As of 3 o’clock in the afternoon on April 17th, the Opheim family were officially homeless… and jobless and FREE!

But, the beach adventure couldn’t start just yet.  We needed to hang out in the midwest until our good friends Justine (also our first nanny) and Michael got married on May 3rd.  This meant we had two weeks to find places to crash.

What does a family of four do when they don’t have a place to hang their hat?

Well, you book various “bed and breakfasts” at our family and friends’ houses staying anywhere from 1 to 4 nights on blow up beds, recliners, couches and spare bedrooms.  It ended up being a great way to:

A) Decompress from the insane drama that is moving out of a house and selling all of our stuff.

B) Enjoy the red carpet treatment from all of them with many busting out their best recipes (thanks guys – I gained the 8 pounds back that I lost before the move!).

C) Just enjoy quality time with our lovely friends and family before we began our road trip to Florida.

If you had attached a GPS to the Opheim family, you would have tracked us at the following places:

• Tim and Rebecca Hopson’s in Gurnee, IL for dinner our first homeless evening (voted best margaritas)
• Ryan and Saramarie McMorrow B&B for 2 nights in Grayslake, IL
  (voted best sliders this side of the Mississippi)
• Jeremy and Jaime Boehlke B&B for 1 night in Brown Deer, WI (voted best chocolate cake ever)
• Meema and Bumpa Puls B&B for 4 nights in Slinger, WI (voted most comfortable bed and best snuggles by the kids)
• John and Mandy Puls B&B for 2 nights in Slinger, WI (voted best burger and OMG the beef tenderloin)
• Corey, Elly & Hannah Foerster B&B for 1 night in Slinger, WI (voted best ribs EVER eaten, anywhere.  Also voted Alex’s favorite kitty)
• Another 4 nights at Meema and Bumpa Puls B&B in Slinger, WI – included great visits with…
  • Aunt Pat & Uncle Ken
  • Aunt Pam, Uncle Mike, Mo & Nutmeg Konrath
  • Cousin Shelly and Toby the bunny
  • Grandma Geri – she made us “schnecks” (handmade, from scratch pecan rolls) at 90 years old – THANK YOU Grandma Geri!
• An afternoon spent with our friends Todd and Linda Taylor at their beautiful house on Lake Wisconsin for lunch and a boat ride.
• Tim and Kerry Newquist B&B in Waunakee, WI for 2 nights (voted house you can eat off the floor it is so clean!)
• A quick visit to University of Wisconsin in Madison to show the kids momma’s college stompin’ grounds and meet up with my old college roommate, Mark Wochos, his wife, Kendra Wochos (who funny enough, went to high school with Travis) and their adorable kiddos.
• Final stop at a hotel in Hoffman Estates, IL to celebrate Justine and Michael’s beautiful wedding.

Thank you to everyone who hosted us… we are truly grateful!  It was hard to say goodbye to all of you – we shed some tears but we know we will see you again soon.  Just know that we are only a 2 hour flight away and you have an open invitation to visit.

People have asked us, “how does it feel to be on Pink Day?” and honestly, both Travis and I feel that it hasn’t really started yet. Our bet is that when we sit on the beach for the first time with just the four of us – it will sink in.

Time will tell. You can expect our next update from the beach in a few days as we are on our way!

Friday, April 17, 2015 was the last day in our first family home. 1228 Ridgewood Drive was such a great home and we made so many great memories while living there.

After a long few days of getting ready to leave, we felt rushed in our final minutes at the house.  In those minutes, the emotions crept in and both Kelly and I had to choke back the tears, especially when thinking about this being Alex’s first home.

It was a first for us in many ways. It was our first home where…

• Alex was welcomed to our family as a newborn
• Travis had to mow the lawn and snow blow the driveway
• Alex took his first steps
• Alex fell down the steps (Kelly is still traumatized by this)
• Zoe and Alex got big kid beds
• Kids had play dates
• Kids had time-outs
• We hosted family Christmas celebrations
• We had birthday parties
• Santa visited by sliding down our chimney
• A family pet passed away (RIP Mouser)

As we did the final walk through at the house, we decided to each share what was our favorite memory of each room.

Family Room – Snuggling on the couch watching shows, playing Lion King with Pride Rock made from cushions, Opheim Family Christmas parties (with now infamous Christmas Jammies – 2014).

 

Dining Room – Christmas dinners (pretty much all we ever used that room for anyway!)

Master Bath – Bath time!

Hall Bath – Giving lil Zoe baths

Zoe’s Room – Her first big girl bed and dance parties!

Alex’s Room – His first room, first big boy bed and late night snuggles.

