Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to 2 Weeks, 2 Months, 2 Years
Posted 02-23-2009 at 05:30 PM by TexasCasey
Feb. 22, 2009:
I feel like I have conquered my two largest hurdles. First off, I have made the decision to change my life so drastically and addressed the largest hurdles involved in doing so – at least to this point. Secondly, I have told my friends and family of this choice; While emotions were mixed, I do believe that everyone one of them hopes that I can find a way to make it work and be happy even though they don’t all like the idea of me not being around. I truly do see their point of view & happy that they can see mine.
At this point, I think that the decisions and research are becoming more of a back burner process. Most of my time the past week or so has been more hands on decisions and preparations. I have been doing an inventory of all of my personal belongings and assets. I have decided to keep my vehicle, but not to ship it right away. I have decided to sell almost everything I own here, before I leave. However, I have also decided to keep a little bit more than I expected & store away here, just in case.
I have heard from so many people – both at City-Data & other sources – that Hawaii is one of those places that you really should visit first, before moving. This has really stuck in the back of my head and nagged at me & gets reinforced from time to time. I have read several horror stories, some worse than others, of people making this move & just dreading it, quickly. The one girl who did this alone, like me, even had a job in place still didn’t make it a week, really got me thinking. On the other hand, I have read of several who have vacationed many times and still figure out quickly, once moved, that it isn’t for them either. I was going to try to take March to come and visit. But in the end, two things made me decide not to do this. 1) I really think I am going to fill up all of the next three months just preparing for this move. 2) I don’t want to cut into my savings even more so, this close to my move date.
This has all led me to develop my 3 step plan: “2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years”.
The plan starts with my personal inventory. I am going to take all of my belongings and sort them as follows: Items that I can – and want to - fit into four suitcase & take with me; Items that I want to keep, but not take with me (things I will store somewhere); Items that I will give away to friends and family if they want them; Items that I will sell in an estate sale (this is the largest majority of everything – and friends/family always have the first choice); Anything else, or anything that doesn’t sell, will be either stored, or more likely donated to local charities.
I am planning the estate sale for the middle of May, so that I still have a few weeks afterwards, to clean up loose ends & arrange donations with charities. My friends are also planning a huge Bar-B-Q/Luau going away party for me on Memorial Day weekend, so the weekend before, worked out just right. This will have me ready to get on a plane with 4 suitcases, some money in my pocket, no place to live, no place to work, and really no agenda that ‘has’ to happen from here on out.
My plan once I land in Kauai is to find somewhere to sleep for 2 weeks – lowest end hotel available, or even a hostel that I have read about. During this 2 weeks, I intend to find an island beater (on the real cheap end, to just get me here and there), a little bit of quick island touring (to determine where I ‘think’ I want to live), and find some place furnished that will rent to me for 2 months. During this 2 months, I plan to get over to BI & Maui & maybe another island or two (want to make sure that Kauai is right for me), determine where I want to live more permanent, and find someplace furnished that I can lease for up to two years, with my chicken out clause, of course. At that point, hopefully life will just take over.
To summarize, I am not actually following what I think is very good advice to visit first. However, I feel like the first few weeks & even the first few months, will be like an extended visit, with an option to just never leave, if I fit in. I also, feel that if I do chicken out (or get spit out, which I think is a great way of looking at it) I am in pretty good shape to return to Texas and start over here, again. Once, I feel like I am at home, in Hawaii, then I arrange for my truck and other belongings that I have stored, to be sent to me.
Well, I feel like I have caught this journal up to real time. I am going to continue to try to update it, whenever I have relevant information to add. However, it feels as if the next few months will be very similar to the past few weeks… In no way do I intend to say that ‘I know’ this, but I do ‘think’ this. Either way, I know that I have a lot of work to do and a little pidgin to start learning.
I feel like I have conquered my two largest hurdles. First off, I have made the decision to change my life so drastically and addressed the largest hurdles involved in doing so – at least to this point. Secondly, I have told my friends and family of this choice; While emotions were mixed, I do believe that everyone one of them hopes that I can find a way to make it work and be happy even though they don’t all like the idea of me not being around. I truly do see their point of view & happy that they can see mine.
