We gave ourselves three weeks to sell a house full of souvenirs and apparent necessities for life and find reliable tenants to pay the mortgage and we pulled it off. Bigger items sold cheaply through social media and gumtree, one huge garage sale where things were practically given away then a call to a local charity to come and get the rest. We were mopping the floor towards the back door as the new tenants moved their stuff in through the front door.

It wasn’t as hard as one might think to get rid of everything. Inherited antique furniture, those things “that will be worth a fortune one day”, well they weren’t worth much at all. Cupboards full of clothes and shoes, many not worn for years, some don’t even fit. Out you go!!! I have to say, we made some people very happy that day. One fellow, the same size as my husband, needed a suit to attend court in the near future. He was stoked to leave not only with a respectable outfit for that dreaded day, but with bags of clothes, shoes and accessories. I did the same with my clothes. The recipient was so grateful she brought me back some gifts. I kept these gifts and randomly gave them to others as we travelled around.

Although some items were a little hard to let go of ( we had been gathering possessions for over 30 years) it was a very liberating feeling and the first lesson in the joy of living on the bare minimum. We didn’t need all these things and even though they were nice, they didn’t make us happy and we didn’t miss them at all.