Garage – Playing in the attic on the “stage”

Living Room – Making fires on cold nights with hot chocolate and art projects at the kids’ coloring table

Kitchen – Gathering spot for all celebrations (house warming/cooling, birthday parties, and beer nights)

 

 

Master Bedroom – Sleep overs and where the magic happened (ha!)

Basement – Jumping on the trampoline, running around in circles and hockey with Alex.

 

Yard – Tee ball, soccer and grilling steaks and brats

Our final trip down the driveway…

 

Yes, we will miss 1228 Ridgewood Drive.  We will hold onto the memories we made there and it will always be a part of us.  We are now officially homeless and jobless and FREE!

We just sold or donated all of our stuff.  Well, almost all of our stuff.

All that remains is a full 6 x 8 foot trailer on its way to Denver and what we packed into our GMC Acadia for Florida.  One may argue that we sold our sanity in the process.

You might wonder how we did it and what we learned during the process.  Or, maybe you’re not wondering.  If you’re not, then stop reading here.  But, if you want to know what it takes to sell most of your possessions to afford the chance to move freely without the “clutter” then read on.

We knew that disconnecting or unplugging from our house at 1228 Ridgewood Drive wouldn’t be easy, but we had a plan.  It involved garage sales, Facebook virtual garage sale groups, Craigslist posts, selling to friends and family, donations and in the end, even the trash.  It also helped that the family buying our house purchased a lot of our furniture and outdoor items.

Even with months of planning, selling and donating we weren’t as prepared as we should have been for our final launch into minimalism.

Here’s what we’ve learned…

• We Were Out of Control – Even in the four short years of living in our house, we accumulated too much stuff.  During this time we were all smug and patting ourselves on our backs saying, “we aren’t those crazy Americans addicted to consumerism.”  We tried not buying the kids “that many” toys, not buying “that many” new clothes, or even “that many” gadgets.   But, much to our chagrin, we WERE “that bad”.  ADVICE: For every new item you bring in the house (toy, shirt, gadget) try to sell 2 other items.
• Buying New is Stupid – There are so many good deals on Facebook virtual garage sale sites, Craigslist and garage sales that you should always think twice before buying most items new.  The best example we have of this is the story of our elliptical machine.  We bought it for over $1,100 a couple years ago and sold it (barely used…such a cliche!) for $480 – a great deal for the buyer!  ADVICE: You can get stuff for 75% off from your neighbors.  You just need to look and have a bit of patience as you may not be able to buy it immediately.
• Always Negotiate – We were desperate to get rid of our stuff.  We had a deadline (our closing date) and needed to get it out the door.  Any of the people who negotiated online or at the garage sale got a great deal.  ADVICE: Start with offering 20% off or more from asking price to test the seller.  You’ll quickly bring down prices.
• Make a Pile – If buying from garage sale or person selling a lot online, offer to buy multiple items at once.  Again, we were happy that lots of items were leaving the door.  ADVICE: Don’t negotiate price as you go, just make a big pile of stuff and offer a total price for bulk discounts.
• Sell Brand Names Online – In some areas (namely the Chicago’s North Shore) you can fetch good prices for brand name stuff.  ADVICE: On Facebook sites you’ll fetch more moola if you post brand name items by themselves and not as a big lot.  Once it gets to the garage sale, you’ll lose the brand name value.
• Some People Just Want to Talk – It was funny to us how many people just wanted to talk to someone.  Certainly at garage sales we had many people coming up with minimal interest in buying items.  ADVICE:  Be nice and have a chat.  We had one couple come by and only bought a beer pitcher for $1.  He asked if it came with a beer so we cracked open a couple cans of brews.  Why not!

So, if you want to start down the path to minimalism, get ready for some hard work and tough love to detach from all that “stuff” you’ve been accumulating.  Trust us… it’s worth it!

Last night Travis and I went on a date. We went to The Girl and the Goat in Chicago which was one of our bucket list Chicago restaurants. I’ll spare you the restaurant review and sum it up in one word – GO!

Anyway… while we were enjoying ourselves at dinner Travis said to me, “It took me seeing you happy again to realize how unhappy you really were.”   That comment has stuck with me.

So, I thought about what I’ve learned since I left my corporate job one month ago.

Here is the Top Ten:

1. I’m Exhausted – Taking care of a 3 year old and 5 year old all day is physically exhausting. I lost 8 pounds in just 3 weeks of running after these wee ones.

2. I Sleep Like a Rock – I have amazing and sometimes just plain bizarre dreams. The deep sleep is definitely a by-product of the physical exhaustion.

3. My Kids are Fun – My kids are truly a joy to hang out with. Alex loves to pretend to cook – he’s a little chef and right now he is making me “cupcapes”.  Zoe tells me that I’m the sweetest mommy in the whole world. They make my heart swoon.

