I'm very grateful for the local family support we have that took care of watching our younger daughter for a few hours since these discussions can get a bit heated!!
We have come up with a loose action plan that includes 3 projects which cover our stuff, our plans, and our resources basically. These are projects to take care of either before or during the next few weeks:
Streamline:
We have a lot of stuff, and are pretty much packrats in our own very ADD kind of way. Seeing as how I'm having a baby soon nesting has started a little bit, with me mostly organizing things I can easily move like the massive stacks of paper. I have made some progress but we need to do more.
I see this project as a much much bigger project though that can be done over time. What I want to do is to clear out anything we aren't using on a regular basis, to either sell it, give it, or store it if we want to keep it for a later time. I figure if we keep only the essentials (for example only 4 plates/bowls/etc) then our lives will be easier as there will be less stuff to deal with, and if we do end up moving urgently then it will be less stressful.
Since we don't know exactly how long we will have to stay then it makes sense to keep it all as minimal as possible. I would love to stay and figure that if we do somehow figure out a way to do this then we will be starting fresh and have a clean slate to selectively add things into our lives in a much more conscious way. If we move we can move the essentials, live simply and then we can do the same.
Conscious living and choice is our priority at this point.
Budget:
I think keeping a budget is always a good thing...however we haven't really been good at this one. Still having separate accounts, separate streams (or lack of) streams of income etc. has made it a bit complicated.
Enough with excuses.
Now I'm going to be pulling together approximately what we 'need' to have and pull all that into a spreadsheet to see what we really are able to do with what we are planning to be bringing in.
Ideal Living:
We have some big goals of things we want to do in life, mostly taking place in a few years, so we are looking for something that will keep us comfortable for the next three years maximum, 1-3 is the estimate. To make this as ideal as possible it has to be a lot of little things. This project is coming up with a list of the variables that we require in a place we will stay long term (see picture) and includes things like number of bedrooms, being close to things that improve life like parks, pea patches, grocery stores, maybe a zipcar and/or public transportation etc.
We will also have some things on here about neighborhoods we like, where we have support and weigh those options accordingly.
So... Our plans are starting to come together. I would really like to stay in the house at least 60-90 days, if our baby is born late as both of my girls were then by the end of 60 days would be approximately when my 6 weeks after birth would be done and I'd be approachinge able to walk without making a big mess and be approaching overall functionality etc. 90 days and we're talking about spending most of the summer at our house which means I can help more in the move too.
I'd also love to be able to harvest at least some of my garden, peas and strawberries should be appearing pretty soon...
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