In April we started packing up our house in Medford, Oregon. In addition to all of the “sell, donate, or ship” decisions about our property, we also started deciding what necessities we would stuff in suitcases, carry ons, and pet carriers and lug with us to Portugal. We knew the main bulk of our property could take a very long time to arrive (September?) and we wanted to avoid making duplicate purchases of things that we already owned. Fast forward to last week. We were notified that our shipment should arrive on Friday the 26th of August! We started cleaning and prepping our new house and dreaming about how much easier life would be.

This is the first post in a series documenting the assimilation of our old stuff into our new lives. Today we are going room by room through our house. We will be discussing the items we brought in those six suitcases and the things we purchased in the interim. Our focus will be on the good and bad decisions we made. We will resume documenting normal life in Portugal soon, but the next few posts will have lots of pictures of boxes.

Living Room: Unfortunately, not much living happened here. Hard floors and no furniture made this room horribly uncomfortable. Michelle tried to use this as a Covid free space, but it failed.

This view looking towards the front door shows our dog bed area (Basil’s travel crate opened up), shoes (all used regularly), a messenger bag (used almost daily), and part of a cat post. We talked about how everyone carries their own garbage to the dumpsters. If you have something that is possibly of use to someone else you leave it sitting outside the actual dumpster. In this case someone had put out a large cat post that was mostly destroyed. Andrew recovered two pieces, primarily for the sisal. You can see the remnants from the deconstructed piece in back of the intact one. Andrew bought one pair of slip on shoes after wearing out his flip flops, a good purchase at 9€ but the insoles have disintegrated and need replacing already. Michelle bought one pair of house shoes for €2 since she got rid of all of her old every day sandals before moving.

Turning to the left a bit you can see a stand fan we bought days after arriving and pet toys back in the corner. We also brought some dog bones which are usually on Basil’s carrier. The fan has worked great but recently stopped spinning. It has been on almost 24/7 since we purchased it and we hope to have it fixed if possible. Dog and cat toys were used all the time.

Our seating area is made up of a box for a side table and two roof top chairs from a set left here by the home owners. These patio chairs were designed by a sadist who loves hurting people’s backs. The legs are also so flimsy that if you lean forward (to throw a dog frisbee for example) there is a 10% chance that they will bend and dump you harshly onto the floor.

Finally, our entertainment center. From left to right:

• A cat post we bought here. It has been used so much that we needed to get the dumpster sisal to replace what has already been destroyed. Great purchase.
• Our first big purchase on this tour, Andrew replaced his television. We haven’t used it too much because the room isn’t comfortable. We enjoyed a couple of movies, a futebol match or two, and some yoga sessions on it. Once the couches arrive, we will be ready to go.
• We both brought our Nintendo Switches, Andrew used his regularly, Michelle did not turn hers on.
• Days after getting our fiber internet installed one of the cats ate the cord (which led to a €40 purchase for a new cord) and the technician who replaced it explained that their color/size/shape is like catnip. Until we get our entertainment center the suitcases are improvised cord protectors. The cardboard to the left of the television is also cord protection as the feline demons would certainly work their way behind the TV to destroy our lives (again) if possible.
• On top of the front suitcase we keep a variety of pet supplies. Some have been used daily like leashes and dog snacks, however some items like Zoe’s cooling vest and the dog travel water flask have not been utilized at all. We generally try to avoid bringing the dogs out for long periods of time during the hottest parts of the day so these weren’t as helpful as we anticipated.
• Finally, we brought a corded landline which you can see on top of the upright suitcase. We have lots of free night time calling to the United States, but since most people have WhatsApp we’ve only used it once (“Hi Grandma!”). We should start taking advantage of our night time minutes soon (“Sorry Mom”).

Master Bedroom: The second large purchase on our tour, and our first actual purchase, was a bed and mattress. We picked this particular bed because it was in stock and we were desperate and sore after sleeping on yoga mats for several nights. The bed looks nice enough, but it is a few inches short from fitting into our master bedroom. The result is that only one of the storage drawers could be installed. The other drawer is tilted on its side and functions more as a small table top.

