Yeah, when you go back to lvl1, the only things you keep are your gems.
I'm not sure about hats, because I didn't have one. Nor about wives since I can't seem to keep mine for longer than one refresh
I tried training too... I think you have to make sure you have enough turns, then pick the right one first. After doing that for a little, you can train another area, but it costs in the first. Don't quote me, that's just what I picked up from the info page.
I got so many gems because... I dunno, I fight alot.
I've played about 80 days worth, and on about half of those days, I've resurrected myself and kept going. On top of that, I go to the toilet every day, take extra bounties (from Dag in the Inn), and the Cats (Felyne's) have an extra sense for Gems. Having said that, the extra sense only seems to pick me up an extra gem for every 3 or 4 that I find through normal fights.
Oh, and every time that annoying girl tries to sell me something for gems, I buy it
Haha, and taking Violet up to the room for 10 minutes costs 2 turns... That's too funny
[EDIT]
Oh, and to top it off, taking full advantage of these free days, I've got over 1000 favor with Ramius. That's 10 more free resurrections on top of what I get tormenting
... I think I'm hooked
[/EDIT]
[EDIT 2]
While we're on the topic, how much were the houses again?
I've got 31K - is that enough?
[/EDIT]
