Cindy
Last month, I helped my friends, The E family, move. In the last month, I also helped my daughters’ school pack for a move. The Es have lived in their house 13 years; the school has been in this location 10 years.
Let me tell you, I have seen a lot of junk, stuff, things, good stuff that’s no longer needed, beautiful useful items, heirlooms, and lost & found in the past month. A lot.
Moving really forces you to focus in on what’s essential. This is especially true for the school, which is being torn down and rebuilt. For the first half of the next school year, The Girls’ School of Austin will operate nine grades (K-8) in a church that used to rent its extra space to a preschool. A preschool. To say that the girls will be cramped and the teachers will need to be flexible is probably an understatement.
The Es were in the fortunate position of moving across town and into a a home that is both lovelier and larger than their previous home.
But whether it’s a school or a family, moving involves the same essential processes and the same opportunities to declutter and downsize your possessions.
Anticipation
You know the move is coming. Maybe next week, maybe next year, but it’s never too early to start. (For those of us who aren’t moving, just keep decluttering. Every now and then, you hear of someone who had to / got to move totally unexpectedly, and if this is you, you’ll be glad you already reigned in your stuff.)
I think it can be hard to get going in this stage; the move is still so far away. Well life is going to keep on happening, and moving day will arrive before you know it, so start small and keep going.
Staging
In the US, “staging” your house has become the new normal. That’s where you pretty the whole house up to look really nice, but it doesn’t necessarily look much like your house any more. Personal pictures are removed, new towels are hung, things that you’ve lived with happily mismatched for a decade suddenly need to be matched. This is staging. (And if you think staging – or at least cleaning – isn’t important, check out these photos. This site always makes me laugh and cringe.)
This is also another chance to declutter. Since you’re removing all these items, think about whether they still serve you. Whether you need / want / and enjoy them anymore. Now that you own the new matched towels, shouldn’t you use them and donate the old towels to the animal shelter?
Packing
It’s the main event folks! The time when you will touch every single thing you own. Every single thing. Let’s let that sink in for a moment. (And if you’re Colleen, you will not only touch every single thing you own, you will have to write it on a list – literally. That’s what the Australian Air Force requires when it moves its personnel.) Leave yourself enough time to actually think about what you’re packing, rather than just cramming it all in a box as fast as possible. Either you or your employer is paying for each and every item, each and every box. Even if you’re moving yourself you’re paying – in exhaustion, favors owed, beer, etc. Think about what you are packing and make sure you have enough time to dispose of the unwanted items in an appropriate manner.
Unpacking
The second half of the main event. Probably the last time you will touch every single thing you own, until the next move. (Dan swears that he’s not moving until he is in a box.) Not everything will fit or work in your new location. As you’re unpacking, this is the time to make the second pass of deciding if you really need four glass pitchers and 20 framed photos of your children ages 1 – 2.
Your first unpacking and arranging shouldn’t be your last. After you live in your new location for a time, you’ll realize that the silverware, towels, books, dish towels – something – really isn’t stored in its best location. Don’t be afraid to move and fine tune your home. A more efficient arrangement can also mean more decluttering and less chance of cluttering later when you can’t find what you want, even though you know it’s here, somewhere.
Good luck E family and good luck GSA. Good luck to any readers who are moving. My love to you all!
Today’s Mini Mission
Declutter some money related items. Old money boxes, wallets, bill clips, change purses, coin sorters, coin wrappers or bags… . You could also drop foreign coins off to the bank for donation to charity or gather up all the coins that you have accumulated and cash it in at the bank by either depositing it into your account or getting bills in exchange.
Eco Tip For The Day
Here is an eco tip that is good for your waistline, your wallet and food waste. When going out for morning tea or lunch with a friend why not share that slice of cake, piece of pie or lunch dish. I do this all the time with my friends because usually the servings are large enough for two to share. We just ask for an extra plate and cutlery and split it between us before hoeing in.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Good post Cindy. Moving. We all hate to do it as far as the work is concerned but we all end up doing it more than we would like in most cases. I know that I will be moving at least once more and I have to say that knowing it will happen motivates me a great deal toward getting rid of as much as I can. If only I had to move tomorrow I could do so in very little time because what I alone have is very little. If the move included both of us it would take awhile because Mom has so much stuff yet. I know that she is gradually letting go so I’m hoping it will all be gone before another move happens.
