The days are passing very swiftly now. In two days, the moving and storage company comes to pack up our stuff. We have been boxing stuff up ourselves, though, because this isn't a move like our last move (almost twenty years ago).
For this move, we are separating everything we own into four piles: Store. Donate. Discard. Move to New Orleans.
Our rental house in New Orleans is fully furnished, so very little is coming with us - just clothes, treasures, and important books and papers. That means that we will pay to store whatever we keep - it's a compelling argument to downsize.
It's odd to examine the bits and pieces of crap we've surrounded ourselves with for nearly twenty years. That rusty baking sheet? The paper towel holder? Tupperware?
Most of what we're dealing with is books. We have tons of them. I should have counted the number of books, or even boxes of books, that passed through our hands. We have become this year's best donor to the Topanga Branch of the Los Angeles County Library - I think we've hauled at least 30 boxes of books to the Friends of the Library.
Today I did something that I really should have done weeks ago - I gathered up the old cans of latex paint in the basement and dropped them off at a paint recycling center. It almost didn't go so well. I stopped in at the place I knew about, and they had a sign on the door saying, "Paint recycling is FULL." Yikes!
So I got online and found a Dunn-Edwards in Marina del Rey that accepted the 15 or so cans that were in the back of my car. Thank you, nice man who helped me out at 7:30 this morning!
When you're moving out of your house but you're not moving everything to a new house, there are things you don't think of. Pillows! I have one favorite, and four "support" pillows I sleep with. Do I take my favorite pillow with me? The support pillows are actually pretty crappy - more bulk to prop me up when I read than anything else. I guess I should throw them out.
We have bed linens that are over twenty years old. Is it really worth paying money to store them? What's a better value - paying storage, paying shipping, or buying new?
As each day goes by, my ruthless impulse to throw everything out gets stronger. But even that is difficult - we have filled the cans up on the street to overflowing. On Thursday, after pick-up, we can stuff them full one more time.
My last day at work is Friday - HR policy says I have to be there the whole day. But I just accrued some new personal leave when the fiscal year turned over, so I will be taking short days before then. My vacation pay-out will be rolled over into my 457 retirement account.
Once the house is empty, we'll move into a hotel near the airport. Jack will spend a few days at the local kennel, where he's always been very happy. Then we'll pick him up and deliver him to Cargo. He'll be on the same flight we're on, a direct flight just about four hours. We've been kennel training him, so I hope he'll do just fine.
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| Bon voyage, Jack! |
What stories do you have about moving house?
4 comments:
Oh, my... I don't think you want to know my moving stories! But I certainly wish you well, and I do understand the difficulty of weeding through belongings. It's time for me to do it again because our last move was 4 years ago (I'm not planning on moving soon, but it is time to cull the excess).
Yes, take your favorite pillow. But storing bed linens is not a great plan -- anything elastic may rot in storage. Keep and use your favorites, and as for the rest -- lighten your load. Actually, that is probably the best advice: keep and use your favorites, things that will make your new place feel like home; keep (store) a few others that have strong meaning but that you can't bring with you; ditch everything else.
...not that I am good at following my own advice. Perhaps I am inspired enough to go through my linen closet next week?
BEST WISHES!
As something of a 'genuine Bedouin' myself over the last 45-odd years, 'I feel your pain'. However, you seem eminently more organised than we were so I am sure all will go well. Best wishes.
Putting anything in storage is usually a big waste of money unless it's something that you love so much or is a family heirloom. Other than that, throw it out and buy new later when you actually need it. So nice to have new things.
Sheila in Port Townsend
Wishing you the best of luck!
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