This move is starting to require math. Soooo many calculations. How many more rolls of toilet paper will we need until March 1st? Laundry and dishwasher soap pods? Shampoo? Which means purchasing anything from Costco is pretty much out of the question. We have a new rule in our house – We only purchase what we can consume before we fly away. Seems straight forward, but it’s not.
We are only 80 days from D-day (or maybe V-day in honor of Valencia). If I had been more proactive, I would have been charting our usage of consumables, in detail, for the last 80 days and then I wouldn’t be in this conundrum. Oh wait! Yeah, now I remember why I didn’t do that. Because it would be insane! But I sure would like that information now.
We went to the grocery store today and purchased food for the week, including cat food and milk. The milk had a date on it and I realized that Jeff has begun to adopt moving milestones as points of reference in our purchasing decisions.
‘That milk is going to go bad on February 2nd. That’s after our visa appointment. We might actually have our residence visa by the time this goes sour.’
I laughed. ‘Uh, no. This milk will be drunk before the end of next week.’
‘That’s not what I mean. Its just that soon we’ll be buying things that could conceivably have a date after we don’t live here anymore.’
He’s right, of course.
‘Well, I hope we’re not purchasing things like spoiled meat and cheese because we find the date less intimidating. But I understand what you’re saying. The time is coming up fast. We need to be smart about what we’re buying and why. We can’t take it with us.’
We came home and unpacked the groceries. As I was putting them away, I passed our wine rack. !t’s filled with wine and booze. We can’t move any of it in our luggage or on the container ship – they’re very strict. And unless I’m going to become an alcoholic in short order, we can’t drink all that. But then it hit me!
Right at the end. Right before we fly out, we’ll have a party for friends and neighbors. It will be a ‘Come and Get and Drink all you Want’ party. Kind of like Adult Halloween. They can bring a pillow case and take any left over rolls of toilet paper, or laundry pods (those are expensive). And they can drink all they want while picking through the dregs of what’s left of our lives.
Sure, they’ll have nothing to sit on, or even drink out of, but it’s free. And it will go fast. Whew! It makes the math more palatable as I stand in the aisle at Walmart counting sheets on paper towel rolls and tissues in Kleenex boxes for the next 2 months.
Viva Espana 
The “Drink all you Want” party is a great idea! Probably much smarter than our “Drink a bottle of wine every day until the rack is empty” plan, although it was fun to try. Good luck with your move to Valencia!
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Thanks Julia! Jeff laughed at my party idea. I told him we’ll just open all the bottles and we can pass them around like hobos or when we were in college – which is essentially the same thing. By the time we get to Valencia we’re going to be brain dead from putting this puzzle together but it will have been a fun ride!
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