Thanks Cindy…..This post was designed for me as I am in the middle of it! (read back a couple of days ago on Monday’s comment. I talk about the large yard sale we had last weekend). I have a little over 3 weeks to get this house packed and moved after living here 15 years. Got to run now and get to packing! 🙂
Just what we needed to hear, Cindy!!! We are not planning a move, but why not continue the decluttering onslaught? We will move some day and who wants to live in a pigsty anyhow? We ll, it’s not really a pigsty, but that’s a fun word to say and we certainly do still have too much stuff. Have a super fun day!!!
Oh, Cindy, I do love to see pictures. LOL I’ll tell you what, if I had to write down every single thing I owned, a bunch of it would be out the door!!!
Fire season is upon us again here in Colorado and I hear there are two bad fires in New Mexico as well. Last year we had to evacuate some family due to a fire and thank God, their home was saved, but others were lost. I was thinking about that yesterday after hearing about the new fire. Thinking, what in my home is most critical to me? What would simply break my heart if it were gone? Obviously we have items in our homes that serve useful purposes and they can be easily replaced. And I am speaking about after you have grabbed your kids and your pets and of course, important documents. Boy, there’s a lot of emotion surrounding “things”. My home is still a disaster with the washer and drying in the living room – makes for interesting TV watching, but when we finally end up putting things away, I will take a closer look. Do I love this? Does it enhance my life? Is it something simply dear to me that I cannot part with?
My dear husband is one of those “If one is good, two are better” guys. I’m not sure when I can get him to go through the garden shed. He keeps procrastinating. I know it’s a pain, but you’ll feel better when it’s done, dear!
Kim, good luck on your packing and your move!!
Thanks Michelle…..I’ll keep in touch when I can with all you 365ers!!!! It is so nice to share my story with people that “get me”!!! 🙂
Hi Michelle, I just wanted to make a comment and a suggestion for you.
1. You said ~ “Boy, there’s a lot of emotion surrounding “thingsâ€.” I say ~ There is only as much emotion surrounding stuff as we allow there to be.
2. Why don’t you suggest decluttering that back shed for your husband. Shear fear of what you might through away may make him decide he had better get on with it himself. 😉
Have a wonderful day. And how is that brooch frame coming along?
Ooooooooh, can’t pull the wool over your eyes, can I??
1. I can see my own issues with emotional attachment to things, but I am getting better about that. I’ll tell you where I’ve gotten bad which is in not making my to-do lists. I’m very discombobulated right now and I think not having the list to keep me focused is part of the problem. I’m running around like Chicken Little. Do you have Chicken Little in Australia?? How this relates is that due to plaster dust flying, it got into all the kitchen cupboards. I have to pull everything out, wash the cupboards, wash what was in the cupboards, and put away. I’m knowing that a lot of that is not going back in and some of my dishes came from my mom, so I’ll let go of that and it will be a good thing.
2. The shed. The shed. The dreaded shed. A bunch of that junk can be sold/donated and then it needs some shelving and some sort of storage for sprinkler parts, etc. His work truck is organized. I’m not exactly sure why the shed is such a wreck.
3. Right now, life is seriously in my way and this, I am not trying to make excuses. I could tell you a big long story, but it comes down to I am only partially done on the brooch case. I was trying to fit 30 mins here and 30 mins there and then I had to keep putting everything away because I had to keep putting the cat in my craft room due to many contractors coming and going and the frame I am silver leafing. Wonder how silver leafing tastes to a kitty? 😉 But I had to stop work on the frame because we are leaving for Mom’s in two weeks and she wants two of a particular craft I make. Ok, don’t laugh. I like Coors Light beer. I like to recycle. I cut the cans into flower shapes with tin snips, paint them in vivid colors, attach them to a recycle board, attach little charms to each flower, attach a stake to hammer into the ground and . . . . ta da! Yard Art!!! Sometimes they have just one, or three, or five flowers on them. I made her one with five and now she wants two more with three. So, there’s my excuse.
Someone on here did a post about saying “no” to people. At this point, I’m not gonna tell my mom I’m too busy, but I did say “absolutely not” when hubby wanted to have a big get-together before we leave. I’m not even sure the washer and dryer will be out of the living room by then. The flooring and the baseboards are backordered, for pete’s sake.
On a side note, a friend just returned from a trip to England and presented me with . . . yes. . . a brooch. I just smiled and said thank you. (Is there a series of key strokes to make a crazy face?)
