If there’s one thing that we learned from staying at home over these past few months, it’s this – you don’t have to love your home but you should at least like it.

When we moved into our current apartment in 2016, it was one of only 3 options available in our area. We never loved it but we found it suitable for our needs and managed to convince ourselves that the “amenities” made up for its shortcomings. Among those shortcomings – maintenance is always hit or miss, and by that I mean, they always come to fix the problem but their solution is sometimes lacking. When they fixed the leak from the upstairs apartment that came through our ceiling, they conveniently neglected to paint over the water spots. We’ve lived with that for 2 years now. They fixed the stove by bringing us a really, really used one to replace the brand new one that we paid extra to get. And most recently, they fixed our wasp problem by bringing us a can of Raid (I kid you not).

Our town has grown exponentially over the past four years (thanks in large part to our awesome mayor and the implementation of our first ever citywide strategic plan). Amid the growth, our quaint downtown area with its local shops, restaurants, and Farmer’s Market is thriving. We have more tech jobs now (instead of just factory jobs), more recreational spaces, and a brand new college campus. Now, make no mistake, we are happy with the direction that the town is heading because there’s more opportunity for folks to find something to love right here locally but we still don’t see ourselves living here forever.

With that being said, we decided (much on a whim) that we would move to a new apartment. During the last few years, more than a half dozen new apartment complexes have sprung up to accommodate the influx of folks wanting to live “near Nashville”. A lot of these places are really luxurious (with elevators and coffee bars) and way out of our price range but a few are within just a few dollars of what we are paying now.

When we knew we wanted to move, we had a dilemma of a different sort to contend with. How does one qualify for an apartment without a “real” income?? Turns out it wasn’t as hard as we thought it would be. Though I compiled an extensive list of my varying income sources, it was our credit score and rental history that sealed the deal. I’m proud to say that all the frugal financial finagling that we’ve done these past few years paid off and we we got the highest possible score in our screening process (whatever that means exactly).

We’re silly excited about this whole thing and not just because we’re moving somewhere new but because it’s a chance to reboot our minimalist life. I’m not sure how, but along the way we’ve acquired a lot of stuff again. Okay, not as much stuff as some of the folks we see moving in/out of here but for us…it’s a lot of stuff. We have dumpster furniture that we just couldn’t let go to landfill, a plethora of flower pots on a patio that despite our best intentions, won’t grow a weed much less a plant, and so many other things, I can’t think of them all.

Our new space is a blank canvas just waiting NOT TO BE CLUTTERED. We’re moving in 2 weeks so we’ve already started selling off a lot of our stuff. Bulky living room suite – gone!

Cabinets, tables, and storage drawers we found in the dumpster – gone!

Angie even parted with her paddleboard that took up the biggest part of one closet, reasoning that if she wanted to use one, rentals are only $8/hour at our local park.

As of right now, we’ve made $785 getting rid of stuff – a lot of it stuff that someone else once threw in the garbage. But more importantly, we’re reducing our possessions (again) and finding new homes for still useful things.