A friend who has moved quite a few times over the course of his life tells me that you start out by carefully labeling each grain of cat litter and placing it in a box marked with the room it belongs to, and by the time you're done, you're throwing items at random into boxes marked "Stuff."
He also says--and this is my own experience as well--that when you're packing to move is the perfect time to ruthlessly downsize your belongings.
And to be clear, I don't mean throw them away.
Organize a free-for-all "friends, come take our stuff, you'll be doing us a favor!" party. After that, take anything you haven't used in a while--say a year--or for which you can foresee no future use and bring all that to Goodwill.
Then it's time to separate the wheat from the chaff--and burn the chaff.
Bottom line: don't become a slave to your stuff, no matter how much you might want to.
This resonates. I sent a spring container from when I lived in Taiwan and most of my antiques etc… stayed at my moms while I lived in Vermont. I brought some to
Minneapolis for three years and then most of it to Chicago.
When I moved back to Maine I dumped a lot of it, and then replaced some (books). I have beautiful furniture from my great grandparents and grandparents (ie hickory rocking wingback) that I am not sure that any one else will want.
I got rid of too much (high school and college yearbooks!) and brought strange things like shawls I found on the beach when visiting Maine but moved home to Maine (grew up here). I still have sweaters from college but a beautiful tiger oak round dining table that can fit eight (6 roomily) in my garage that I will never use again.
It’s good to clean things out but it’s baffling how things are left out brought.
We initially came to Israel as tourists, with four kids and a dozen suitcases, fifteen years ago, on a bit of a lark, moved into a very partially furnished place (the couch was covered with bird poop from being stored in an outside storage unit). We stayed for two years. Compared to that, coming on Aliyah four years later and moving into our very own renovated apartment (with all rooms mapped down to the cm on graph paper) was a cinch. 😬
Provocative meditation on stuff and the emotions it evokes. Makes me wonder if hanging on to kids’s school/sport wearable swag really makes sense. When they’re away at college the sweatshirt is as close as i can get to a hug, though.
Is it just me, or does "shlepp" sound like what happens the morning after you eat an "authentic" Guatemalan burrito mojado? Yiddish sure has some lovely words, doesn't it? Makes it extra fun to grow up Jewish, when you have to attend public school, and you have embarrassing parents...
A friend who has moved quite a few times over the course of his life tells me that you start out by carefully labeling each grain of cat litter and placing it in a box marked with the room it belongs to, and by the time you're done, you're throwing items at random into boxes marked "Stuff."
He also says--and this is my own experience as well--that when you're packing to move is the perfect time to ruthlessly downsize your belongings.
And to be clear, I don't mean throw them away.
Organize a free-for-all "friends, come take our stuff, you'll be doing us a favor!" party. After that, take anything you haven't used in a while--say a year--or for which you can foresee no future use and bring all that to Goodwill.
Then it's time to separate the wheat from the chaff--and burn the chaff.
Bottom line: don't become a slave to your stuff, no matter how much you might want to.
I can completely relate. We haven't made the move to Israel yet. Thinking about the paperwork
This resonates. I sent a spring container from when I lived in Taiwan and most of my antiques etc… stayed at my moms while I lived in Vermont. I brought some to
Minneapolis for three years and then most of it to Chicago.
When I moved back to Maine I dumped a lot of it, and then replaced some (books). I have beautiful furniture from my great grandparents and grandparents (ie hickory rocking wingback) that I am not sure that any one else will want.
I got rid of too much (high school and college yearbooks!) and brought strange things like shawls I found on the beach when visiting Maine but moved home to Maine (grew up here). I still have sweaters from college but a beautiful tiger oak round dining table that can fit eight (6 roomily) in my garage that I will never use again.
It’s good to clean things out but it’s baffling how things are left out brought.
We initially came to Israel as tourists, with four kids and a dozen suitcases, fifteen years ago, on a bit of a lark, moved into a very partially furnished place (the couch was covered with bird poop from being stored in an outside storage unit). We stayed for two years. Compared to that, coming on Aliyah four years later and moving into our very own renovated apartment (with all rooms mapped down to the cm on graph paper) was a cinch. 😬
I am packing to move with my two children from New York to New Hampshire and fine this so relatable.
Provocative meditation on stuff and the emotions it evokes. Makes me wonder if hanging on to kids’s school/sport wearable swag really makes sense. When they’re away at college the sweatshirt is as close as i can get to a hug, though.
Is it just me, or does "shlepp" sound like what happens the morning after you eat an "authentic" Guatemalan burrito mojado? Yiddish sure has some lovely words, doesn't it? Makes it extra fun to grow up Jewish, when you have to attend public school, and you have embarrassing parents...