Ok Colleen – what are you doing in my dreams???? Thought about you all last night. So instead of sitting with my cup of coffee this a.m., from 5:30 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. I took a razor blade and cut away the window trim tape. Any manufacturer that says their painting tape can be easily removed is a big story-teller!!!!!!!! And some if it pulled away the wall paint, so re-priming and re-painting a few spots. Instead of a to-do list on the room, I went around with little sticky notes (but not too much sticky!) and made notes like “touch up trim”, “touch up blue”, “2 coats of trim”, so my next block of time I can get right to it.
me and my big fingers. Obviously 30 minutes is nothing – it was 5:30 – 7. I’m thinking tomorrow a.m. before work I might work on my CL Flowers. 🙂
Michelle – grab a hairdryer and warm the tape up a bit.
Moni – really?? I could just bang my head against a wall for not knowing that! Your tip will come in handy though because I there is blue tape all around my kitchen cabinets and the back splash so thank you very much!
Michelle – yup, hairdryer. I work in a sign making shop and sometimes we get called on to remove signage from windows or vehicles to replace or to return to lease vehicles and the guys use heat guns to heat up the adhesive again. They’ve got the knack and get it all off without leaving behind any of the glue and they’re clearing big areas – me, I tend to leave behind quite a bit of the glue and have to scrub it off with a product we use, but methylated spirits would also do the trick. Just be careful not to overheat the glass – I doubt you can with a domestic hairdryer but focus on a small area of the tape at a time and lift that and move onto the next bit
Moni – I told hubby about your suggest and he says, “well yeah, heat on adhesive. That’s what we do at work.” Instead of hitting my head against the wall, I felt like hitting his head against the wall. I have literally painted every inch of this house inside and out and he never once mentioned this to me. I know I have complained about that blue tape before!
Michelle, I hate to say this but that is most men. They just don’t register 99% of what we say.
We are moving and
1.we staged our home and took out a lot of furniture and belongings and put them in temporary storage
2. we went through most of our belongings plus empited the storage locker and had a big garage sale
3. we went through all our stuff and purged more, sold furniture and more costly items online, packed what we are keeping, made donations.
4. continue selling stuff online,what doesn’t sell now we will take to new home and sell from there.
5. had few enough boxes we moved them by car to new home garage (I think we did a great job so far–not nearly the number of boxes we had previously and won’t have to pay to have it done!)
6. will unpack and do just what you said and then donate or sell all the decor, furniture, and other items that we won’t use in this much smaller home.
Benefits:
Relax and enjoy are new downsized, easy living space. And save the $7,000+ we have from sales to put wood flooring into new home and for our trip to Ireland in October!!! (where we won’t buy a bunch of stuff to take home!!)
Thanks so much for this site that helped us do all of this.
You are an inspiration !!! Thanks so much for the breakdown of what you did. 🙂
Well done Scrapabbey and how exciting, a new smaller easy to care for home and a trip to Ireland. I am going to be in Ireland in September and am really looking forward to it. I should feel right at home with my red hair and my name.
I am looking forward to my move too, just to get a real visual on how much less stuff we have and how much quicker it will be to pack it up and unpack it at the other end. Leaving friends behind ~ not so great. 😥
Wowee! I love it!!
Right here cheering you on! Fantastic!
I can’t begin to tell you how many people we have helped through the years and most of them have junk all over the place the day before the move when people come to help them pack. I just don’t understand why people don’t go through their stuff, especially when they know a move is in the near future. It is a waste of people’s time if they come to pack up a truck and people have junk all over that isn’t even in boxes. It is much more effective to make the decisions a little at a time instead of waiting and making tons of decisions under stress. Also, you may just choose to take everything with you at the last minute and who wants to unpack junk that they have paid money to move into a new home? I wrote an article about moving on the Dollar Stretcher, as a way to share some of what I learned. It is here: http://www.stretcher.com/stories/04/04may03d.cfm#.Ua5GXJz3VBE Frankly, I would be happy to sell everything except one item and start over the next time. We had friends who said they couldn’t afford to replace anything so they drove two big trucks of old, used stuff across the United States and paid $10,000. We knew other people that I wrote about in the article that moved a few states away and brought old cars, car parts and all kinds of junk, got a storage unit and then moved it again to their home. What a nightmare for those who helped!
