Moving Day

I have moved a few times. I have taken four people (2 adults, 2 small children) across the state. Then, ten years later I moved 3.5 people (2 adults, 1 college kid who didn't really live with us any more, 1 teenager) back across the state. No pets. Then I moved two adults and one dog across several states.

When I get ready to move, I know far in advance that it will happen. Months in advance. I have to put a house up for sale and look for a new one to purchase. Then I move. I call up the utilities and cancel them at one end and have them scheduled to initiate at the other. I have moving people scheduled to pack up my stuff. Then load up my stuff. Then move my stuff. And finally deliver my stuff.

I have learned that it is much easier to throw away much of the crap before you move. It is really a pain to have to lift it out of a large box, unwrap it from copious amounts of newsprint, and find out that it is trash and so throw it out. It is easier to do all that before it is packed and moved and delivered.

The last time I moved, I worked for months de-crapping. I got rid of an enormous amount of junk. I took boatloads of books to the library and clothes to Goodwill. I got rid of extra things, doubles or triples of items that don't need replication. I threw away a lot of stuff.

I also stopped buying lots of stuff. I don't know when I began hoarding food because I've never starved to death. But I have way too much food in my house. I've been doing this for a very long time now. At least without a basement, I have less room for extra food and so have less extra food, but I still have too much food. Before I move, I stop buying food. We can eat for several months on the food I currently have in the house, which means that I still transport food around the world as I move from place to place.

Moving is difficult. It is expensive. If I throw all this stuff away, I might not have the funds to buy replacements if I need them when I get to my destination. And so I vacillated about tossing stuff. And then when I got to the next place, I found that I had too much crap and continued to have to de-crap and toss more stuff. Carefully packed and wrapped stuff. Lots of extra stuff. That I didn't need.

I know it is difficult to move.

It is much easier to move someone else. I did not have to make any choices about what to take, what not to take, the wisdom or foolishness of moving an item from one place to the next. I just followed directions and watched the kids. It was fun to move. It was still a lot of work but I didn't have to make any decisions.

I need the practice. I have a couple more moves to help with. I can help my other son move. I can and will, if he wants.

I am helping my sister move. Long distance move. All at once move. The kind of move that I am more used to. But without corporate sponsorship. So moving unneeded crap is costly. It was costly for me, too. But costly to the corporation, not personally.

De-crapping is difficult because we become attached to our possessions. However, most of our possessions aren't really all that important.

Unless it is your favorite toy or needed blanket. Those are indispensible.