The Trials and Tribulations of Moving
I moved to Florida. A sunnier, healthier climate. No more shoveling snow. Lower taxes and lower cost of living. The only downside is I am further away from family and friends than I have ever been before. But I will do my best to stay in touch with them, will visit them often, and will make new friends along the way. I do believe I have made a good decision. I was ready for the change.
I packed all my things in about 100 small boxes and loaded them, with the help of friends, into two U-Haul UBoxes. I also loaded my bedroom furniture and a couple of other pieces of furniture, but no living room or dining furniture. I want to buy new things for my new home. But the bedroom furniture is in good condition and looks good in my new bedroom. As careful as I was with the packing, inevitably there were a few items that broke. A broken wooden rocking chair, a bent floor lamp, a couple of smashed glass and ceramic items, two CD storage towers that were broken in half. But nothing I cannot live without. Overall I did well.
But the unpacking is another story. I did label every box with the room the box belonged in and the primary contents of each box. But where was the coffeemaker? Where is a spatula when I need one? There was no can opener to be found. I know I had packed two unopened bottles of dishwasher liquid soap - but cannot locate either one. This went on for a week and resulted in my opening up all the boxes and rummaging through them, tossing bubblewrap and crumbled newspaper stuffing everywhere. It was not the way to do it. So I then decided I would unload no more than two boxes per day - and find a place to store the items for those two boxes or throw the items out. This new tactic seems to be working. I am finally getting myself organized. By this time I have unpacked almost all my kitchen items (there are too many) as well as all my clothes. My bedroom is set up neatly. I am on my way.
Downsizing was the objective. But not the accomplishment. I moved from 6-1/2 rooms to 4 but failed completely to downsize my possessions. I brought along too much clothing. A lot will be donated to charity. And years of collecting chachkas from my travels proved impossible to get rid of. So I packed them all. Now I have three large boxes sitting in my living room. One is marked 'Donate', the second one marked 'Sell' and the third one marked 'Trash'. This should have been done BEFORE I started packing, not after I unpacked. A lesson learned too late that may never be put into good use in the future.
Downsizing today could easily be accomplished with technology. I have a large library of books, a very large collection of music CDs, and a modest collection of DVDs. With today's technology books can be swapped out for e-books, CDs and DVDs with downloads. But I was and am unwilling to do so. I donated about 1/2 of my book collection - but kept all the books on my favorite subject matters (American history, British history, Art, Religion, Sicilian culture and history, and religion). So those books went into about 20 boxes that are now sitting in my new guest room without and book shelves to be placed on. I will need to buy new book shelves. But where will I put them? In the living room? My collection of DVDs (classic Hollywood movies) fit on a shelf in a spare walk-in closet. So that storage problem was resolved. I will need to buy two new CD towers to store my CD collection (mostly classical music) and will have to store those too in my spare walk-in closet. I am simply a creature of a different age who is unwilling to let go of hardbound books and CD liner notes. Am I not allowed a few unreasonable luxuries?
The process continues. But finally I see the end of the unpacking. Maybe another week. Maybe two.
I packed all my things in about 100 small boxes and loaded them, with the help of friends, into two U-Haul UBoxes. I also loaded my bedroom furniture and a couple of other pieces of furniture, but no living room or dining furniture. I want to buy new things for my new home. But the bedroom furniture is in good condition and looks good in my new bedroom. As careful as I was with the packing, inevitably there were a few items that broke. A broken wooden rocking chair, a bent floor lamp, a couple of smashed glass and ceramic items, two CD storage towers that were broken in half. But nothing I cannot live without. Overall I did well.
But the unpacking is another story. I did label every box with the room the box belonged in and the primary contents of each box. But where was the coffeemaker? Where is a spatula when I need one? There was no can opener to be found. I know I had packed two unopened bottles of dishwasher liquid soap - but cannot locate either one. This went on for a week and resulted in my opening up all the boxes and rummaging through them, tossing bubblewrap and crumbled newspaper stuffing everywhere. It was not the way to do it. So I then decided I would unload no more than two boxes per day - and find a place to store the items for those two boxes or throw the items out. This new tactic seems to be working. I am finally getting myself organized. By this time I have unpacked almost all my kitchen items (there are too many) as well as all my clothes. My bedroom is set up neatly. I am on my way.
Downsizing was the objective. But not the accomplishment. I moved from 6-1/2 rooms to 4 but failed completely to downsize my possessions. I brought along too much clothing. A lot will be donated to charity. And years of collecting chachkas from my travels proved impossible to get rid of. So I packed them all. Now I have three large boxes sitting in my living room. One is marked 'Donate', the second one marked 'Sell' and the third one marked 'Trash'. This should have been done BEFORE I started packing, not after I unpacked. A lesson learned too late that may never be put into good use in the future.
Downsizing today could easily be accomplished with technology. I have a large library of books, a very large collection of music CDs, and a modest collection of DVDs. With today's technology books can be swapped out for e-books, CDs and DVDs with downloads. But I was and am unwilling to do so. I donated about 1/2 of my book collection - but kept all the books on my favorite subject matters (American history, British history, Art, Religion, Sicilian culture and history, and religion). So those books went into about 20 boxes that are now sitting in my new guest room without and book shelves to be placed on. I will need to buy new book shelves. But where will I put them? In the living room? My collection of DVDs (classic Hollywood movies) fit on a shelf in a spare walk-in closet. So that storage problem was resolved. I will need to buy two new CD towers to store my CD collection (mostly classical music) and will have to store those too in my spare walk-in closet. I am simply a creature of a different age who is unwilling to let go of hardbound books and CD liner notes. Am I not allowed a few unreasonable luxuries?
The process continues. But finally I see the end of the unpacking. Maybe another week. Maybe two.
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