Marianne, you’re gonna love this story. My husband was helping his elderly aunt move (with the help of aunt’s son) and the son was getting mad at his mom because he had limited time, she hadn’t completed packing (even knowing his was on limited time), and then she was tossing 3-4 ladies magazines in large boxes to be moved from CO to TX! He kept pulling them out to toss in the trash and then they ended up fighting. Holy smokes!
I have held on to magazines in the past and truthfully, I still have some. However, I stacked all my Southern Living (which has WUNNERFUL recipes in it) next to the recycle bin. My plan was to go through them prior to my next recycling trip. Hubby got some gumption and took them without checking with me first. My reaction? Guess they weren’t very important or I would have gone through them sooner. hee hee
I am so with you on this Marianne. When I move I prep just about everything before the removals company lob on our doorstep. Granted I haven’t moved since becoming more eco friendly but I think I would still do things much the same. The last time I did a use it up challenge on toiletries before moving. Every time I do a use it up challenge on food. Then I use the food canisters to hold small items like stationery, little Tupperware lids, small utensils… When the children were little I would make sure all the game pieces, jigsaw pieces and tiny toy parts were all bugged up in Ziplock bags. Things I knew I no longer wanted were offloaded either by having a garage sale or donated to charity. All outdoor items were meticulously cleaned ~ bbq, lawn mover etc. I also made sure that everything was in the room it belonged in so that it would get packed under that rooms label. This way it would be delivered to the room it belonged in at the other end (no shuffling boxes all over the house.)
This time around the prep time will be practically zilch as the kids have left home and everything else is mostly decluttered or well contained. My idea of what I wanted and needed has changed considerable from the last time I moved. This time I could still end up having to offload at the other end but that will depend on whether the downsize is more drastic than we bargained for. I think we have it pretty well figured out though.
Colleen – we’ve fronted up to help people shift, and they’ve asked us to get the bbq around the front and its still all greasy and messy from its last use. Bleh. It probably didn’t occur to them as they’d left everything until the last minute but I also like outdoor stuff to be cleaned prior to shifting so that grease or grass doesn’t transfer onto other items. So I sugarsoaped their bbq as a home-warming gift and then we shifted it. I seem to recall that Adrian even cooked the celebratory bbq at the other end later on.
Marianne – I enjoyed your article – yes, for some people common sense seems to go out the window when shifting. We helped an older couple pack and load the enormous truck some years ago, and I had to wrap and fill an entire box of empty jam jars. I asked her if she made jam, no, they might be useful one day. All of their furniture was old and tired and it did occur to me that the cost of the removal truck was easily more than the value of the furniture, let alone all the boxes of stuff including empty jam jars, a huge amount of mismatched dinnersets and about 7 casserole dishes. People would balk at sending one box on the courier containing such worthless items and yet they will pay for shifters to carry them across country, and if it could all be broken down on a square rate, it is probably a similar amount. I guess they think that as they’re paying for the truck they might as well fill it to capacity, and it doesn’t occur to them to take less and pay for a smaller truck.
Marianne – I’ve just remembered a story I told Andreia – a friend of ours, his wife is a minimalist and they were building a house and they were down to about a month out from shifting when he came home and went to the fridge and it was missing. They were getting a nice new one for the house and she figured it would take a couple of weeks to sell on trademe by time you do the whole week listing, offers, re-list, etc etc. Within an hour of listing it there was a request for buynow, so she put a high-ish price as she didn’t really want it to go too quick. And the buynow was taken and the new owner wanted to pick it up right away. It was identical to one that this guy had wrecked at his parents house and he needed to replace it before they got home as he’d held a party he shouldn’t have. So my friend would go for a pre-breakfast jog to get the milk and picked up dinner fixings on the way home. Said he got used to it too.
A week later he came home and all the bedroom furniture except bed was missing. They were doing built in drawers in their walk in wardrobe but in light of the fridge incident she only listed the spare room drawers. Someone requested to come and have a look in person and saw the rest of the stuff and said he had cash and he’d buy the lot, his family had just immigrated here. So my friends used a suitcase and cardboard boxes until they shifted.
The very next day he came home and threw the keys onto the dinning room table……but the table was gone! He’d built one for the new house but it was too big to get into the house they were renting so he’d stored it in his parents garage and they were using his wife’s old one. Well, the guy who’d bought the bedroom furniture rang her and said the dining suite he’d won an auction on had fallen thru and was she interested in selling hers? Yes she was!
My friend reckoned he was almost scared to go home and see what was missing now, but it made for a very easy house shift.
