Shopping for Bijou

Have you ever thought about all the stuff in your home? I mean every little teeny tiny item? We had to think about it when we cleared Scoopy out, and now we're thinking about it again only in reverse. It's a ton of stuff! Since we arrived in France with only the measly 50 lbs. each of luggage allowed by the airlines, we have nothing for our motorhome. We are literally starting from scratch. Whether you live in a sticks and bricks or an RV, you still have areas dedicated to sleeping, cooking, bathing, and living. Large or small, all these areas need certain kit. 

That's what we've been doing over the last few days, buying stuff for our new home. I know some of you would relish the idea of shopping for all the things and others who would hate it. I'm somewhere in between. While the idea sounds fun, the actual experience has been exhausting. It's really hard to make decisions when you're standing in the middle of the isle in an unfamiliar place. It's frustrating when you can't communicate with the salesperson without Google Translate. We've managed to order some things from Amazon, but it's not the same experience here that it is in the states. As you might expect, search results are in French, so we rely on Google for translation. The brand names are unfamiliar, and the French apparently are not that into doing reviews, because on the things we're looking to buy, there are only one or two, if we're lucky. Mostly there are no reviews at all.

We nonetheless have made good progress in this gargantuan task. Over three outings, and by outings I mean all day shopping trips, we have managed to buy a good portion of the household items we think we need to make our travels enjoyable. We made one trip to Carrefour, which Steven calls Fredmart because it reminds him of a cross between Fred Meyer and Walmart. It's basically a Walmart superstore anchoring a mall. Just like Walmart there are some newer, more modern stores that are great for shopping and then there are older ones that are kind of eww. Still, we got a lot of household items there, so our trip was a success.  

Shopping at Carrefour is fun until it’s not. It can be a little overwhelming and the quality of household items is meh.

The next two outings were to IKEA. Certainly we are aware of this store, but it is not one we have shopped at often. The one in Seattle was so far from our home, we went there just a couple of times in the 14 years we lived there. We were already on the road when Steven made his beautiful photo of the Superstition Mountains in Arizona which was subsequently picked up by IKEA and offered in stores worldwide. Even then we didn't make it to a store until we arrived in France and purchased Bijou. 

According to our receipts, we have purchased 59 items at Carrefour and 122 items from IKEA. The largest is a duvet, the smallest is a teeny spoon. The cutest thing we bought is a Socktopus, from which we will hang small things for drying in the wind. Laundry is a whole other topic which I will tell you about in a future post. Suffice it to say, we like the Socktopus. And did you know it takes the same amount of time to remove all the sticky labels from each and every one of your items as it does to shop for it? Truth. After Steven brought all the items into our unpacking room, I poured myself a glass of wine and sat in the floor and began removing packaging and peeling off all the labels. What a chore! 

The Socktopus made the two hour-long trip and three-hour long shopping spree worth it for Steven.

Now the washing begins. We have lots of new kitchen stuff that needs to be clean when we move in, and there is a bunch of it. Even though our new kitchen is tiny, we still need all the kit necessary to cook the foods we enjoy. We wouldn't last long in this journey if we ate out all the time, so cooking at home is a requirement. Plus, we enjoy it, so we like to have all the kitchen tools and accessories to help us make great meals. I ordered an Instant Pot from Amazon France but it got lost in the French post, they think. In the end, my order was cancelled and they said the item is no longer available. I ordered again, this time from Amazon Germany, and I am expecting delivery March 12. Everybody, please, keep your fingers crossed. I need my Insty Pot!

All our new IKEA stuff stacked up in the wash pile.

We bought sheets, which was baffling because top sheets are not really a thing here. I mean, you can buy them, but we didn't find a single set of sheets where both the top and bottom came together. In IKEA, that meant hunting around in different isles and trying to make sure you got matching sheets. We managed to buy an unmatched pair, which we only just discovered today. We thought we bought pillowcases but we instead bought cases for those giant square pillows. Oh, well. One of these days we'll make another trip to IKEA, but since it's over an hour away, it won't be any time soon. Oh, guess what? Today I discovered there is a Costco a half an hour further north from IKEA! I am dying to go look but, for my own sanity, I will refrain. Sad. Maybe I'll go another time when Bijou is fully kitted out and I won't be in that "oh, we need that!" frame of mind. 

IKEA dictated our color scheme. Teal and chocolate, just like in Scoopy, LOL!

Every time we return from a shopping trip, I sit down and compare our list with actual purchases. Then I revisit the online lists that I am using as a guide and begin making a new list. Why is this thing not getting any shorter?? We have to be done, though, because in order to move into Bijou we will need to pack up our car with all our stuff and drive for eight hours to Toulouse. Is this sounding familiar, like we just did this a few weeks ago in Toadie Hopper?!

Who’s ready for another car trip?!

We are ready to move in and relax. :)

NEXT UP: More about Bijou, probably.