In July of 2017, I had a thought stirring around. What if I sell my home of 11 years and down size to an apartment? People do it all the time. For various reasons. Mine was because I had a big house. I was sick of mowing the lawn. Shoveling the snow. Cleaning 3 toilets. (Ickkk) Storing ungodly amounts of stuff. Paying for utilities that I never used. The clutter was causing so much anxiety I felt like I was lugging an anchor around. Home maintenance was dragging me down! The thought of simplifying my life was so attractive! So in August I began the 'Big Purge'. About half of my possessions were either donated to charity or given away to family and friends. Plus the big stuff that needed to be hauled away to the dump such as a big TV and entertainment center-those things you cannot even GIVE away! Then in September the next step would be to fix up the place and get it ready for sale! The minor repairs and updates-new flooring, new paint, new kitchen updates, landscaping etc were necessary in order to sell. Family members were there to help! OMG. I could never have done this without the wonderful help of Mom and Dad!!!!! You can see the AFTER pictures below of the new flooring. Fantastico!!!! The sign went up in October. Had a first showing. First offer. Second showing. Second offer. Bidding Wars began and it was sold in 24 hours. For full asking price. Yikes! Sellers market indeed. Moved out of the McMansion on November 17. And again, FAMILY and friends helped with the big move. HUGE shout out to sister KAY (Omaha ZOO QUEEN Extraordinaire) KLATT and LUCY (Radio GODDESS DJ ) CHAPMAN for taking they're free time on a SATURDAY and moving my stuff! People are awesome. And moving SUCKS. But 6 months of stress has come and gone. Well, not gone completely...Leia and I have moved from a 3000 sq ft house to a 1100 sq ft apartment that is absolutely perfect. Pets are pretty much settled in. They sleep a lot and will probably get fat. Need a cool cat tree...Life is simplified. Less clutter. Smaller home. No maintenance. It feels good right now. I will miss my birds...But I sure as hell won't miss worrying about a furnace break down...I'm 1 month into living the apartment life. LOVE.
