We just got home from a hectic month of selling our house and everything in it, well mostly. It’s been less than a week since we returned to the boat in Cartagena, and I finally feel relaxed. It was a mad dash to get it all done before closing and visit the people and places we wanted to in Toronto. This city was a great place to live and we will always enjoy visiting Toronto. Selling a house and moving out is a big life moment, but doing it to stay full time on a 46 foot boat and travel on it is life-changing. I also realized there are a lot of tips I could have used about how to purge, so I am sharing them here.
What to Keep
Selling our house and everything in it could have been traumatic. But we were primed for it through a combination of terrible tenants and a fun life on our boat. Other people have to do this under much more trying circumstances, and I am aware of our fortune. Here are some ways to make this process easier.
The hardest part is deciding what to keep. Will you use it and do you even like it? If the answer to both is NO, then don’t keep it. This time, our second and more final round of purging after 2.5 years on the boat, I was more cutthroat. I washed any clothes that seemed even mildly off – the beauty of an in-home washer and dryer – and piled up anything I have no chance of wearing anytime soon. If clothes were in good shape, they went into the DONATE pile. If not, straight into trash bags. On a boat, those would become rags, but we weren’t flying rags back to Colombia with us!
As with clothes, with electronics, housewares, everything. We did find a few GoPro accessories and data storage units to bring back with us, but not much else. And we couldn’t keep our housewares. We already have the 6 plates, 2 pots, 1 pan, 1 baking dish, and 1 cookie sheet we use on the boat. The appliances and multiple sets of glasses and plates had to go!
Enjoy The Memories
Purging is stressful. Going through all your life’s belongings feels like a trip down memory lane. And it also feels like you’re rejecting those memories when you get rid of gifts, cards, and photos. One way to make it easier is to photograph the things you are leaving behind. I don’t need birthday cards from when I was 10 years old, but I took a photo of them because they are a nice glimpse into the past. We used to make homemade cards. I don’t want to forget, but I don’t want to hold onto old paper. Think of it like that, enjoy the memories as you are looking through these relics, but get rid of them.
How To Sell
While Brian’s initial idea of throwing an open house/selling party would have been fun, we didn’t want to make the news for hosting a Super Spreader event. Instead we invited friends and family to stop by and browse. While we can’t use our slow cooker, stand mixer, and countless other small kitchen appliances on Sava, people living in houses can definitely enjoy those conveniences. And they did! Friends and family will hopefully think of us while making their delicious pulled pork, brownies, and more.
Selling Our House and Everything in It: Facebook Marketplace
Want to know the best tip for how to sell your belongings? It’s Facebook marketplace. This has overtaken Craigslist and everyone else in online local sales. We had to join a lot of local selling groups to get started, because you want to list in multiple groups to get noticed. Tip: Try to find groups that are hyper-local to your area but not too small. People who lived an hour away would message us but then never write back when they learned our location.
In Facebook Marketplace, everyone thinks they’re a great negotiator. You don’t need to write OBO (Or best Offer) in your listing because everyone will bargain you down anyway. Second tip: write very clearly, in several places on the listing, your location and if it’s pick-up only. I can’t remember how many people asked Brian and me if we’d deliver to places an hour away. Although, if you are willing to deliver, you’ll probably make more sales. The buyers will still try to knock the price down, though!
Final tip: even after doing market research, you can’t know how much people are willing to spend. Brian especially had a lot of bidding on electric tools and probably could have made a lot more than he did, but he placed very fair prices based on how much they would cost new and still people went crazy for these items. For my part, I couldn’t believe how many people wanted to buy a used electric kettle and a standing fan.
Your best bet is to do the research and decide how much you’d be happy to receive for the item. That’s how to avoid buyer’s remorse.
How to Purge: Donating
One man’s trash is another’s treasure! We spent a month in Toronto, selling our house and everything in it, or donating it. I can’t believe the amount of perfectly good stuff we had to give away! And I am happy we could give it away rather than it end up in landfills. When I return to land life and need more things, or just things I didn’t need on the boat, I will be buying used as much as possible! And now I know where to go, in Toronto at least.
If you can’t find someone to buy your stuff, don’t feel bad! Not everything is sellable if it isn’t new. You can find a good organization to take it as a donation. We fortunately came after the worst of the Covid lockdowns, but even then some charities and shelters still weren’t ready to accept donations. Those who were ready were getting some good supplies!
For little trinkets and things, Brian put a shelf out front of our house and we quickly rotated through a variety of DVDs, household items and random stuff with a “FREE” sign on it. Dog walkers got some good free things.
Toronto has a lot of good organizations that will give donations away to the needy, or raise money from them. Many of these organizations list on their websites what they need and what they don’t, so doing research is a few clicks away.
Salvation Army Thrift Store: Housewares and Clothing
If you’re in Toronto and need home supplies or clothing, head to The Salvation Army Thrift store on Queen West. We made three separate trips there last week, with lots of almost new clothes, housewares and more. That store sells everything, and the donations were piling up, keeping the volunteers busy.
Free Geek Toronto: Electronics
We donated our 50+ inch video monitor and a bunch of cables, chargers, and other electronics to Free Geek Toronto, another awesome non-profit. Rather than throw that stuff in the trash, they’ll repurpose it, donate it, or sell it in their store for a great price to those who will use it. They even have staffers and volunteers who can fix electronics. Reduce, reuse, recycle!
Free Little Libraries: Books
The first time we left the house, we held onto a lot of our books. Some we donated to The Toronto Public Library for their resale program. This time, we rode our bikes around the neighborhood dropping off books at various Little Free Libraries. What a great resource! People leave their books behind, and pick up one to read! In cruiser circles, many marinas and laundries have book exchanges, and this is the same thing. An honor system for books.
Living with Less
Living on a boat has made me appreciate owning only what I need and using it until it no longer works, or in the case of a skirt I once loved, is shredded and looks like a rag. Then it becomes a rag until it’s garbage. New is only better to the producers. There’s enough in the world already: I am happy to re-use and recycle.
Disclaimer: We still have a storage unit in the city with records, photo albums, some winter clothes in case we go back in a rush, our bikes, and lots of furniture. Some of the furniture was family heirlooms which we didn’t have the proper time to part with properly, and some we hope family will use again. And Brian and I couldn’t give up our bikes. If we could keep them on the boat, we would. Salt water and air is not good for them.
This is why I wrote we’re selling our house and everything in it. Mostly. I’m not an expert at how to purge, but I’m getting better!
How We Feel
As I said, this is a big life milestone. We moved onto our boat in December 2018, not knowing how we’d like it or how long we’d last. Now the boat is all we have and we are committed to this life. It’s not as dramatic as it sounds because it took all this time to get here. We loved our house, and more importantly, the people we met and community we built while living there. It was a great neighborhood and we had a lot of fun times there. I think we both agree that we won’t miss the house but we are so glad for the life we spent there.
I’m happy we were able to get back to Toronto before closing the house. We got to see almost everyone we wanted to, even if much of it was too short. Those of you we didn’t see will have to come visit us.
What’s Next For Sava and Her Crew
We don’t know! For the next month or two, we’ll be in Colombia, sailing a bit and traveling inland some more. After that? Panama! After that? We don’t know. Making plans on a sailboat is always hard. Making plans when it’s your whole life in front of you? That’s exciting!
What are your best tips on how to purge? Share in the comments!
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Congratulations! Have fun. Very inspiring ????