I am glad you liked the article and thanks for sharing your funny story!
You are so right!
Personally, I’m someone who is anticipating a move, so I start packing (and tossing) a little early. As most of the people I know live in rented apartments, the “staging” part is unnecessary, but usually you have to leave the apartment really well cleaned and also renew the paint. This means that there’s usually one or two days of cleaning and painting involved after the furniture is removed. The worst move in the last time was when friends of us moved overseas. They didn’t intend to take anything with them, but wanted to get rid of their stuff in advance and just ship a few boxes of personal items. However, they went so chaotic about it, and started so late alltogether, that it was a horrid week for them and the helpers. They also had to do all the organizational work in that last week.
Selling or freecycling is a great way to get rid of stuff in advance, but you have to plan a little time for it.
Also, if you take time to pack, you pack things better and get better use out of the volume of a box, so you can save transport costs as well.
Compared to when we moved here though, we got rid of quite a lot. I’d like to think that it would be a rather fast move now and quite little random stuff that just turns up and you don’t know what to do with it.
365less things were instrumental in making my move 18 months ago. I diligently read posts everyday and really thinned down what personal and bedroom stuff I had. Then I had to be mindful as I filled kitchens and living spaces.
I didn’t list things when I moved, but as I started buying things. Now I’m trying to do a whole house inventory. So far I’ve posted on my art, my clothes and my pantry and next week I plan to do a series of what’s in my drawers and cupboards 🙂 is it weird I find this exciting?
Good post Cindy – there is something about shifting house that is quite exciting. Ok, I don’t get to shift very often which is probably why I feel that way. We are planning to put the house on the market but as we haven’t worked out where we going to next, I have set the timeline at “after I have finished decluttering”.
I have friends who are minimalists and shifted house comfortably in 3-4 hours. So I’ve made 4 hours my goal.
Staging. We recently had a real estate agent to do an initial estimate/assessment on our house and he said “oh good, you’ve already moved excess furniture and stuff into storage” (turns out he refers clients to a particular storage firm so I imagine there is something in it for him) and Adrian said, no this is what we have. The agent looked quite surprised and he doubled back to relook thru several cupboards.
New towels, small repairs, a few decorative improvements. Yes, isn’t it funny how we leave these things until we plan to leave. I think there was a post on this late last year as Adrian and I set about doing working on these things, I must dust off that list again soon. And yes I think some fresh new handtowels and bathmats would be just the thing!
Dizzy are you out there? OK everyone, this has to be the best “What The?”. Yesterday I was sorting thru a box of curtains that had come down from the ceiling storage, these curtains belong to our original house that we still own and rent out which is why I still have them, and I found a 5 kilo bag of flour. Yes flour. We’re baffled too.
That is a hoot. I can’t help but laugh. “What the!!” is right.
Hahaha I can hear the conversation now, “Adrian can you put the flowered curtains in the ceiling space please” ?” No problem Honey just a minute”, But of course Adrian is deep into the Rugby game and in his defence he did hear flour and curtains!!!!!! Always blame hubby, there is no possible way wifey would do something like that. Heehee sorry Adrian, but definitely worthy of the ‘What The’ category!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I have moved many times. Each time I prepare for it but this last time there was no time to prepare. I wanted to look through each and every thing but that was not possible. Although many things did not make the move, more things made the move than I wanted. After having my things in storage for a year, I found that I could survive without most of it and that is when I started this journey of ridding my home and life of useless stuff. I have been in my home now for over a year and I am still finding stuff to get rid of. The pictures were interesting. I have heard of, and seen pictures of, people who asked movers to come pack their things and there was so much trash that the good stuff, if there was any, could not be identifiable amongst the trash.
When we sold our last home, we were fortunate that it was sold without our things in it. Our things were already in storage. The realtor was totally amazed that our home was ready when we called for him to put it on the market. He was amazed because he said even the simplest things, like painting, are not always done prior to putting a home on the market. He did not have to do much which made his job easier.
As the “E” family you helped move (you SAVED US, seriously, we thanked GOD for you and yours!) I have to say you made our life sound much better than it felt. Moving was awful. And I’m still boxing up and making trips to pass on things, thanks to your inspiration.
