Our stuff arrived, mostly intact! We are missing one box (a digital camera, our whiskey stone tap, Michelle’s workout journals, and most unfortunately video cassette tapes that held some important life moments). At first glance our furniture looks intact and the boxes are almost all in great shape. The piano with stained glass is in amazing condition (we’re not sure about the movers who had to uncrate it and hoist it from a truck into our living room).

Take a tour below:

We literally can’t walk around our house so the next few days will be all hands on deck. My guess is your first question is “why??” and I’ll try to answer that here. We are currently on a five year plan. We are tightening our belts and living frugally while saving up to buy a larger house. There are some “ifs” attached to this such as “if we are approved for residency”, “if we want to continue living in Portugal”, “if our financial situation doesn’t change drastically for some unforeseen reason”, etc.

Assuming the “ifs” work in our favor and we go through with our tentative plan, it makes sense to keep all the things we want to fill that dream house with. We also wanted to get our money’s worth for the 20 foot shipping container we rented, so we packed it to the brim.

Why not get a storage unit? We would prefer to sacrifice our spare bedroom to save some extra money. The added expense of a storage unit would really add up over five years!

But you can’t walk! We WILL be able to walk and live comfortably, we just have a lot of work and organizing to do. Our cupboards are bare (see our last post), our two storage areas are empty, our cabinets and entertainment center are taking up lots of space but once unwrapped they can be filled to the brim with stuff.

We’ll keep documenting the unpacking process…. since that will be our lives for the next couple weeks. We are working against a deadline since our first visitor arrives in about two weeks!!