THE TIME HAS COME

Spencer and I built our Ryan Home in 2012, the year we got married. We knew this would be a wonderful home for a few years but eventually, we would move. Well, that time has come and we sold our house. We are so excited that we are about to embark on a new adventure! One that, truth be told, happened a little faster than we expected. We listed our house for sale on a Saturday in January and that following Monday we were under contract! Woohoo right?!?! Right! However, we didn’t have a plan as to where we were going next.

WHY DID WE DECIDE TO SELL OUR HOUSE?

At this point in our lives, we are seeking FREEDOM! What freedom means for us is having the freedom to create our own schedule, to be obligated to minimal monthly expenses, to have the flexibility to get up and go when the opportunity is right. These changes for us didn’t happen overnight… they have been years in the making. We took small steps like canceling our cable subscription and creating monthly budgets. Followed by bigger steps like taking a six-week sabbatical to New Zealand and Australia as well as starting our own businesses. All of these decisions over time led us to know that it was time we sold our house and right-size our life! 

WHAT IS RIGHT-SIZING?

Many may deem what we are doing as down-sizing but we call it RIGHT-SIZING! We are taking intentional steps towards getting our family on the right path to the freedom we seek which will allow us to prioritize our family! Our right-sizing consists of a massive purge of things and living in a place that reduces time spent on tasks or chores that don’t bring us value. 

THE GREAT PURGE

Over the past eight years, we have accumulated A LOT of stuff! So much so that I packed an entire room turned custom closet and still had an overflow in other rooms. Our basement was as big as the main level in the house and became our little hoarding paradise. With all our stuff came a lot of weight! The ridiculous excess weight was dragging us down. We started purging when we first listed our house for sale in the fall of 2019. We made decent progress but it wasn’t until after the New Year did we really embrace letting go of items. The toughest parts for us were the emotional connections we have to our stuff and the value we perceive vs. another. It’s definitely an eye-opener when you’re items don’t sell that are priced 25-50% off their initial price or for a dollar. If you take on purging soon, remember it’s a process… there is no right or wrong. Like us, you’ll probably keep more than you should but it’s about progress and starting somewhere! 

SO WHERE ARE WE GOING ALREADY?

For the past year, we have loosely been discussing options like buying a property in the county surrounding Baltimore, moving to the city, heading south to the Raleigh, NC area or even traveling west a bit for something really new! While we aren’t sure what the year ahead holds for us one thing, we do know is that we love Baltimore! We met in Baltimore while both working for Under Armour, we still work in Baltimore, we play in Baltimore and we aren’t ready to leave. Our hope was to move into the city for a few months to fully become Baltimoreans. But after pursing a lot of options and time not being on our side it didn’t work out. However, we are still staying local… at least for the next few months! We found a lovely apartment community just a quick highway drive from Baltimore and close to our current home. This works out perfectly since we already know the area and it’s still a quick commute to Kade’s school.  

WHAT’S NEXT?

Together we are writing our own story one adventure at a time starting with this move! We sold our house and will now be settling in our new right-sized place! Our goal is to start living it up and traveling to new places for the next few months while we figure out what’s next! We hope you follow along because its bound to be a wild ride!