A Friend Solves A Problem

In the last post I mentioned the four piles we're sorting all our household contents in to. The Rubbish Pile and Sell Pile we had clear plans for (bin and sell obviously), the other two piles we're less sure of – especially the Store Pile.

Whilst it's possible to drastically reduce the things you own, you don't get to our age without gathering at least a few things that count as heirlooms, or hold huge amounts of sentimental value. In many respects, it would be easier to just stand up and walk away from a house, than sort everything. I remember somebody saying that, it's just a case of deciding what you want to take with you, but in truth I think it's actually deciding what you can't leave behind.

Many of the things we have I absolutely love, but in honesty it's unlikely we'll need them when we next buy a house. After all, this is a large family house we're packing up, it's served us well, and we've raised a wonderful family here, but chances are the next place we buy or rent will just be for the two of us. It won't quite be a retirement villa (unless we house-sit for the next twenty or more years), but it will be well on the way to it.

Even so, we're going to need more than a single cupboard to store our belongings in. Not a cheap thing when you look at commercial storage for an indefinite time.

Many people when they choose to house-sit still have local family they can fall back on, family who will let them put a shed on their block to store their things in, and guarantee them use of a spare room or sofa if they find themselves without a house to sit or bed to sleep on. Steve and I, though, don't have this option. As far as the back-up bed is concerned, we're not overly bothered – a tent and sleeping-bag work fine – but the storage issue is a concern and something I'm trusting will sort itself out.

UPDATE: Don't you love fate, just as I'm putting together this blog, a friend called over for lunch and offered us not only her spare bed when/if we need it, but also some space in the sea-container she uses for storage on her rural block. What's more she even arrived with a bunch of flowers for me! With some people the line between friend and family blurs. It looks like the PROBLEM'S
 SOLVED!