Taking action towards the dream - AKA Downsizing

The view we're giving up

Well, for the last couple weeks Kara and I have been packing and gradually moving stuff from our beautiful condo in downtown Austin, to our little place out in the Texas hill country.  We both love the house and it's great to be on the water at Lake LBJ but for several years now we've had (for us) a perfect setup by spending the work wee at the condo where we're close to pretty much everything and our weekends out at the lake for a little relaxation.

With our need to really up our savings rate for the cruising kitty and the Austin real estate explosion, the time was right for us to move out the condo and get it ready to rent.  We talked with a few folks about what we could rent the place for and it looks like we can get close to $3000 per month for it.  Which to us seems crazy, we love the place but there is no way we'd pay that much to live there.  So, we've spent the last few weeks packing and gradually moving stuff.

Ready for moving day #1

As you can imaging going from two places to one means we had a good deal of overlap in STUFF, so we've given away a couple sofa's in exchange for moving assistance on the things that where too heavy for Kara and I to get down the stairs on our own.  We're now down to a bed, dresser, and recliner that we'll be moving this weekend, while everyone is in town for the Thanksgiving holiday and we can wrangle a little more assistance.

Now we're able to enjoy the beauty and quiet of the lake on a daily basis.  We just have to learn to deal with being an 1.5 hours away from everything instead of the 10 minutes we've grown used to.  We also want to make sure we don't drift away from some great friends we've made in Austin, so we're hoping to be able to do some weekend couch surfing and enjoy a night out in the big city, from time to time.

It's definitely peaceful out here.

Eventually we know we'll have to sell the lake house before we make the final jump to the boat.  This strategy allows us to enjoy it for the next several years while putting another $36k a year on the into the kitty.  Due to location our goal is to keep the condo for the long term, since it should be easy to rent and means we're never more than 12 months away from being able to move back into it...just in case.

It's a big change for us both, but it's another big step towards our dream of untying the lines and doing some serious cruising in the not too distant future.  And that....makes it all worth it.

Plus, being at the lake does have it's upside.

Sunset Kayak on lake LBJ