Importing Household Goods : Broad Moves : Part 1 of 3

::You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could've, would've happened... or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the fuck on.:: 
- Tupac Shakur

This is part 1:3 in the series.  Part 2 : Part 3

Three years ago, after my return from a month long visit in August to the Yucatan, I began the process of preparing my house for selling.  During September, with the help of a master gardener friend, I filled in the side yard gap with wildflower seeds.  The native seeds had plenty of time to germinate before the oak trees leafed out fully.  They created a super impressive show by early Spring, reminiscent of a Texas Hill Country field.  Along with the wildflower meadow, I prepared another low area for a French drain by creating a seasonal creek bed.  Wow, did that ever create some curb appeal!  

Two interior task were at hand - cleaning out the garage and staining the concrete floors.  Sounds easy enough however, when you have lived in a house for twenty plus years, and your children are sentimentally attached to pieces of linoleum from the old kitchen floor, moving stuff along is a process bigger than having a garage sale or two, or four, or six!  It ended up taking a year to clear out their things.  My daughter inherited most of the furnishings, leaving my cousin to store her collection of dolls, Disney videos, and memorabilia which consisted of a piece of the old carpeting, linoleum from the kitchen, tiles from the living room, and a piece of the rear bumper from a 1990 Honda Civic DX!    

My son, newly married, (YES, there was a WEDDING in January!) and living in a smallish, and very hip condo, was most reluctant to take his things that I had stored for ten years.  Push came to shove after I threatened to give them to a thrift store, and all those Lego's, Play Mobile, paint guns, roller blades, skate boards, plastic totes filled with baseball cards, and binders of photographs (he is a wonderful wedding photographer), finally found their proper home. I thank his wife from the bottom of my heart!

Now, it was time to review my list of must keeps.  UGH!  What a nightmare!  My personals got down to a 5' x 5' x 10' storage room because I received some very misguided advise about what would survive in Mexico from a man who pretty much had nothing of value back in the States.   What did I do?  I followed his advise and am still kicking my self!  I later learned that the most difficult item for him to let go of was a Matchbox Car collection.


When it came time to list my house, I discovered distressing news.  I had leased out the house, was living in a guest room with a girlfriend, fully expecting to sell my house and move to Mexico.  Instead, when my realtor did a title search, my name was wasn't on the title.  This led to my filing a Federal lawsuit against my mortgage company, delaying my move by a year.  So, when you are stuck, and you have let go of all your possessions, the best recovery trick is to shop!  Never fear, between Ebay & Etsy I was able to replace some of those prizes, and one year later, filled a 10' x 10' x 10' storage unit full of gorgeous objects that would be perfect in my Mexico house.


I was very fortunate.  My house sold for the same price I would have asked the prior year, and it sold in three weeks.  Notice given to my employer, Thule roof container filled, car stuffed with my traveling companion, the world famous artist, Jessi, my cat, Mimi The Cat, and some treasured paintings by dear friends, and I was headed to Mexico!  What a fantastic journey this has been.  Nearly twenty-five years of waiting for the day, and I was on my way.  

to be continued
"...Mimi the Cat really enjoyed her time in the dens of sex hotel hell!  I never knew she enjoyed tequila..."

Pin It Now!