4. It’s still about the little moments – The other day I spent an hour with Zoe reading her baby book to her. It was the best hour of the week. I got to relive her baby moments and experience her interest as she learned about her personality traits as a baby.   Things like her “snuffy” face she used to make and her first word (which was “wow”).

5. Stay at Home Moms are Cool – I really like the mommy friends I’ve made – Zoe’s friends’ moms are cool and part of me is sad that we are moving now. I think that if we stayed here longer as a stay at home mom I would have made some really great friends.

6. My Laugh has Changed – I laugh differently when I am truly happy – my friends in Zurich called it my “pregnancy laugh” (aptly named as it first presented itself when I was pregnant with Zoe). It’s one of those whole body laughs that I’m pleased to report is BACK.

7. Selling Our Stuff is Liberating – I’ve been selling everything in our house. It’s my job and I wake up every day excited to update Facebook posts, craigslist, etc to make my sales – which to date = $8,000 in sales! Not too shabby.

8. My name is Kelly and I am a Cellphone Addict. – I have a cell phone addition that I will need to address. Just not today. The first step is admitting I have a problem, right? I lost my phone for 2 hours one day and you would have thought I lost one of my kids. I called Travis while he was at work and I was crying like an idiot. Turned out the phone was underneath the one of the mats in the car. I thought I was losing my mind. Not good. So I’m adding “deal with cell phone addition” to my Project Pink Day things to do list.

9. I’m no Julia Child. Even though I theoretically have more time to cook an awesome dinner, I still don’t really have an interest in cooking. Maybe it’s because I sold all the equipment to cook with – or maybe that is just my excuse of the month!

10. This is only the beginning – I can’t wait for Travis to be done working so he can experience this and come up with his own list of learnings. And, come up with some more great memories as a family.

So, how does one come to the decision to quit their high paying jobs, sell their home and most possessions, pack it up and move to the beach and mountains?

Well, it’s not easy.  We questioned ourselves at almost every turn, but we kept going back to one thing.  If we don’t do it now, then when?  We have been fortunate enough to save enough to make this a reality.  Now or never.

Even then we looked for inspiration along the way.  Here are some of our favorite quotes, clips and videos that gave us the strength to stay bold, stay brave and even stay crazy.

Our Favorite Quotes…

       

Our Favorite Videos…

http://youtu.be/fv3aWID7BSI

Our daughter Zoe had a calendar she used everyday to learn days of the week, counting the numbers, etc.  The background to the word Saturday on the calendar was pink.  She started to associate the first day of the weekend (meaning mommy and daddy don’t have to work) as a Pink Day.  Every day in the morning, she would ask us if it was a Pink Day.  Most days – the answer was no, and the saddest face would look back at us.

So, when we hatched our scheme to quit our jobs and spend a year off with our kids, we said every day would be a Pink Day.  Project Pink Day was born.

We were able to tell Zoe and Alex that they will get a WHOLE YEAR of pink days!  Not sure if they understand how long that is – but they sure are excited to learn about it.

“Enjoy the time with your kids while you can!  It all goes so fast!”  For those of you with young kids, you know that comment all too well.  Whenever we heard it, we felt guilty.  You see like many other dual career couples, our kids (Zoe, 5 and Alex, 3) spent the majority of their waking hours in other’s care.  Parental outsourcing – a necessity to support 2 corporate, global careers.

A year ago Travis and I vacationed in the Rocky Mountains for a long weekend without the kids.  We sat in sun chairs on the slopes with beers in hand contemplating life.  We talked about how short life could be, how our kids are at a prime age to do something a bit out of the ordinary and how even though our lives on paper sound awesome we aren’t feeling awesome.  We thought there has GOT to be more to life than working to live and living in a place where you only get a quarter of the year to enjoy the outdoors.   We talked about our bucket lists – Travis has always wanted to be a ski bum for a season and I’ve always wanted to live on the beach.

Then we started asking the question – “what if?”  What if we both quit our jobs and didn’t work for a year?  What if we eliminated the stuff we had that we were working for – our house, the stuff in it and my car?  What if we could spend a ton time with the kids before they start school?  What if we budget ourselves like hell to be able to financially make this work?  What if we lived our dreams in the process?  Then we said “Why Not?!”

So today is my last day at work – after 14 years with the same company, I am cashing out and walking away with great experience, a load of memories and great friends made along the way.  Travis will follow in a month and our dream will become a reality.  We sold the house and now I am in charge of selling the contents.   We are taking one year off of work with our kids – beach and mountains here we come!  And here come the cliches:  You only live once.  Life’s too short.

As we’ll have nothing but time on our hands, we’ll capture our adventures on this site – dedicated to the loves of our lives, Zoe and Alex.