I haven’t said a whole lot about our move for several months now because we have been in a holding pattern.

We have been living like Gypsies, going from place to place…and were settled into a lovely furnished home temporarily for a couple more months.

We found it too difficult to search the real estate market and make the necessary new connections in a new city living an hour away so being in a temporary furnished place for a short period really allowed us to make the  get to know the city and get down to business.  Our time there came to an end yesterday and I will always have fond memories since it’s time spent really getting to know the city on foot and in person.

Onward we move though and we packed it all up over the last few days for our final temporary stay before we settle into the new home we’ve found.  After looking for several months and at over 30 places (the rental market right now is extremely competitive!) we are VERY excited about this home, it has everything we are looking for and it’s in a fantastic location.  We are renting and we found a real estate agent who was super helpful but we also put the word out to anyone and everyone we know and scoured the papers and craigslist.  In the end, we found something through word of mouth. I’m now in the process of setting up all the utilities, TV, internet etc.  Next we will line up a truck for moving day and try to enlist whatever help we can get…it feels like we are down to the final stretch!

I have to admit that we have been lugging around so much (i.e. too much) stuff over the past 8 months living in various locations and taking trips back and forth to here and there…I have had my moments where I just wanted to toss it all out for a more simple life but I didn’t because as organized as I am, I love my stuff! 

After moving so much around for so long, I have learned to edit more quickly and more often.  I have many hobbies that require stuff like knitting, sewing, cooking, gardening, reading and more so I doubt I will ever be living like a superstar minimalist.

If you’ve ever lived somewhere temporarily with the majority of  your stuff in storage you probably know the feeling and you will have learned some valuable things about yourself before it’s all over.

• I’ve learned how essential it is to keep things sorted and separated by category (in bags, boxes and bins).
• I rely on keeping a somewhat regular routine and get good rest (because all this moving is exhausting).
• I edit often and a bit more ruthlessly than I use to.
• Most importantly I have learned to be flexible and make due with what I have where I am.
• I also make a lot of lists and check and double check where I’ve put things, especially if its a very important item.
• We travel with a portable file box and our fireproof safe box for certain important documents and valuables which gives me peace of mind (it’s really a scaled down version of my normal system).

Have you ever lived like a gypsy?  If so did you love it and what did you learn?