At this point, I think that the decisions and research are becoming more of a back burner process. Most of my time the past week or so has been more hands on decisions and preparations. I have been doing an inventory of all of my personal belongings and assets. I have decided to keep my vehicle, but not to ship it right away. I have decided to sell almost everything I own here, before I leave. However, I have also decided to keep a little bit more than I expected & store away here, just in case.
I have heard from so many people – both at City-Data & other sources – that Hawaii is one of those places that you really should visit first, before moving. This has really stuck in the back of my head and nagged at me & gets reinforced from time to time. I have read several horror stories, some worse than others, of people making this move & just dreading it, quickly. The one girl who did this alone, like me, even had a job in place still didn’t make it a week, really got me thinking. On the other hand, I have read of several who have vacationed many times and still figure out quickly, once moved, that it isn’t for them either. I was going to try to take March to come and visit. But in the end, two things made me decide not to do this. 1) I really think I am going to fill up all of the next three months just preparing for this move. 2) I don’t want to cut into my savings even more so, this close to my move date.
This has all led me to develop my 3 step plan: “2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years”.
The plan starts with my personal inventory. I am going to take all of my belongings and sort them as follows: Items that I can – and want to - fit into four suitcase & take with me; Items that I want to keep, but not take with me (things I will store somewhere); Items that I will give away to friends and family if they want them; Items that I will sell in an estate sale (this is the largest majority of everything – and friends/family always have the first choice); Anything else, or anything that doesn’t sell, will be either stored, or more likely donated to local charities.
I am planning the estate sale for the middle of May, so that I still have a few weeks afterwards, to clean up loose ends & arrange donations with charities. My friends are also planning a huge Bar-B-Q/Luau going away party for me on Memorial Day weekend, so the weekend before, worked out just right. This will have me ready to get on a plane with 4 suitcases, some money in my pocket, no place to live, no place to work, and really no agenda that ‘has’ to happen from here on out.
My plan once I land in Kauai is to find somewhere to sleep for 2 weeks – lowest end hotel available, or even a hostel that I have read about. During this 2 weeks, I intend to find an island beater (on the real cheap end, to just get me here and there), a little bit of quick island touring (to determine where I ‘think’ I want to live), and find some place furnished that will rent to me for 2 months. During this 2 months, I plan to get over to BI & Maui & maybe another island or two (want to make sure that Kauai is right for me), determine where I want to live more permanent, and find someplace furnished that I can lease for up to two years, with my chicken out clause, of course. At that point, hopefully life will just take over.
To summarize, I am not actually following what I think is very good advice to visit first. However, I feel like the first few weeks & even the first few months, will be like an extended visit, with an option to just never leave, if I fit in. I also, feel that if I do chicken out (or get spit out, which I think is a great way of looking at it) I am in pretty good shape to return to Texas and start over here, again. Once, I feel like I am at home, in Hawaii, then I arrange for my truck and other belongings that I have stored, to be sent to me.
Well, I feel like I have caught this journal up to real time. I am going to continue to try to update it, whenever I have relevant information to add. However, it feels as if the next few months will be very similar to the past few weeks… In no way do I intend to say that ‘I know’ this, but I do ‘think’ this. Either way, I know that I have a lot of work to do and a little pidgin to start learning.
Total Comments 1
Comments
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Hi,
I am new to this blog stuff and a little to busy to do it regularly, but had to respond to you. I, too, made the leap to Kauai 5 years ago and wil never regret it. There are important things to remember. One is that it is not a failure to want to come to live here then go back somewhere. Lots of folks do it. Kauai is the Mother; there is deep healing that happens here. There is a reason you are drawn here; it may never be apparent to you. It is also true, some of us just get bounced right off the island. It is all okay. The weather and beauty are sublime. It is hard to find a job here that pays enough to make rent or mortgage. Young people living together make it possible for some. I live in the mountains above the Hostel which is nice and convenient in Kapaa. It is strange. Everything we love to do is free and the necessities of life are expensive. A simple life is possible. Go for it!Posted 02-23-2009 at 07:48 PM by bunny47
