market in a day or two. I'm exhausted. We saw some video of the house we're moving to in Alabama. It's the size of a postage stamp compared to our current home. I think we'll need to sell a few more things.
    So much to do but at least I know it's all possible because you did it. Now you can sit back, relax and enjoy your new life!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello! I am a new reader and follower of your blog...I see from this post I have to go back in your archives to get caught up. It seems your on a life journey.. I wish you all the best! :) Now I'm going to go and start reading back :)

    ReplyDelete