• We purchased bedding: two pillows, two sets of sheets (one came with shams that are not used due to us only having two pillows), a comforter (completely unnecessary due to warm temps), and two pillow protectors (not currently used due to Michelle purchasing the wrong size). We are considering purchasing smaller pillows for the bed because these ones are a smidge stiff and large and have caused several spilling incidents by knocking things off of our nightstand tables.
• We brought book lights which are not used due to having built in lights in our bed and good overhead lighting in our bedroom. They are not needed during nighttime walks because our neighborhood has great lighting.
• Face masks, dog nighttime toys, Hydro flasks, and our computer were all brought with us and used daily.
• We also brought our Kindles and puzzle books (Sudoku and Word Searches for Michelle) which have been frequently used.

The white Ikea storage unit came with the house, along with two others which will make their appearances later. Our suitcases fit on top like a charm.

• One of our most unused items by volume is definitely clothing. We didn’t know if things would cool down before our other clothes arrived so we packed a variety of sweaters and other warm weather gear which went completely unused. Andrew got desperate and went to the mall at one point where we both added a few pieces of warm weather clothing to our closets.
• We purchased some wooden hangars. There will be some plastic hangars coming in our shipment so we only bought what we needed to get by.
• We brought five games, two of which we’ve played multiple times (Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion and Canasta Caliente). The other games were small and will make it to the table eventually.

Bathroom: We need to find at least one big storage hutch for the bathroom, it is an organized disaster right now. We brought a lot of products: toiletries, first aid, vitamins, prescriptions etc. – and not much stands out as being wasted space (even if you don’t use a bandaid it’s nice to have some available).

• We purchased a bath mat, toilet brush (not pictured), and two small hooks for our towels.
• We tried to bring enough towels with us for daily use and for pet clean up as needed.
• The white tub near the shower door was left here by the owner and has been quite useful.
• The drawer near the toilet is the one that won’t fit on Michelle’s side of the bed, it currently serves as a mini hutch until we find a suitable replacement.

Second Bedroom: We anticipate not having access to the things in this unit for at least a few days and we moved lots of things out of it in preparation. With any luck this room will store the bulk of our boxes (there has been much discussion and theorizing about this). Here you can see the second white storage unit which currently has our workout gear, camping gear, sweaters, some documents, and miscellaneous items in it.

• There are some pet carriers on top of the storage unit. We needed these for our furry kids for the trip, but also wanted to have them in case of unanticipated vet visits or to put the cats in when the movers arrive.
• We used the sleeping bags in Medford before we left and in Portugal while we waited to get our new bed.
• Michelle has used the resistance bands a few times, but they have not seen regular use. Neither the Ring Fit nor workout DVDs were used.
• We brought things we didn’t feel comfortable shipping: jewelry, a wedding photo album, and documents (birth certificates, proof of pet shots, and life insurance documents). While we didn’t “use” all of these things, bringing them was a sound decision.
• We brought a DVD player, some movies, and a bunch of electronic cords. Some we used right away (electric adaptors and EU cords for specific electronics), however most sat in a bag unused. We are not sure if they were leftover things we didn’t want to get rid of but hadn’t sent with the shippers or if we planned to bring them for a reason we can’t remember.
• We brought a couple of books that have not been read yet.
• We have used our hiking backpacks for grocery store runs.
• Most of the sweaters and jackets have not been used.

Kitchen: We’ve talked a lot about the struggles associated starting without appliances in the kitchen. Deciding what to pack for this area was truly a challenge and we’ve made the largest amount of supplemental purchases here.

Starting with the fridge we bought. On top is my hiking pack which was previously with the other camping gear. The favorite non-essential things we brought is a set of fridge magnets which hold pictures from our wedding, they make us happy every time we see them. Inside the freezer you would find newly purchased things: some ice trays and reusable ice packs which we use to bring cold items home when shopping.

To the right of the fridge is a stepladder and we have an extension ladder in the room, but it is out of view. We’ll talk about both of them in a different post. They were both purchased in Olhão.

