Lots of Folks Move During the Year. Here's One Way to Do It Cost-Effectively.

[hunter]

19. All my crap used to fit in a car.

Even myself, living in a church parking lot.

My wife and I moved to the Midwest and all our stuff fit in a small U-Haul trailer.

When we came back to California it was a small U-Haul truck.

Now I'm surrounded by stuff. But I still carry a mental inventory of stuff that would fit in the car, and even stuff that could be carried on my back.

But I never forget that the "stuff in my head" (which is myself) and my family, friends, neighbors, fellow human beings, and even the more intelligent companion animals are all more important than the inanimate stuff. I'd be sad if my family heirlooms were lost in some catastrophe, but neighbors, even the neighbors I hate, would come first. But they might have to put up with a dog or two on their lap if that was the only way to get the evacuation done.

I remember when our car broke down in middle of nowhere California, when we were poor, our kids were small, and we had only one dog. Some nice women biologists doing an environmental survey had a university cell phone (rare in those times...) and they called the Highway Patrol. Our family, plus dog, we all fit on the front seat of the tow-truck and the driver was happy to rescue us. We were not boring demanding people with high expectations. It took 'til next month's pay check to get our car out of hock from the small town mechanic. I put the cash in my pocket and took the Greyhound Bus out to retrieve the car, walked about five miles to get there, but it was all a grand adventure that turned out well. (I have worse personal stories.)