All The Posts

I have been writing here at More Than Crumbs for 3 years now! From my introductory post, massive decluttering, the move, and looking more at self-care, I’ve posted 31 out of the last 36 months, and a total of 54 posts. So, somewhat consistent but at a very slow pace. We are looking for an… Read more: Busy Bee And Things to Note

Reframing anxiety or worry is useful if it is a problem in your life. Being aware of something without being unduly concerned is helpful.

I don’t think I’ve presented myself as some advanced de-clutterer. I’m not! The move certainly sped things up and concentrated my efforts. But the underlying conditions can creep up again. I was messy Mesi after all. I often had trouble figuring out what to do with the papers and things to come my way. Having… Read more: How did this happen?

For the past three weeks, I’ve felt scattered in my plans and actions, and have been anxious. There are two main reasons: questioning some of my goals and being affected by the Supreme Court and other groups thinking they can regulate queer people out of existence. (Note: once again, procrastination strikes and I actually first… Read more: All Over The Place

A song is playing in the cafe I’m in with that refrain. A low, bluesy tune that I don’t recognize; yet the refrain is apt for this post. There is a lot of decluttering content available out there, so why one more blog? My goal is to be able to provide a view into decluttering… Read more: Why do you do it, Baby?

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash “Lord, give me patience, and give it now!” is a wry saying I’ve heard. For me, a more apt version of that is “Give me consistency, and give it every day!”. Lack of consistency has been an obstacle my entire life. As a young adult, knowing I had the… Read more: Consistency

Last week, I finally watched the wonderful 2019 movie about Mr. Rogers, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, with Tom Hanks and the excellent Matthew Rhys as journalist Lloyd Vogel. I had heard it was good but not really more about it.  A hard-hitting journalist is given the unwanted task to interview Fred Rogers for… Read more: Self-Care Recipe

As the about page states here at More Than Crumbs, this site is about “my journey through life, using self-care and simplicity to enhance it and frankly, just keep it on an even keel sometimes.”  Self-care is a buzzword right now, so for our purposes, I’ll define it as “extra” activities to maintain one’s mental,… Read more: Why is good self-care important? 

13 fevereiro 2023 I’m late to something, again. I’m bad at planning and can get lost even with a GPS guided map in my hand.  I finally find the cafe, down a tiny winding street, at last aided by the helpful logo outside. It looks like this is the writer’s group, six people all writing… Read more: Late, Again

We’re at the train station that will take us from Porto to Lisbon, where my immigration appointment will happen. If all goes well, they will bestow my residency permit! I’m just a girl, standing in front of Portugal, asking it to love me. – paraphrasing Anna Scott in Notting Hill (directed by Roger Michell, produced by Duncan… Read more: Another Two Step

Well, I thought I was going to write a post about some of the small things that are different from life in the USA. Just little oddities that pop up. But the tagline of the blog, Journey through Simplicity and Self Care to Joy, has been rolling around in my brain, nagging at me. That… Read more: Self-Care Intro

The 2 crates of belongings have arrived and it was quite a flurry of activity. We did not get as much notice as we expected. We hoped they would bring them up the plaza near the actual building but it was not to be. But it all worked out in the end. My wife was… Read more: Crates Ahoy!

We are fortunate to have three bedrooms, and our apartment is quite large for two people, by Portuguese standards. When we had the video walk-through of the apartment, we were told that they would remove any furniture that we did not want. But now the landlord is balking. The agent is still looking into it,… Read more: Guest Bedroom

Here’s a little video I hope you like!

The apartment that we are renting is partially furnished. In this case, it has beds, armoires, bookshelves, and a dining table with chairs. In the kitchen, there was a stove, but we supplied the fridge and the washing machine. That’s it! And the beds… really uncomfortable. So we are basically starting from scratch. This may… Read more: Shopping Madness

Our visas have been approved (oops, I neglected to post about that!), many of our belongings have been shipped, and the rest are pictured above. The second part of one of our most important Two Steps is done. We are back in Portugal for good! I’ve laughed in delight (cackled, really) several times, and Paula… Read more: Touchdown!

Seems like there are way too many steps, and ours is actually a fairly simple move. Here is one of our pallets being loaded on the truck. We have two of these making their way across the country by truck, then eventually on to a ship to go across the Atlantic to be off-loaded and… Read more: Next Step

Someone asked about whether immigration was hard and what it took. Was it hard? Well, it definitely was a big goal that took planning and persistence. There were stressful times and work, and I’m sure there are still some ahead! What did it take? We’ve been planning the move for 5 years; this was based on a… Read more: Quick Guide to Immigration, Part One

After much discussion, exhaustion, and juggling of priorities, we’ve agreed: We are heading to Portugal on July 4th. We’ve got the tickets. The rented apartment is waiting, empty, for us. And the toxicity of our country and state grows, seemingly every day. What we don’t have is our visa approval. Getting all the pieces in… Read more: Do the Two Step

The stack of boxes and bins above is close to the footprint of one of the two pallets we are shipping to Portugal. Aside from what we take on the plane, the two pallets will hold all our belongings. So basically what you see in the picture, plus another layer of two bins. Then double… Read more: Two Pallets

If selling the house was Mach 1, we’re there again for a second sonic boom.  After several delays, our visa applications have been submitted to the Portuguese Embassy. We have the contract to lease an apartment in Porto, the financial paperwork, our 3 money orders, and the proper return labels FedExed off to the Portuguese… Read more: Sonic Boom 2

This picture is from April 8, 2022. A month and a day ago now. We walked out of the house we sold for the last time. All of our stuff is in the AirBnB condo or the storage area. We looked out the back window and pondered the yard. All three of our dogs lived… Read more: It Really Is Empty

