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If you feel like life is passing you by, it may be time to start looking for ways to change your situation. Are you ready to downsize your life and free up some time to travel? I want to share with you how downsizing changed my life, including the steps that helped us get started on our new adventure of simple living and traveling.

Below I share some things that we did in order to get ourselves prepared from living in a house to living on a sailboat. We took these steps so that when it was time to leave, it would be smooth sailing (no pun intended) from there on out! Some people may call us crazy but as empty-nesters, we were ready for our next adventure in life and we haven’t looked back.

A Plan to Reach our Traveling Goal: The 5 Year Plan

We knew we needed to make some changes in our current way of living if we were going to travel after our children were no longer living at home. Our plan started out with the need to reduce our living expenses and reduce our debt.

This way we could start putting money away which would be important for our plans. In the beginning, it really seemed like a far-fetched dream. However, reducing our debt would be beneficial whether we ended up traveling or not so we focused on that.

The plan to travel seemed more like a dream. When we first started discussing it, we estimated the earliest we could put our plan into action was 5-6 years. This seemed so far away. In reality, 5-6 years goes by really fast. Looking back now, we realize that we could have made much quicker progress if we would have been more aggressive with our plan to save money.

Reducing our Debt

Our plan to live on our sailboat and travel really only focused on reducing our debt at first. We worked on paying off credit cards and vehicle payments and once one was paid off, we’d take those payments and apply them to other debts. We used some variations of the debt snowball method. This is how we started out. However, once we started seeing some of our debt go down, it really got us excited and helped us to stay on track, mostly.

We also realized that we needed to reduce our living expenses in addition to reducing our other debts. Reducing our monthly expenses would help us pay down debt quicker and build up our savings faster. So how could we reduce our monthly spending?

Some of this would be done by budgeting and getting rid of unneeded subscriptions. However, our biggest monthly expenses revolved around our house! Our home at the time wasn’t exactly energy efficient and there was a lot of unused space that we weren’t using. We could definitely save money by downsizing to a smaller home. More on this below.

Downsized our Home

As I mentioned above, it was time to downsize from our 2844 square foot 1976 ranch-style home. We knew we could save money by having a smaller mortgage payment and smaller monthly utility bills. We ended up finding a cute home in another great neighborhood that was 1394 square feet. All the rooms were smaller. The storage spaces were much smaller and the garage was quite a bit smaller even though it was considered a two-car garage.

I’m not going to lie, as much as I loved the smaller home, it was a hard move for me. I hadn’t yet embraced simple living. I was attached to my “stuff” and getting rid of things was a challenge for me. You might be thinking, “and you want to live on a sailboat?”! I know, it’s been a process for me to get to where I am today. In the early stages, let’s just say, it was difficult to see the bigger picture.

We did end up getting rid of a lot of belongings before we downsized to a smaller home since there just wasn’t room. However, looking back, it wasn’t nearly enough. Storage racks and tubs were purchased to help organize and store stuff that wouldn’t fit in the house. We had the shed jam-packed with stuff too. Our smaller bedrooms and smaller living spaces we packed full.

I don’t regret downsizing one bit. After making this move, it really helped us out financially and gave us more options for our future. The smaller home was also a better candidate as a rental if we chose to rent it out later on. We saved nearly a thousand dollars each month after we downsized our home between mortgage costs and monthly utilities. Yes! Saving money is how downsizing changed my life for the better.

Of course, selling and buying a home depends on what the real estate market is doing at the time and what the interest rates are. These things should be researched before making the decision to downsize a home.

Change of Mindset

We had to change our mindset in order to reach our traveling goal. First of all, you want to have your “why” upfront and center when making decisions. What is your “why”? In our situation, we’re talking about the freedom to travel. What is your reason for wanting to downsize and live a simple life? Do you want the freedom to travel as well?

Having a “why” will help when it comes down to making hard decisions. For example, that hard decision of mine to downsize to a smaller home. The decision to downsize was a little hard for me at first (not so much for my husband). Ok, I dragged my feet a bit throughout the entire process! However, I knew it would be a better financial decision and it just needed to be done. I would think about the “why” behind it and that definitely helped me through the entire process. I’m so glad we did it because it definitely helped us reach our traveling goal.

Having your “why” upfront and center will also help when it comes time to declutter and get rid of belongings. When your “why” is strong, your mindset will shift and it will get easier to free yourself from all that “stuff” you’ve accumulated. Take it from me, I know! I would get rid of stuff and pair down items but not nearly enough. My storage cabinets and closets would still be full of stuff. I just couldn’t let stuff go.

As my “why’ got stronger within me, my mindset shifted and I could definitely get rid of more things without second-guessing it. This was a lifesaver when it came time to move onto our sailboat. Talk about living in a small space and purging most of our belongings!