The third storage unit usually holds our broom and mop on the left. Cleaning supplies on the right. Extra pet supplies on top. We get most of our pet supplies from Zooplus which is basically a European Chewy. We brought pet cleaning supplies and clean up towels and rags with us, but most of the contents in this cabinet have been purchased in Portugal.

Doing a 180 degree turn will point us towards our pantry and skip over our dehumidifier which has been a recent but much appreciated purchase.

Right below the cupboard we have a charging station set up for electronics, our portable speaker (super helpful since we’ve watched a few shows on our laptop and its speaker went out right as we began traveling. The tiny corner cupboard holds our reusable shopping bags. All of this came with us.

From the bottom up our pantry has pet food, dishes, pet medicines, and treats. Most of these things came with us other than the pet food. We brought dog and cat food with us to help transition the furry kids to new food, but it is gone now. Above the pet shelves there are jars, bottles, fruit, and eggs (it still feels odd not refrigerating them!). Candy and chips live towards the top. On the right you can see salt and pepper in the cupboard along with a red bowl holding some packets of a few other spices we brought with us.

We purchased this very cute garbage can but brought the plastic mat and pet water dishes. This was helpful to have in hotel rooms and made clean up during travel much easier.

This junk cupboard holds the few tools we purchased (tape measure and a wrench), and some bits and bobs from the appliances we bought along with their manuals.

Drawers are next! What utensils to bring was a VERY hard decision.

• The first drawer contains plastic silverware and a few knives, we’ll delegate them to the outdoor dining area soon. We brought baggies and wet wipes with us.
• In the second drawer you can see our basic supplies, we must have packed well because we didn’t have to add anything here! We used almost everything in this drawer on a regular basis.
• The third drawer holds a few knives and potholders. Not pictured are dish towels and dishwashing rags. We brought two of each. None of these items were wasted space.
• The bottom drawer is nearly empty, a single plastic cutting board.
• The only purchases in this gallery are the water filter attached to the sink and the drain board next to it which is an awesome 70’s mustard color.

Andrew forgot to take a picture of our pots and pans cupboard. It holds our camping pot and a small pan, both used almost daily once we got our stove. We also brought a loaf pan which we used to make meatloaf and a baking sheet which was helpful transporting food up and down the stairs when we were grilling on the roof. Take out food and leftovers from restaurants come in metal containers so we have been reusing these as needed until our pots and pans arrive.

Wrapping up the tour of the kitchen is our extensive collection of plastic dinnerware. This was light and durable and traveled well in heavy luggage. We used it every day. An AAA travel book about Portugal and a fish cookery book Andrew bought just before we flew (can’t blame him for not anticipating how long it would be before we would have a stove, even though you could argue the blame for that delay rests with him). The fish cookery book is awaiting use as we don’t have very good filet knives which are a much needed addition to our knife collection.

While waiting for our cooktop/stove to be hooked up, we purchased something we call a “toaster oven”, but it is actually closer to a real oven. This is what we have been using to roast vegetables, bake meatloaf, and reheat food. It is pretty close in size to our full size oven and we are hoping it wasn’t a redundant purchase, but time will tell when we host our first guests for food and drinks!

Finally, the other wall holds our second fan, a floor model that is more powerful and really helped us start getting air to flow in the house.

Utility Room: This room contains our hot water heater. We purchased a replacement litter box (smaller than our U.S. version) and natural pellets for litter. We also purchased a washing machine (and laundry supplies) which just fits in this tiny room. The demon twins are fed on top of the washer and their NYC bowl made the trip with us.

Patio Nook: Outside of the kitchen is a small patio nook. The bamboo ladder was here upon our arrival. The clothes drying rack was a gift from our expat friend Darmel. This space is used for drying clothes in the Mediterranean sun and is the access point for the stairs to our rooftop.

Stay tuned for the arrival of our shipment! Can we fit furniture and almost 200 boxes inside our tiny house?? What will be missing or damaged? We can’t wait to find out.