Thread Drift

[ny biker]

Gotta say, packing the condo up a scant 15 months after we unpacked it, is tiring. And we know this move is temporary too since the apartment we rented will be cost prohibitive when we're retired. Might be time to go back to the days of my 20's when I could move in my car... in one trip.

Yeah. I've had a lot of my stuff in a storage unit for a long time now, as contractors have been in my condo doing various things, and I wanted to minimize the amount of stuff they had to move around in order to work. Now as the new floor installation gets closer -- new floor everywhere, including the closets, with the exception of the kitchen and bathroom -- I really have to pack up and get stuff out. I'm doing lots of purging along the way; there's a big pile of stuff in my living room ready to go to Good Will. It's very tiring, even doing it a little at a time.

And when I'm done with the floors, I'm still not done. First there will be touch-up painting to do. After that a lot of stuff can come out of storage. But my next project will be re-doing the insides of my three closets so that I can store stuff more efficiently. Which means it won't make sense to unpack a lot of the stuff that I'm packing up now.

The good thing is that it all gives me a chance to see what I really don't need to keep. If something has been in storage so long that I've forgotten I had it, it's easier to overcome my pack-rat tendencies. I also get motivation from my parents' experience cleaning out the apartment of an elderly aunt after she died. It was so much work and took so long to go through everything, figure out what needed to be kept, what had value and could be given away or sold, and what should be tossed.

[Pax]

I'm starting to think those minimalist people I read about have the right idea. Some own only 100 things, total... I have more than 100 things in my bathroom!

Number 4 http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lif...s-or-less.html is my downfall, I own some very expensive made-in-the-US tools that I could never afford to replace, but even though I haven't had a motorcycle in two years, I lug them around with me.

[ny biker]

I have learned to ignore that rule. Every year when I take my winter clothes out of storage I find at least one old sweater that ends up becoming my "new favorite" for the year, or the new comfy sweater that I wear instead of a sweatshirt when I'm just bumming around the house. And this summer I am wearing the too-large jeans that sat in the bottom of the dresser drawer for years, because I am up 10 lbs and not fitting into many of my summer clothes.

Besides you might end up buying another motorcycle, and then you'll be glad you had those tools.

[Pax]

Very true. And everything we own (two adults) fits easily in a 650 sq ft condo, so I guess we're pretty far from hoarder status.

My wife actually wants me to buy more clothes, every article of clothing I own fits in an LL Bean rolling duffle bag, she says it makes us have to do laundry too often since I run out of pants every three days. LOL

[ny biker]

Ha. I inherited my mother's love of buying clothes and my father's packrat tendencies. I can't get through a vacation with just an LL Bean rolling duffle bag!

[Pax]

Too funny! She's the same, she is literally half my size, but brings twice as many pieces of luggage on vacation.

[Crankin]

We've always been minimalists, but we still have stuff. I have no trouble throwing stuff out, and it's hard for me sometimes to work with clients who are really organizationally challenged and want help ridding themselves of stuff. I help them prioritize, make a plan, give them sources to donate, and then they "can't."
Moving to our condo helped get rid of stuff. But, we started 5 years ago, knowing we would eventually downsize. We have a huge basement, so there's an area for DH's shop, our bike stuff, some boxes of stuff that we use occasionally, and shelves holding lots of random stuff, and the laundry area. I made sure I labeled the boxes very specifically, with contents and where the stuff was in the house, so if I needed it, I could find it. And I have had to get stuff out of there at least 3 times since March.
I get rid of clothing every fall/spring when I move my woolens into my closet. However, I've pared down so much, that this year, I had very little to donate. I go through my cycling/ athletic apparel in the winter. I have a lot of clothes, but I am much better at not buying trendy stuff.
Of course, I am anally organized and DH is worse. I plan my meals for the week, and make my grocery list accordingly. I buy stuff in advance when I have one left (like health and beauty stuff, household cleaners). I don't like clutter or "chatchkes" and I have very little emotional attachment to "stuff." I've moved 8 times since I got married in 1979, so I have a system for all of that, too. What helped is that we have only had one other house with a basement, so really, not much room to accumulate too much. Most of our stuff revolves around sports equipment, now.