Moving makes minimalism a necessity: getting rid of stuff

My garage is full of boxes I’ve already packed, in preparation for the move

Moving day is less than a month away and I am packing, packing, packing. There’s nothing quite like a move that will cost you a bundle to make you decide how much sentimentality is really worth. I’ve never read Marie Kondo but I think I’m living her philosophy.

Sometimes it’s easy to make decisions about what to give away to friends or charitable organizations, other times you relive memories that bring back sadness mixed with joy. Sometimes you ask yourself if the dream you have been pursuing is really a goal that will lead to happiness. Then you listen to the news and you remember all the reasons why it seems entirely rational to seek an alternative place to live in a different culture.

Irish Ancestors make a difference

My maternal grandparents, Michael and Rose McGoohan, were born in County Leitrim, Ireland and emigrated to the US in the early 20th century. In the 1980s, my brother discovered that this could enable us to obtain an Irish passport. I followed his example and did so, by obtaining documentation of my grandparents birth in Ireland. I have kept it current since the early 1990s with the idea that it would give me options to live in the European Union because of the Schengen agreement, which enabled free movement within those countries. When I spent two months in Portugal last summer researching the feasibility of moving there in retirement, my Irish passport helped me leapfrog over some of the requirements that would have been more difficult if I had only had a US passport. With help from a contact in Portugal, I was able to get a Número de Identificação Fiscal (NIF), also known as a Numero de Contribuinte, which is needed for all kinds of daily activities such as opening a bank account or getting a phone subscription.

Why retire in Portugal? Why not?

In 2011 I visited Portugal for the first time and fell in love with the country, the people and the city of Lisbon. The idea of living in Portugal stayed with me over the years as I began to think about retirement. After walking the French route of the Camino de Santiago in 2015, I knew I wanted to move back to Europe where I had spent the early decades of my life. But after many years in New Mexico where the sun shines nearly every day of the year, I couldn’t go back to the rainy climes of England or Ireland. I hatched a plan to spend two months in Portugal, immediately after I retired in June 2018, researching the feasibility of moving there permanently. I wrote a blog about my adventure, RosalieinPortugal@wordpress.com. During the eight weeks I spent there, I did another camino pilgrimage, walking from Porto to Santiago, traveled around the country by train, stayed in hostels and did volunteer work with horses. The contacts I made helped me decide to go for it. But it hasn’t been easy. For anyone who is thinking about moving to Portugal there are a lot of steps. In this blog I plan to explain some of the steps and how I tackled the challenge.