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I moved from Scotland to Finland, which involved a few suitcases on a plane, and a pallet of stuff going by sea. We sold almost everything we owned prior to th

I moved from Scotland to Finland, which involved a few suitcases on a plane, and a pallet of stuff going by sea. We sold almost everything we owned prior to the move. The things that were carried were things like personal possessions with significant history or memories. Sounds like we approached it in a very similar way to you. There are definitely moments where I think "I need to repair this pipe, I have a pipe-cutter in my toolbox", then I recall that the toolbox didn't get moved with us. But there aren't many things that I miss.

grumpy-de-sre 5y ago
I made the move from Australia to Germany with little more than a small suitcase and a hiking pack. Looking back it's not something I would repeat. You've got to be absolutely ruthless about what you sell or dispose of but seriously consider getting a pallet. It took me a long time to replace the stuff I sold for pennies on the dollar. In the end I didn't find it particularly liberating. Though I think part of that is I went from living independently to relying on furnished apartments for a couple years. Living in a place that's not your own can eventually become grating.
- stevekemp 5y ago
  I'd agree with that. We spent a busy few weeks getting basic things setup (sofa, table, tv, book-cases, etc). Over time I started to get annoyed that because we'd bought things used with no real planning we had different colours/styles/designs all mishmashed together. There was nothing wrong with any of the things we bought, but over time it did become annoying to live in such a state. I can imagine that if we'd moved into a furnished house we'd have had similar views and even less control about replacing things to match. Feeling more like a caretaker than living in "our home".
- rightbyte 5y ago
  Ye I don't get the liberating thing. You need stuff. Screwdrivers, cloth hangers, spoons ... I feel like just ditching it all and thinking of your self as unbound to earthly possesions is self-deception, since you just buy it again. It is acctually consumerism and spree shooping.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 5y ago
    I think it’s an over correction from being too consumerist. You go from extreme to extreme. I see this with people who didn’t exercise, and now they are all in with the gear and the diets etc. But I wish there were certain things and spaces that were able to be rented. I don’t need a drill all the time. Sometimes I need a workbench and more clamps. There’s a lot of community level optimisation we could do.
    - braincrumbs 5y ago
      Most hardware stores do rent tools. And many towns and cities have tool lending libraries.
    - emodendroket 5y ago
      I think a drill is the one tool pretty much everyone could stand to have.
      - 2muchcoffeeman 5y ago
        I own a drill and would probably advise the same thing. But I clearly don’t use it more than a few hours a year.
        emodendroket 5y ago
        True. But also true that you can't really do quick, impromptu fixes if you have to rent the thing.
  - eertami 5y ago
    You need them sure, but you don't need them to be _new_ screwdrivers, clothing hangers or spoons. When moving, I sell leftover things to people who need them. And then when I arrive, I buy things second hand from people who no longer have a need for them.
    - rightbyte 5y ago
PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
My definition of home after spending 9 months in a van travelling in Europe and the US was something along the lines of: the place where I can keep things that I don't use very often but that feel important to my sense of self. For me personally, one good example of that would be my table saw. I don't use it often (and I certainly did not need it while travelling). But owning a table saw is a part of what makes me feel like me (not to mention it's history in removing part of one of my thumbs). Having a place where the table saw can just be (i.e. not a storage facility) is for me part of what "having a home" is all about. The same would be true of things like my cookbooks. In the age of the internet, I don't even use them much anymore, and I certainly would not take them with me on any bounded-term move. Having on a shelf at home is part of what makes home actually be "home" rather than just "where I'm living".

grumpy-de-sre 5y ago

I made the move from Australia to Germany with little more than a small suitcase and a hiking pack. Looking back it's not something I would repeat. You've got to be absolutely ruthless about what you sell or dispose of but seriously consider getting a pallet. It took me a long time to replace the stuff I sold for pennies on the dollar. In the end I didn't find it particularly liberating. Though I think part of that is I went from living independently to relying on furnished apartments for a couple years. Living in a place that's not your own can eventually become grating.

stevekemp 5y ago
I'd agree with that. We spent a busy few weeks getting basic things setup (sofa, table, tv, book-cases, etc). Over time I started to get annoyed that because we'd bought things used with no real planning we had different colours/styles/designs all mishmashed together. There was nothing wrong with any of the things we bought, but over time it did become annoying to live in such a state. I can imagine that if we'd moved into a furnished house we'd have had similar views and even less control about replacing things to match. Feeling more like a caretaker than living in "our home".
rightbyte 5y ago
Ye I don't get the liberating thing. You need stuff. Screwdrivers, cloth hangers, spoons ... I feel like just ditching it all and thinking of your self as unbound to earthly possesions is self-deception, since you just buy it again. It is acctually consumerism and spree shooping.
- 2muchcoffeeman 5y ago
  I think it’s an over correction from being too consumerist. You go from extreme to extreme. I see this with people who didn’t exercise, and now they are all in with the gear and the diets etc. But I wish there were certain things and spaces that were able to be rented. I don’t need a drill all the time. Sometimes I need a workbench and more clamps. There’s a lot of community level optimisation we could do.
  - braincrumbs 5y ago
    Most hardware stores do rent tools. And many towns and cities have tool lending libraries.
  - emodendroket 5y ago
    I think a drill is the one tool pretty much everyone could stand to have.
    - 2muchcoffeeman 5y ago
      I own a drill and would probably advise the same thing. But I clearly don’t use it more than a few hours a year.
      - emodendroket 5y ago
        True. But also true that you can't really do quick, impromptu fixes if you have to rent the thing.
- eertami 5y ago
  You need them sure, but you don't need them to be _new_ screwdrivers, clothing hangers or spoons. When moving, I sell leftover things to people who need them. And then when I arrive, I buy things second hand from people who no longer have a need for them.
  - rightbyte 5y ago

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago

My definition of home after spending 9 months in a van travelling in Europe and the US was something along the lines of: the place where I can keep things that I don't use very often but that feel important to my sense of self. For me personally, one good example of that would be my table saw. I don't use it often (and I certainly did not need it while travelling). But owning a table saw is a part of what makes me feel like me (not to mention it's history in removing part of one of my thumbs). Having a place where the table saw can just be (i.e. not a storage facility) is for me part of what "having a home" is all about. The same would be true of things like my cookbooks. In the age of the internet, I don't even use them much anymore, and I certainly would not take them with me on any bounded-term move. Having on a shelf at home is part of what makes home actually be "home" rather than just "where I'm living".