The Tub Challenge

We’re moving to southern Arizona for the winter, possibly longer, and I wanted my family to pack as light as possible. So, I purchased one 40-gallon plastic tub for each child and told them they could put all their personal belongings into the tub, not including clothes and shoes. To make it more fun, I called it the Tub Challenge.

I made it sound so fun that I even bought myself a tub to do the challenge with the kids. I love the idea of packing a duffel bag full of clothes and my typewriter, then just driving off to the unseen future. But I also want to pack my new boots, my sewing machine, my stack of To Be Read books, my jewelry box, and a bunch of other stuff that won’t fit in a 40-gallon tub.

Basically, our tubs runneth over. We now have a stack of cardboard boxes plus one giant tub each. At least the tubs have wheels and a stout handle. And the idea of packing only our very favorite belongings into the tub helped us give and throw away so much stuff that we actually have about 15 extra boxes left over from when we moved into this house. I’m calling that a win.

Do you think my son Milo and Frank the hound dog from the photo above would fit in a tub? Probably. And they’d probably be twice as smelly and happy as could be.

Quick confession: I meant to have my YouTube channel up and running with a welcome video by now, but we’re moving in four days so that kind of fell by the wayside. In the meantime, you can read my latest blog over on Western Horseman here. Also, Bud Force recently wrote a fantastic article about my husband, Jim, and his wild cow catching business for WH. You can check it out here. Spoiler alert: My husband is kind of a badass.

I’ll report back in two weeks from our new home in Rio Rico, Arizona. Take care until then!