Happy Dance!!!!! - Montana Owners Club

exav8tr · 03-24-2007, 11:16 AM

Well, Cathy and I are doing the HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY DANCE today. We just sold our stick home. Now the work begins in deciding what to put in Monty and what to put in storage. Fortunately the buyers would like some of our furniture to stay and are willing to pay extra for that. We just have to figure out prices for things and present them with it. After they decide on what they want, then we can sell or donate the rest. They want to close on Apr 24th, so things will be moving quickly.

I can't believe this is happening and so fast at that. I actually wanted a little more time before we had to move. Weather will be a huge factor for us since it has been snowing again for last two days. Not sure when we will be able to move Monty from dealer to CG. Most CG's here don't open until mid May so that may be a problem. Talk about a whirlwind turn around.

Oh well, this will all be worth it in the long run (at least I keep telling myself that anyway).

Phil P.

5rvers · 03-24-2007, 11:23 AM

Phil and Cathy,

congratulations on selling your stick house. I wish you all the best of luck in your new endeavor.

Lou

DONnANNIE · 03-24-2007, 11:40 AM

Phil and Cathy congragts on selling the stick house. That is has to be a big relief for you.

DHenry · 03-24-2007, 11:55 AM

Congradulations to you two. Hope all goes smooth.

jrgwdenner · 03-24-2007, 11:59 AM

Wonderful news! Now the fun begins. Hope the weather cooperates.

Parrothead · 03-24-2007, 12:19 PM

Congrats. I'm so jealous. We just put ours on the market yesterday. We are very busy taking things out to the Monty, selling stuff, packing, etc. They told us to put away all the family pictures and little knick knacks so now my home looks cold.
Happy trails.................

adelmoll · 03-24-2007, 02:00 PM

Way to go Phil and Cathy.......... It will all be worth it. I promise you..

Helen

stiles watson · 03-24-2007, 02:32 PM

Congratulations!!! You just love it when a good plan comes together.

campbud · 03-24-2007, 03:08 PM

Congratulations! Things will work out and you will soon be on the road full timers! How exciting for you Cathy and Phil!

exav8tr · 03-24-2007, 03:34 PM

Sue, you are absolutely right. We "Decluttered" our home back in September and it has not nearly been like a home, more like a rental house. I, not Cathy, am finding this very difficult to do. I guess I'm the one that tends to "Hang" on to things. The next month will be very tough for me as we sell, give and throw away 38 years of stuff. But as everyone says, "IT IS JUST STUFF". At least the proceeds from the sale will make things a little easier....

Phil

Glenn and Lorraine · 03-25-2007, 01:37 AM

Congrats and welcome to the full time lifestyle. You're gonna have a ball.

Connorsmom · 03-25-2007, 04:21 AM

Congratulations Phil and Cathy!! Everything will move so fast for y'all now, it'll be like a blur. When it comes to the "stuff"...well, personally I'm finding that to be the hardest part for me so far. Maybe it will help you by having someone with you to go through it all. During this part, I kind of wish I did too. But anyway...when you find yourself wanting to hang on to something...just ask yourself, do we really NEED this, or do we just WANT this? Big difference as I'm sure you know. Hang in there, and enjoy the ride...:-)

Jan

p.s. A major motivation for me was knowing that other MOCers were doing the same thing...going through and letting go of their "stuff". It has helped me a great deal, and pushed me to move forward...:-)

Mudchief · 03-25-2007, 04:42 AM

Congratulations and what a nice problem to have. Maybe you will have a early spring.

refocused · 03-25-2007, 05:12 AM

Congratulations - we're a little jealous - will be about 2 more years before we can sell the stick house and move on to the fulltimimg lifestyle!

Dustytuu · 03-26-2007, 02:13 PM

We also are putting our house back on the market next Thursday. We have been putting things in storage for a couple of weeks. One more load to storage and it is just chairs. House looks like someone's house not ours. Have donated so much! More going to be donated after the house sells. Storeing some furniture. We plan on full timing for 2 or 3 years and then buying a house in AZ.

simonsrf · 03-27-2007, 08:03 AM

Phil and Cathy,

We feel your pain. We started full-timing in October after spending almost an entire year of sorting, garage selling, donating, and giving to our kids. All of these “things” that we cherished all these years brought 2 cents on the dollar at our garage sales.

The pay-off was the day we walked out of our house and closed the garage door; what a great relief. It was all gone except for what we kept in a 5 x 10 storage unit. Whew!...done!

We have not looked back and do not really miss anything(ok maybe a couple of things). Paying the added expense of a larger storage unit was a goal to keep the number of storage items to a minimum.

Now, we are going to flush some more out of the 5er and reduce the storage area to a 5 x 5…..need to scan all the family pictures and put them on the computer….big chore!

Hang in there, keep making those tough decisions, keep it simple and you will be just fine…..remember, the cost of buying what you really need in the future is probably going to be cheaper than storing it all those years.

exav8tr · 03-28-2007, 07:44 PM

Robbie and Alice, Thanks for your kind words of encouragement. Today I rented an 8 x 10 storage unit to keep things in until we decide what we will be taking on the road. We hope to downsize that before we leave Alaska. Fortunately, the folks who bought our house want the living room set, master bedroom set, big screen TV with surround sound, some bookcases and are coming over this weekend to look at other things we want to sell. This makes things a little easier, not having to move a bunch of big furniture. I figure we will still have some things left and will have a "EVERYTHING MUST GO" Yard sale, then put the rest in the storage unit or, more than likely, the dumpster....

The real pain is the buyers want to close 24 Apr and take occupancy the next day. Normally not a problem, but if the weather does not cooperate where we can get the Monty out of storage and set it up in a temp camp, we may be spending some hotel time. When you get your full asking price for a house it is hard to try and negotiate anything, like a longer move out date. Oh well, this will come and go quickly, I hope.......

Delaine and Lindy · 03-29-2007, 02:51 AM

We understand your situation, we sold our stick house and all funiture. Everything sold in about 9 hours over a Friday and Sat. and canceled Sun. Everything that we didn't sell we donated to Goodwill and wrote it off our Taxs. Good Luck on your new life...GBY....

Montana Sky · 03-30-2007, 02:30 PM

Congrats! Glad to hear things are moving along. The best is yet to come...

exav8tr · 04-03-2007, 08:40 PM

Well, the time is getting closer. I signed up for a mail forwarding service today. Also ordered my water filter system. Bought a couple more potable water hoses, an adjustable brass water gauge, torque wrench, 19V cordless drill, Sears roto tool. Trying to find a CB Radio dealer in Anchorage is very difficult. Everyone says go to radio shack. Will buy off net tomorrow. Ordered a portable ice maker also (can't do without Ice on the road). Will probably wait until I hit the lower 48 before doing anything with sat TV and internet. Don't trust the folks here for that, there not always up on the latest and greatest.

We have already sold a lot from our house and are getting ready for Garage sale on 14-15 April. Close on house around the 24th so got to get moving.

Still looking for a Hughes Autoformer. If anyone has one they are not using we could talk.....

Still have things I want to add to the Monty but will probably wait until we can visit a CW in Washington.

Thanks for all the best wishes....

Phil P.

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