Number 2  

How much stuff do you really need:

or

Getting your life into 6 Bags

We made a decision to not ship anything to Costa Rica.  The biggest reason being costs and the second reason was we wanted to try living here first. .  The costs of a shipping container is expensive. We got tentative costs of around $12,000.  The shipper drops a container in your drive way and you have 1 day to fill it all with whatever you want, including cars.  Since we are unsure of our final destination and didn't want to make that kind of commitment without living here for a year. Also the customs on the goods shipped into Costa Rica is at least 30% of the value of the goods. So many people ship their entire lives into a container and then find out that they hate it.  Everyday we see ads for household goods being sold because people are moving back "home".  The statistics are reported to be 80% of the people who come here from the US don't stay.


When we sold our 3 bedroom house we said we wanted a feeling of less "stuff".  To be honest, I did not go through that process of downsizing easily.  I had feeling of insecurity and of not being "safe". Ok we can all psychoanalysis Linda at another time. We sold pretty much all our furniture and put the remainder of our lives in a storage Pod. BTW, selling used furniture has little to no value, even for all the Italian made furniture purchased at Bloomingdale's

The next decision was what do we bring to Costa Rica. When we came in October, we took 3 bags and found a storage unit by the airport and left everything we took there.  I believed I would remember what we brought (without making a list)  but when we arrived I had no idea what was in the storage unit.

Jet Blue allows 2 bags per person  to be checked for free  (under 50 pounds each).  The next 2 bag cost $50 each. The next 2 bags were $100 each.  Since one of the bags weighed over 50 pounds that bag was an additional $100.  So are you keeping up with the math?  That's $400 extra in airline fees.
So not only have I forgotten everything we brought down in October, we packed the new bags 6 weeks before we arrived so pretty much we forget the contents of those 6 bags too.

Unpacking was fun.  When packing with limitations, it becomes so important that every ounce you pack is something you really need.  Makes sense...well when we unpacked I just had to shake my head with some of my choices.  Why did I ever think I needed to bring a DVD player to Costa Rica. Where did I think we were going to rent DVD?. And, why did I think bringing 12 tubes of scratch medication and 15 tooth brushes (oh yes I did) was a good idea especially since we brought our electric tooth brushes.  I now have more pairs of under ware in Costa Rica than a family of 20. So if the amount of stuff you bring is correlated to the importance of that stuff in your life, I value toothbrushes, cut ointment, and under ware.  Hummm what does that say about me?

When we rented the condo over the internet, without ever seeing it in person, (we are the trusting type) I did ask if the kitchen was fully furnished.  The answer was YES.  Something got lost in the translation because the condo had 4 plates, 4 cups, 4 knives, 4 forks and 4 spoons and 1 set of sheets for each bed.  It did not have a coffee marker, any kitchen utensils, storage bowls, cleaning tools, potato peeler and the list goes on...... That's when you realize just what you need!

Here is a picture of Roger's new coffee maker. This is how the people of Costa Rica used to brew their coffee. We are learning to live without our stuff quite nicely.  One last item we brought from home was a small vacuum cleaner.  Nice idea but the cleaning lady doesn't use one!