First off, I moved by myself (#92). I've always had the help of at least two family members and/or friends, but this time? I. Moved. By. Myself. I emptied my storage unit into a Uhaul and I drove that Uhaul all by myself to my new home, and I backed that Uhaul down my new driveway, and I unloaded that Uhaul and then reloaded it with things I had stored at my parents' house. By. Myself. The best part is, it only took six hours, and that includes two loads at a leisurely pace, a lunch break, a mattress struggle, and a Goodwill drop. I was sore as hell Friday night and all of Saturday, and I still have some fierce bruises fading away, but I did it.
Going hand in hand with my moving goal is emptying my storage unit (#91), since the vast majority of my stuff was in there. Mostly boxes of books. All I could think about as I huffed and puffed my way from the storage unit to the truck was that stupid essay, "Date a Girl Who Reads". I mentally composed a whole rebuttal about how you should never date a girl who reads, much less be one yourself, because if you love to read, you more than likely love to own your favorite books. And if you love to read, you probably have a lot of favorite books. And unless you're content staying in one place for the rest of your life, you're more than likely going to have to pack up and move all of those books. I have always been a reader, and have always been proud of that fact. But moving boxes of books out of storage made me realize that I do not need a physical copy of every book I love.
Which leads to drastically cutting down on my belongings (#90). I had already cut down quite a bit when I first put things into storage before traveling, but knowing I would be moving myself found me really thinking about what I needed in my life. I gave a lot of stuff to Goodwill. Unfortunately, I hadn't been that ruthless when I packed my storage unit, so while unpacking (after moving everything…) I really went through my things and took a whole carload of belongings to Goodwill. It feels amazing. Then again, I'm living in a studio I affectionately call my treehouse, so it's not like I have the room to keep every little thing I've ever touched. I still (sigh) have tons and tons of books. But maybe in time I will learn to part with them too. Until then, I'm incredibly pleased with my 101 in 1001 progress so far!
*high five* I don't think I could do that by myself. In fact... I KNOW I couldn't do that by myself. So way to go!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on doing it all yourself. Doesn't it feel good to dump a bunch of things? And I must say, that's one thing I like about eBooks - they will be easy to move.
ReplyDeleteA mattress struggle???? The mattress won hands down!!
ReplyDeleteWoo! Cutting down the junk! I totally know what you mean, though -- it's so freeing to not be bogged down by stuff you don't need or use. I go through my book collection every year or more and it seems I always manage to find something that I don't really *need* to own a copy of. (Alex beat me to the punch about the eBooks!) Sometimes I don't have the heart to give them to Goodwill (Half of them were Goodwill rescues, and it seems cruel to send them back.) so I'll give them to friends I think might like them or something of that nature.
ReplyDeleteThanks Katie! It felt pretty damn good to know I did it all myself.
ReplyDeleteAlex - I LOVE getting rid of stuff! Wish I could get rid of more... maybe in time. I'm definitely buying more ebooks and using the library a lot more, but I love owning my favorites in hard copies!
Babsy - The Internet does not need to know EVERYthing...
Callie - I really went through my book collection and got rid of a lot. I always keep some because I think I'll read them again, but don't. I usually donate the bulk of mine to the library, because they have a used bookstore. If I know someone will like a book, I love to randomly send them in the mail though!
I was tickled to see that my friend had a bookmark in the middle of "Doctor Tatiana's Sex Advice For All Creation" which I had given him in lieu of donating it. I read it for a Nature Writing class last summer; although it was hilarious, I didn't see it becoming an all-time favorite annual read. It was a good match for a new home :)
DeleteP.S. THIS IS AN EMBEDDED COMMENT. OMIGOSH.
Look at you with your bad self! The thought of moving at all makes me want to cry, let alone moving by myself. Though I will say, nothing makes you keep your possessions under control like moving a lot!
ReplyDeleteLook at me replying directly with my bad self! I feel like I still have too much stuff for a constant mover, but I'm willing to cut down a lot more just to make the next transition easier.
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