Changing your mindset also helps when making purchases, even everyday purchases. More on that below.

Made Fewer Purchases

As a result of downsizing, we made fewer purchases because we didn’t have the space for more things. Also with our goal to travel on a sailboat in a few years, why buy new stuff like furniture? I was tempted a few times but my husband would ask me, “does it really make sense to spend money on a new couch if we would just be getting rid of it in a few years?” Well since our current couch was just fine, no it didn’t. Redecorating or buying new furniture didn’t really make sense. Your “why” and change in mindset also help when you have the urge to buy more stuff. Resist the temptation!

Remember why you want to downsize when you think about making purchases. Big or small. The small ones add up too. If you plan on living in a smaller space and you aren’t sure how much room you’ll have, maybe hold off on the purchase. Wait until you get into your new space to see what you have room for. If it’s not a “need” maybe delay your purchase. Giving it a second thought might save you some money and some time down the road if you have to get rid of it.

The Final Stages of Our Plan

The final stages of our plan consisted of about 3 months of nothing but hard work and preparation before moving onto our sailboat. This was when things started to get real and we were preparing ourselves to actually move onto our sailboat and travel. This happened to be over the summer months and it was the busiest summer of our lives. During those 3 months, it all came together.

Bought a Storage Container

Instead of renting a storage unit, we ended up buying a storage container because we knew that there were some items that we didn’t want to get rid of. Fortunately, we had a place we could store our small container. It was a pricey purchase upfront but now we don’t have to worry about paying a monthly storage unit fee somewhere. Some of the things we ended up keeping in storage include outdoor gear, boat gear, and a small number of keepsake items.

The storage racks and bins we already had in our garage worked great along one wall of the storage container. We bought more of the same-sized bins for items that we wanted to keep. Before moving bins into the storage unit, we staged them in our garage as we diligently sorted through everything and decided whether or not it was a keeper.

Listed our House for Sale

We decided to list our house for sale instead of using it as a rental. Being a landlord during COVID didn’t seem like a great idea to us even though renting our house had been our plan in the beginning. Another deciding factor to sell our house rather than rent it out was that it was a seller’s market at the time so we wouldn’t be losing any money if we sold.

Before listing our home for sale, we painted the house and shed which were both in need of a paint job. Other tasks included pressure washing the concrete, a little painting inside, decluttering the house, deep cleaning, and staging it. We also had a garage sale before listing the house for sale to help get rid of the unwanted clutter and belongings we knew we didn’t want to keep. The furniture that was still used or that was needed for staging the house was kept at this point and the rest was sold.

We listed our house for sale by owner and hoped for a quick sale.

Sold our House

After listing our house for sale by owner, we had an offer within a few days. We hoped for a quick sale but closing in a month’s time really put the pressure on us! We still had a lot of work to do sorting through our belongings and trying to imagine what we could fit onto the sailboat with us. Even after having one garage sale already, there was still a lot of items to get rid of. You have so much more than you realize. It was time for another garage sale to get rid of the rest of our stuff.

Selling the house was a big step that made our goal of traveling on our sailboat a reality.

Got Rid of More Than Half of Our Belongings

During the last few months, we sold a vehicle and continued to sort through our belongings. We had already downsized our household by more than half of what we owned once before. Downsizing again from a small to average-sized house to a sailboat and small storage container was a whole new experience! We had to constantly ask ourselves, “Do we really need it? Will it fit on the sailboat? Will it fit in the storage container?”.

There is always an item or two that are sentimental and can be difficult to say goodbye to. It helped to have each other to talk to about these items. We had to be realistic about whether or not there was space in our storage container or on our sailboat. Some of the sentimental items were placed in good homes. Sorting through the kids’ artwork was fun and sometimes hard to throw away. We decided to digitize a lot of this type of memorabilia so a physical item wouldn’t need to be kept. Digitizing makes it so these memories can be viewed easily on devices instead of shoved in a box somewhere to maybe be looked at again in 10 years. That’s pretty cool.

The weekend before we had to be out of our house, we had another garage sale. It was amazing to see all the little things we were able to get rid of. Some even for free! At this point, we were so ready to be done and we just wanted it all gone! We also sold off or gave away to family members the bigger items like our tools and furniture. We didn’t want to store items that could easily be replaced or could be utilized by others that could use them.

It took time and dedication but we were able to get rid of all of our unwanted and unneeded belongings. Some we gave away, some we donated and some we sold. The rest is with us or being stored. There’s nothing I miss.

We Finally Quit our Jobs

We quit our jobs at the very end, right before we had to be out of our house. Quitting our jobs was scary but we were quite exhausted by this point and ready to call it quits. Looking back, I would have given myself a couple of weeks to finalize things with the house and our belongings without working full-time. That would have made things a little easier on me.

