5. There’s always something you’re forgetting

4. Things always take up more time than you anticipated

3. You have way more stuff than you think you do

Bren said it to me many times before we actually moved that the new apartment wasn’t going to be as big as the old one and that we were going to run out of space to put stuff, fast. In my defence, it was only 10 square metres less, but in actuality, that is quite a big amount of storage room. We had to get rid of a lot of our old furniture and stuff. Everything that we thought could still be sold we tried to sell first, everything that could still be of use to someone went to our local thrift shop and everything that was no longer of use to anyone we brought to our local dump for recycling. And now that we’ve moved, there’s still so much we need to sift through in the basement that I want to try to sell first. I was quite astounded at the amount of LEGO I collected over the years and there are a lof of unbuilt, boxed sets that I can put up for sale and even make some profit off. I also have a lot of Nintendo collectibles that I might sell a couple of. And a whole slew of old games that I want to get rid of. It’s just amazing to see how much comes out of your closets once you take the time to really sift through it all!

2. We don’t need much to be happy

This is definitely not a realisation that I only just had when we moved, but just something that was confirmed because of it. We’re so often led to believe that if we just buy this, or that, that our lives will be complete. It’s sad that the opposite is true and although I am a collector by heart, I know that buying stuff won’t magically make me the happiest person alive. Happiness comes from another place than stuff and living smaller will only make us appreciate what we have that much more, I think. That’s also why I’m going to put so much stuff up for sale, because it no longer makes me happy. A lot of it has just been sitting in the basement for years and seeing it again only made me go “Oh, wow, I still have that old junk!”, but would I miss owning it? I don’t think so.

1. Home is where I am with you

When we started looking for a new place and finally ended up being able to rent our new home in Hilversum Bren asked me one question repeatedly: “Are you sure you want to leave Uithoorn and live in Hilversum?” Of course, I’ll miss my beloved town and who knows, in the future we might move back sometime? But I was so set on finally leaving the old apartment and living somewhere else, that it just didn’t matter. Hilversum is a great town, with lots of beautiful nature and they offer a much wider amount of facilities than my old home town does. We can get everywhere by bike and that means less carbon emissions, because our car won’t be used.

What was really good to see was how fast our cats settled here too. It only took them a couple of days, but they seemed very okay with living here and that’s what made me realise that they too have that same sentiment that I carry around with me. Home isn’t a set place, it is where I am with Bren and the kitties. It doesn’t matter where we live, what matter is that we have each other. I can only hope that other people will feel the same way I do about their homes and loved ones, because that is what true happiness is all about.

Happy living!

~Jeffrey