...We lived the typical American lifestyle that consisted of pets, children and a home with all the trimmings including a few cars. My wife and I both worked full time jobs, she being a nurse manager and I an electronics engineer, owning stocks and making decent money including benefits. Everything was the American dream or was it? We acquired a few debts to obtain this dream as in a mortgage, student loans, and a few credit cards. Then the economy went south and our home lost its value, my wife's position was terminated and my position would not allow anymore growth. The time came to make a choice; do we keep grinding away working to maintain the "dream" or do something different, something radical? Looking at what happened to our stocks and the home the sailboat idea was re-born.
As months came and went we planed and saved as much cash as we could. We had to quit paying bills allowing us to save even more money, if Wall Street can get a bailout then so can we! We began selling everything in our home down to the smallest item. All the junk and nick-nacks we collected over the years just blew me away and what people would pay for it was even more amazing. I could not believe how powerful craigslist would become for us. Downsizing was in full effect as my wife sold boxes upon boxes of dusty junk, trinkets and electro-gizmos, we sold it all, the furniture, art, lawn tools all of it. Some items were difficult to get rid of but looking back now I can chuckle at what I thought was precious.The timing for this big plan had to work out just right. We did not have a lot of room for mistakes. We specifically needed to make it past winter and we needed to find a sailboat. Almost a year of searching for a boat and selling our belongings we finally reached our finical goal and responded to an ad on craigslist. It took us some six hours to drive over and see this boat in person, so in making a long story short, with a fist full of cold hard cash we struck a deal and got Harbinger.
Now we live a life that is simple, free from clutter and stress. Our son does not have to attend daycare anymore. He won't get shot at school by crazy men who are glorified in the news. We won't have to pay taxes as much and won't have to work overtime anymore. My wife and I can live life the way it's intended to be lived, not by gossip and how green your yard is but by guts and companionship. We wish not to focus on status but to focus on quality of life and having adventures filled with fun.
So here we begin with no jobs, no medical insurance, no phones, almost no home, nothing but us three and Harbinger.
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