Moving on the Sailboat

The reality of how downsizing changed my life for the better happened when we finally moved onto the sailboat. Our hard work paid off. We achieved our goal of traveling and we achieved a simple living.

Unfortunately, the work of sorting our belongings wasn’t over yet. Since our sailboat was over an hour away we didn’t have time to prepare the boat to be lived on. We’d have to figure out quickly what belongings we actually had room for and sort through existing items on the boat. The sailboat need to be moved in a couple of weeks so there wasn’t time to rest, yet. At least at this point, we were living on the sailboat and only needed to focus on that task at hand. We were well on our way to starting our new adventure.

Commonly Asked Questions

How do you drastically downsize?

Downsizing and living a simple lifestyle is not for everyone. Some people may find it to be too difficult and feel like they are giving up too much. Downsizing to live in a small space can be liberating and can ultimately give you a feeling of having control over your life. When downsizing and simplifying your life, there is no room for unnecessary items.

It’s a process of sorting through your belongings and keeping only those necessary items that can fit in a small living space. If you’d like to downsize, start with these steps.

1. Start small by decluttering your closet, bathroom cabinet, or pantry. Work on one room at a time that needs decluttered the most, then work your way to other spaces from there.

2. Purge all unnecessary items – clothes you haven’t worn in the past year, the food you don’t eat, and other unnecessary items like knick-knacks that only take up space.

3. Get rid of all items you are not using or that you enjoy. This may seem simple but it can still be difficult when you’re just getting started. Think about whether you will use this item down the road or if it’s just taking up space. For some items, consider digitizing them, donating them to a local thrift store, recycling them, or repurposing the items in another way.

We looked at each item we owned and had to decide if it was something we needed or not and if it was able to fit into our small living space on our sailboat. Furniture, clothing, cooking utensils, bedding, dishes, decor, towels, and other small items were the types of things that we didn’t want to store so if there wasn’t room with us we got rid of it.

What should I keep and what should I get rid of when downsizing?

This is a difficult question and depends on the situation. Each person has to figure out for themselves what is important and what isn’t.

Having an idea of how much space you have to work with can help you in the downsizing process. Spending time on our sailboat prior to actually living on it helped me understand what I had space for. It also helped me with my mindset of knowing what I really needed. When I spent time on the sailboat, I didn’t miss my “stuff” at home. I knew I would be OK living in a small space and when I was home I actually felt like I had too much stuff around me.

When deciding what to keep or what to get rid of during the downsizing process, ask yourself some questions, “Do I need it?, Can I live without it?, Is this item replaceable?, Is this really important to me?, Do I have room for it?”. These questions can help when deciding if you keep it with you in your smaller living space, you end up storing it or getting rid of it. You only really need to keep things that you have a need for and that you have room for. Of course, I think there is an exception for having a few items that bring you joy and are special to you as long as you have a space for them.

How do I minimize what I own?

My suggestion is to begin by decluttering your home room by room. You can start in spaces like the kitchen or living room. How many cooking utensils and Tupperware containers do you really need? Have old pots and pans that you don’t use? Get rid of them! Have paper clutter and magazines? Digitize your life and get rid of the paper clutter. Lots of knick-knacks? The less you have, the less you have to dust. Keep the special ones and get rid of the rest.

I also recommend getting rid of clothes that are not your style, don’t fit, or have never been worn. Just think of all the closet space you could free up if you only keep clothing that you actually wear.

Are your bathroom cupboards full of beauty products you don’t use because you didn’t like them? Get rid of them. Maybe a friend or co-worker wants to try something out that didn’t work for you instead of just throwing it away. Of course, if it’s old or expired, the trash is probably the best place.

Once you start clearing out the clutter, don’t fill it back up with more clutter. Your spaces feel bigger when they aren’t jammed packed with stuff. I like to think about quality over quantity with what items I do have.

Downsizing Changed My Life

In this article, we went over how we prepared to have the freedom to travel as empty nesters by downsizing our home, reducing our debt, then ultimately selling our home and getting rid of most of our belongings. Downsizing changed my life by putting different aspects of our plan in motion. First, by reducing debt and expenses. Then by having a mindset change about “stuff” and getting serious about decluttering. If you’re considering downsizing and living in a small space, just remember that less is more.

In order to start this new adventure, it took time and lots of hard work but we’re ready for what’s next! It was worth it because we now have the freedom and opportunity to travel!

Are you taking the leap and downsizing? Why do you want to downsize? How do you think downsizing can change your life? Email us at [email protected] and let us know!

If you’d like to get a jumpstart on a big downsize, join our 50 in FIVE Downsizing Declutter Challenge today!

Other Helpful Resources

• How to Start Living a Simple Life Today

• Downsize to a Traveling Home: Start Planning Now

• 7 Ways to Downsize Your Life and Save Money

• Prepare for Living in a Small Space: Declutter Now