Great post Cindy,
It scrapes right to the bone for me as we are preparing for our next move into our new home. With our last home, I was sorting and purging as much as I could. No excuses here but we were flat out stuffed to the gills. We shopped around for an established home, but just about every one we went into kinda looked like those pics on Ugly Houses!! My first thought was always wondering how much damage is going on underneath the mess. If you leave your house like a bombsite then they are obviously ignoring little problems along the way. Staging our home for the move was a no brainer for me, the process and the subsequent speed with which it all happened is worthy of it’s own post. OMG!! there are so many things I’m doing differently for this move. Thanks for the reminders and I do hope your Little Library is bringing much joy to your community 🙂 🙂 🙂
We sold our house a few months back. I was happy that I was able to ‘hide’ the excess stuff for staging all in our garage and kitchen cupboards. The house sold in 4 days, with only a thirty day settlement! So we were racing to get everything packed and moved. I’ve already halved my stuff and I’m hoping to get it down another half. I was glad I’d done that, because it made it all much easier. The removalist said the amount I had was probably average for a three bedroom house, especially since there are five of us. And I thought ‘average! That’s far too much!’
We move again at the end of the month, into the house we plan on staying in for ten or twenty years. A lot of things have stayed in boxes, because we knew we were only here short term, and we want to save time on the next move. Things will be considered very carefully as they come out of the boxes, and before they leave the house we are in now.
And at the moment I’m working on using everything up, especially food. What’s the point of moving food?
Stuss – I do that too – or rather, when I have shifted in the past I have made a point of running down the pantry and freezer BUT we watched some neighbours shift a few months ago and the very morning of the shift, the supermarket delivery truck pulled up and unloaded groceries. Go figure. I know they were only shifting a few kilometres away but why have the extra stuff to carry? I hate carrying groceries in when its a one way trip from the car to the kitchen, let alone from front door to kitchen, to frontdoor and car and then from car into the new house!
Hi Stuss, I have moved canisters of dry goods and spices before. We don’t pay for our removal though so financially, for us, it makes more sense not to throw what doesn’t get used away because we would have to replace it at the other end.
I don’t throw it away! I just buy the bare minimum and use up what’s in our fridge and cupboard. Most is in Tupperware containers, so it’s just the tins and packets that I am running down at the moment.
Hi Stuss, we are in agreement on this. Using up stuff in the fridge, things in cans and packets is easy enough to achieve prior to removal. Actually my fridge and pantry looks a bit like a move is pending on a permanent basis these days. Now that it is just my husband and I at home and we mostly only seem to buy fresh fruit, vegetable and meat the turnover is frequent. It is only things like flour, sugar, herbs, spices and the like that take longer to use up. I will be buying my flours in smaller quantities in future because we eat low carb so I don’t bake much any more. I have given away a lot of Tupperware canisters to my daughter recently because I keep far fewer ingredients and less of those I do buy.
I figure out how much it costs per pound to move things and then look at the food and see how old it is and if it is worth it. For example, if a can of corn cost me 50 cents and moving is 75 cents a pound, I will donate it rather than move it because it is cheaper to buy on the other end. If it is an expensive food, and we can’t eat it before we move, I consider how old it is and if it is worth the cost.
Great post Cindy. One day I will finally finish the post about moving that I began months ago. Perhaps when and if we move at the end of the year would be a good time since it will all be fresh in my mind. Although this move will be very different from all the others because we have soooooo much less stuff and even less people.
My husband and I will be moving in the near future. We don’t have a date yet, as we haven’t even started looking for a new house yet, but it will probably be within the next 3-6 months. You are so right that moving is a fantastic oportunity to think about each item and it’s usefulness to you. I’m continuing to make progress on sorting through our home and getting rid of unwanted/un-needed things. It feels good to know that our next move will require far FAR fewer boxes than our last one did (over 300 boxes were on our list last move because that was my apartment and my husband’s condo and we were combining our stuff for the first time). We have a ton less furniture now too and that is also a relief. Since the last move we no longer have a couch, loveseat, a file cabinet, an eliptical machine, we are two bookcases lighter, one end table lighter, one bedside table lighter and one medium size piece of cat furniture lighter. The only new piece of furniture we’ve acquired while getting rid of all of the above mentioned items is a very tall thin 5 drawer dresser. I think that’s a good trade! 🙂 There’s a few other items that my husband and I have discussed that are going to be tossed when we move too- a desk and a large hulking cabinet. I’ve been trying to clear both of those items off so that perhaps we can heave them before the move comes around.
I am finally gathering all those foreign coins I don’t intend to use in the next time and donate them the next time I’m going to the thrift store.