Yikes! We have 18 days until the scheduled closing date of May 6th and we’re starting to feel the pressure.
We made some good progress yesterday and plan to stay at it today.
When we first started talking seriously about full-timing, I was determined not to have a storage shed for anything. I had heard stories about people that paid for a storage unit for a year or two, then threw away all the stuff they had paid to store. Al always was leaning towards a storage unit, but I was adamant we wouldn’t have one.
As we are getting close to the end and have learned exactly how much room we have in the motor home, we’re realizing, we will need to have a storage unit.
Since we don’t have any children, or grand kids we don’t have anyone to give family treasures to., and some things just have to be kept. Plus until we get that 40 foot motor home, we just don’t have enough room for all our toys. We intend to have a permanent storage unit near Tampa, which will be our home base. That way, we can put winter clothes there in the summer, dive gear and kayaks there in the winter, and still have room for the items we just can’t part with.
In the meantime, we are putting those types of things into our storage unit here in town. I’m also putting photo albums, china and crystal in storage. I figure down the road, I’ll start moving those albums and photos over to the computer and I can work on selling the china and crystal through Craig’s list when I have more time. There isn’t too much interest in fine china here in rural Georgia. So that’s the plan, for now at least. Of course things can always change.
We feel the storage unit will take some pressure off of us now, by just having a place to put things we can’t sell before closing. Since we can’t sell the mower or golf cart until we have a check in hand, we will have a place to put them until we do. We aren’t going to let go of those two items until we have a check in our hand! The bad thing is that we will have to hang around here until they are gone. We’ve had a lot of interest in the mower and golf cart, so hopefully when we’re ready to let them go, we’ll have a buyer. The other items will need to be moved to a permanent storage unit closet to Tampa, at a later date. Storage sheds are cheap here in Georgia. We’re paying $55 a month for a 15 x 20 unit. In Florida most places would charge over $200. We’ve been looking around for some cheaper places, and may have to get one north of Tampa to keep the price down. We won’t be paying $200 a month, that’s for sure!
We are going under the assumption that the sale will go through as scheduled, and are trying to stay motivated! I’d feel a little better if it would get out of underwriting so that we can get the appraiser out here. Hurry up and wait is our motto!
$200/mo is a lot of money. I had no idea what a storage place costs.
ReplyDeleteat least you are figuring out that a storage locker would take some pressure off..I know I have always wondered what we would do with all the photos etc..things you can't sell but still 'need' to keep??
ReplyDeleteFor sure, if a storage locker relieves some stress it's a good idea right now. It's not like you still can't get rid of things later.
ReplyDeleteThat is a lot of money for a storage shed. I'm glad ours didn't cost that much cause we wouldn't have been able to get one.
ReplyDeleteI do agree....having one will take the pressure off.
Have you asked the buyers if they want to purchase the mower? We sold ours to the buyers of our house. Worked out good for both of us.
I know you all are getting more and more excited!! :-
Storage unit is a good plan. For starters, it buys you time and removes the temptation to essentially give treasures away for little of no $$$ and, there are "things" you will need and use but NOT all year only seasonally that you can store off season. Good plan imho.
ReplyDeleteMetro Self-Storage in Land O'Lakes (north of Tampa) is fairly inexpensive; certainly more than Georgia, but not too bad. There's another Metro towards Zephyrhills on SR 54.
ReplyDeleteWant some more china? Mine's in the storage locker in LOL and I'm in north Georgia for the next two years or so. If we have to unload and reload the locker another time or two there won't be any china to worry about.
I have come to accept the idea of a storage unit because i don't think we will full time forever. Our daughter has said she will take a few treasures and keep them in her attic for us. I can't see keeping any furniture because it will be wrong for any future house anyway. We shall see when the time comes.
ReplyDeleteKeep what you want. There are no rules. $200 per month s about what we expect to pay in California.
The storage shed is probably good idea for now. We downsized from house to apartment which really helped. If we had gone straight to the RV I think we would have had to do storage too. I think it is just too hard to do in one step. Keep the light at the end of the tunnel in view!
ReplyDeleteWe, too, have a storage shed - a 10x10 that is $69 per month. Although I sold, donated or gave-away most stuff when we sold the condo, I stored the things I just could not make a decision about. We are not hitting the road until our NEW RV and NEW TRUCK (!) come in so we will have time to clean out more "stuff". One suggestion, send an email to all of your business and personal contacts in Georgia of the things you have to sell. You may be surprised at the response. We did that and sold our car, truck, furniture, rugs and home furnishings. And, we didn't have to move it - the buyers took it right out of the condo before we closed. I was amazed.
ReplyDelete