SOLD! The transition from a 1400 square foot house in Canada to a 550 square foot tiny house in Mexico was a monumental life changing decision! A decision we made in December 2018, a leap we took starting January 2019!

Excitement, anxiety, sadness, happiness, fear and the courage to fulfill a dream to pack up and create a new lifestyle were only a few of the emotions experienced. To say that there were no doubts, obstacles, or challenges and delays along the way would be a lie. To take our first home of 14 years and sell, donate and edit the hell out of it, and move 4200 kms to a new country, new language, new career and tiny home was going to be journey like no other! Our vision to move to Mexico was always for our retirement, it was MY vision to make the move now. I believed that if not now to make a lifestyle change, then when? Becoming a Coach, starting Transitional Directions, and the prospect of working for a Medical Clinic in Mexico was the definition of “when opportunity comes knocking…. you not only answer it, you kick the door open and go for it!”.

The transition from our House to Tiny House had many phases. Phase 1, edit, edit and when you think you are done, edit some more! We sold, donated and passed on several items to family and friends. Next, with the assistance of our best friends the house needed to be staged to sell. Realtor Kim Bailey-Brown, Check! Minor repairs and touch ups to the house, Check! Pictures and video, Check! For sale sign up, Check! 2 days later BAM, house sold! Phase 2, sell more stuff, donate more stuff and that’s right…..more editing! I mean seriously, it was as if, our house was a giant Pez dispenser! Phase 3 was our house closing May 31st, and we moved the remainder of our belongings and a very small amount of furniture to our friends’ home, for the next phase of our move. From June to October we continued our purge extravaganza, until we were at a place where all that remained was what we truly wanted to keep and move to Mexico. Phase 4, load the car and the rooftop carrier with the essentials for myself and our fur baby Maple Lou, as well as plan our epic road trip to Mexico. This phase was both frustrating and hilarious! I seemed to have this ability to think I could fit everything including the kitchen sink in my small suv and rooftop carrier. The saying “oh ya, we can fit that in” became the subject of laughs followed by Jeff rolling his eyes and saying, “how big do you think this car is?. The pez dispenser description I mentioned earlier started to make sense, lololo. We did several trial runs with empty suitcases, bags, and dog gear to test the car loaded up, line of sight and whether anything would shift or fall. Its safe to say, it was a good thing we didn’t take Maple along for our earlier trials, or she would have been not a happy camper when her dog tin and a suitcase ended up where she was supposed to be sitting, oops! From the time we started our adventure, we had made a couple trips down to Mexico with the household items we needed to start our home (light fixtures, dishes, bedding, kitchen and bathroom fixtures and the list goes on). Our road trip was about loading the car with everything Maple and I would need to start living in our Tiny Home. Jeff would return from our road trip to continue working at his job, and fly down with more household items in the months ahead.

With my immigration paperwork in order, passports in hand, Vet documents for Maple, mapped out route, usb’s full of music and a fully loaded car, our departure date arrived! Saturday November 16th, we left Canada to begin our 7 day road trip to Mexico! I couldn’t believe it was actually happening, we were doing this! Even in the eleventh hour we were rearranging the car load like a puzzle. A short trip to the US border, then 7 US states and 4 Mexican states later, we arrived at our tiny house in Ajijic Mexico. For the next week after our arrival and before jeff needed to return to Canada, there were some last minute renovations and construction to complete our home. Or so I thought! Delays, some re-designing and finishing touches we were able to move into our Tiny Home, whew, and in time for Christmas! Ho, Ho , Holy moly, are we going to run out of room for our stuff in our tiny home? It is at that moment that you start to re-evaluate the stuff you still need to bring! My mind started to flip like a roll a deck about the things that were still in Canada and whether or not they were still important enough to come down. I discovered here in Mexico, that unless it’s a family heirloom, or it held sentimental value, or that you just can’t imagine parting with it, that living in a Tiny home is also about living a more simple life. You also realize that if what you have can be purchased here in Mexico, is it worth bringing? P.S. Plastic items are expensive here, for example garbage cans, utensil trays, Tupperware, etc. I guess we will know in the months ahead, what will make the final cut!

As I sit here in Mexico and reflect on everything involved in our transition to our new tiny home, I have a new appreciation for the small things … pun intended. Its not about the stuff we have as we navigate our new life, its about the experiences that have lead us here and the people who have supported us along the way. The memories we created along this road to Mexico, the people and places, and the new milestones ahead. I can’t wait to see what comes next! Buckle up, more twist, turns, and of course another round of editing to come!