You know how frustrating it is when your Tupperware or Rubbermaid or other brand plastic kitchen containers don’t match up? So annoying. So about 2 years ago (guessing?) I bought some pyrex containers that all matched and were enough for our needs. And that was nice. But what was surprising was the sense of calm… Read more: A poll about kitchen storage

The closing on the house is this afternoon. I am going from a property owner to a renter, and most likely will be a renter for quite a while. We really don’t know. Our plan is to travel and enjoy Portugal and Europe now before we get too old and crickety. (Rickety? Creaky? Crotchety?) So… Read more: My Last Day as a Homeowner

Note: this post was originally written on March 3rd. It’s 9:15 pm on Wednesday and I am worn out. The living room has exploded into messy piles of photos. I decided to go through some of my boxes of sentimental papers and photos. Yes, kids, real physical photos and letters on paper and cards sent… Read more: Hitting a Wall

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but it is hard to keep y’all updated with what is happening here! The house went on the market in early February. Our realtor had told us to go somewhere else for the weekend. Paula and I considered a weekend trip to another city but decided… Read more: Going, going, gone!

We had about 3 weeks between choosing a realtor and putting the house on the market. Even though we have been giving away and selling stuff for months, there was still a lot to do. We worked hard and did a good job of cleaning out the house for the open house. Compare the above… Read more: Cleans Up Nice

When we first decided that we were on a 5-year plan to scale back and move out of the country, we considered keeping the house and renting it out for income. But after reviewing the pros and cons of our particular situation, we decided to sell the house. That has been the plan for several… Read more: We’re at Mach 1

I have this thing where it is hard for me to remember good times – with friends, relationships, work. My squirrel brain grabs onto all the bad, sad, anxious stuff now and in the past. This is a self-protective mechanism gone wrong: if I remember the sad stuff I can try not to repeat it.… Read more: Remembering and Forgetting

For most of the last 12 or so years, my wife and I have gone to Big Bend National Park with friends during the last week of the year. The trip is organized by a friend who loves the park and the stars there. The stars are incredible. So many are visible there compared to… Read more: Goodbye Big Bend

I don’t know about you, but for me, getting rid of computer stuff is hard. Our devices are expensive and they contain data, which is a security risk for identity theft. Some of them, like tablets and phones, are very personal items that we live with for years. We carry them around, touch them, stare… Read more: Hard Drives and Vampires

It is the day after Thanksgiving and I was awakened by the garbage truck. Not too early, and I’d been half awake for a while and so I got up, put on my robe, opened up my laptop, and made some tea. We didn’t have a typical US Thanksgiving. No travel, no big meal, just… Read more: The Day After Thanksgiving

We got rid of a lot of books this past week. Some books are difficult for me to get rid of because I tend to feel an attachment not only to the story but to the physical books themselves. I used to read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, and they are often reprinted with… Read more: Books, books, and fewer books!

I have this habit of saving things for the “perfect” or best time to use them. Mostly that doesn’t serve me well, such as when the expensive, fancy ingredient goes bad because I never use it. It is like there is some part of me that thinks I have to maximize my use of things.… Read more: Why Not Use the Good Stuff?

Image is of decades of my computers and data that I’ve been storing. I want to make sure that the hard drives are securely taken care of. I did a decent job of moving the data I needed forward from some of the computers, but not others. So there is this big question of what… Read more: Big Decision

Gary is a Dog. Bark, Gary. Bark, bark, bark. Funny Gary. See Gary and Paula. Bark, Gary, Bark! Okay, I’m done with the Dick and Jane type storybook. Please don’t go! After our dog Taylor died in February, we gave almost everything to our friend Pegg from the Bull Terrier Rescue. Crate, dog beds, treats,… Read more: Gary the Foster Dog

This week, my wife sold her 1969 Vintage British Motorcycle, named Penelope. It was bittersweet for her and a little for me too. I remember watching Paula get on that motorcycle and ride it down the street, following a 1950’s theme party. I remember riding it up the steep hill to my house, holding onto… Read more: One Down, Three to Go

I know that many minimalists suggest not trying to make money at a garage sale – it slows down your decluttering journey.  I’m sure that’s not true for everybody – I’ve sure attended some great garage sales that I’m sure made money! Things often won’t sell for what you think they are worth. Studies have… Read more: The Garage Sale That Wasn’t

Within the past few months, several things happened. (Okay, I started writing this in January 2021. Darn procrastination! So I’m just leaving those references.) My wife and I talked about books, the new year – 2021 for the win! my wife found a YouTube channel about a US couple that had settled in Porto, Portugal.… Read more: It’s Getting Real

In my decluttering journey so far, I’ve tried to create some new habits. Making the bed. Keeping my bathroom counter clean. Concentrating on just one habit at a time before adding another has been helpful. With the pandemic and then the power outages, things have been more stressful, so some of my habits have backslid.… Read more: Small Improvements

As I’ve continued to declutter my rooms, I keep on coming up against a newly identified nemesis: the Value Pack. You know the value pack. It draws you in. Sitting sedately next to the one or two pack, the unit price flashes its low, low price per unit compared to the unit price for the… Read more: You Don’t Need the Value Pack

We have been fairly lucky during the pandemic – my job has been remained full-time at regular pay and I was working completely remotely until recently. My wife is a psychotherapist and many of her clients transferred over to video. We’ve stayed healthy. But it did come with its own challenges. I have depression and… Read more: So it goes…

I have been steeped in the decluttering and minimalism world for a while, so I know a lot of the basics and underlying concepts. But I sometimes forget that isn’t true of everybody, and so people reading might want an intro to those basics. Not that I am holding myself up as the best example!… Read more: Decluttering Basics Part One