Moving Cross Country - Part 3 - 10 Things We Decluttered

 Moving Cross Country - Part 3

 

As I began this story with this post, we moved cross country to northeast Florida, to a little community called Yulee, near the beach community of Fernandina Beach.  We had lived in the same house for 32 years, and we made the move using a 16' rental truck, without having to declutter too dramatically.

Our initial decluttering resulted in just one shallow box about 18"x20", including some small kitchen items (shared with a neighbor), a few pieces of clothing, and some other odds and ends that I, of course, cannot recall, because they had no real importance! 😏

Over the course of continued packing, there would be other things "edited out" of our household, most of which were shared with friends and neighbors:  

• Canning jars--couldn't believe I had 12 dozen empty jars in my basement... 😟How did that happen?!?!  I LOVE to can! But, it is just the two of us, and we realize we will have to learn to say no to people sharing fruit with us, and accept only amounts that are suitable to both our current use needs and reasonable canned food storage space.
  
• Garage items that could not be included if we used a moving company, such as aerosols, paints, hazardous products, etc; 
• Extra perishable food, canned goods, and cleaning items. Although dealing with extra food when you're moving so far away is rather a given, many of those canned goods were things I had canned myself, and it was only at the last minute as we were packing the truck and trying to whittle out a couple more cubic feet of free space that I gave about 6 dozen jars of jams & conserves away.
• Kitchen: a set of small snack plates; a Japanese tea set (both were cute, useful, and used, but I had other things that can cover it); extra vases (a dime a dozen in the thrift stores); an upright freezer (we decided to just keep less frozen food, and we bought a frig that has a larger freezer compartment). Here's an excellent little video, about decluttering your kitchen in 15 minutes, from The Minimal Mom. (Dawn talks fast, and she's excited...!  😉But I can vouch for every single thing she's saying on this video, and if you're inspired to do a little "editing" in your space, try her method!)
  

• Small rolling cart; it had been in use in the basement all the years in the house, but I felt I could do without it and find another way/ place to store the work clothing and computer paper that it held;
  
• Extra garage shelving, because the new house had lots of garage shelving built in; 
• Outdoor items: Small wrought iron patio set (sold)--they would have been awkward and space-gobbling on the moving truck; riding lawn mower (sold)--it cost as much to rent a larger moving truck to be able to bring it as it would cost to buy a NEW one.
  
• Ironing board, another last-minute discard on the day of packing the truck.
  
• Books:  We'd both been holding on to books from college days, reference books on Biblical topics, hobby-related books, books from "previous life" (i.e., activities we did before but do no longer).  I've seen this book issue over and over with my clients!  But it was easier to let go of them 3 months before the move than it had been 1 year before. Reality had set in about how likely it was they would actually be used after the move. (NOTE: Here is a really excellent guide to the process of decluttering your library if you're so inclined:  BonefideBookworm)
  
• Several "white elephant gifts" we'd been holding in a basement storage cupboard. Again, we looked each other in the eye and honestly evaluated the likelihood that they'd actually be used down the road.

My husband, surprised and a bit frustrated by the reality of all that we owned and stored inside our house/garage, said several times toward the end of the packing process and several more times once we were actually moved, "I wish we'd just sold the house furnished and started over!" But, there are things you wouldn't leave, and there would still be many things to be packed and hauled, which is irritating when you see how much there is... Ah, clutter seems to be a reality of modern life.
 

You might now be asking the question, "So, when you got to your new home, and unpacked it all...did you keep everything?"  This is an interesting question, because before we left, somebody remarked to me that when we got here we'd be discarding a bunch more stuff that we'd realize we didn't need. Most of my clients, and other people I talk with who have made moves, still have unopened boxes in their basements, garages, storage units, or inside the home from those moves (occasionally they've been unopened through more than one move), and they know those things are simply clutter, but they still haven't dealt with it. 😣

 

When the person made the comment to me, I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to find much more to discard, but I realized I'd better not get cocky on that point...  

 

It was true.  Well, both things were true--I did find some things to declutter, but there weren't many. It was an amazing moment when my husband came walking through the kitchen a couple of days after we moved in, with many boxes still to be unpacked, and he said to me, "If you decide there's anything you want to get rid of, go ahead--I don't care what it is!!" He was so ready to just sell it all, and quite disheartened with the whole packing process. And he decided to let go of several things I'd been wanting to delete in the past but he'd been reluctant to release.

 

As an organizer, after work sessions with my clients, and especially at the beginning of a project when the clutter is so overwhelming, I come home with a very strong inclination to take everything down to absolute bare bones in the household. Even though we feel we have our possessions pretty streamlined, I'm very aware of how things "stick to you" and seem like they are important, but they really are just clutter.

 

The post-move list of things that went out the door is:

• Four glass storage jars with the rubber rings and flip bail closure. Heavy, awkward, have enough storage jars. 
• Several plastic storage containers--there's always a new one coming available as we empty food or other things that come in them.
  
• Water bottles--oh how I hate water bottles; they collect like flies on meat.  We kept the couple good ones we actually use, let the rest go. But there was this brief conversation about "What if guests need one while they're here..." I said, "That's never happened yet in all of our married life." Good riddance...
  
• Two wood storage units about 4'Hx2'Dx3'W that were actually very handy for the moving truck, with shelves to put boxes and bulky items into. Not needed here.
• A roll of clear cellophane. Not worth the story here.
  
• I'm working on selling some excess pieces from my china set, and a silver tray / pie server, given to us at our wedding and NEVER used... sheesh.
  

Is there more I'd like to see go? Yep. It is interesting to me that with this move, my desire to pursue selling my artwork (in a "big way") has more or less ended, and that means there are some items related to creating artwork that I'll likely edit out in the future. And, replacing, removing, repairing and refreshing things in this new home has resulted in many things to be sold or given away. We're working on it through Craigslist and Marketplace, but in the end, some of it will probably just get donated to a charity thrift shop.

Recently I visited a little thrift shop here in Yulee, the Barnabas New to You store. I bought a tiny round end table to display a flower arrangement in my new house. But I suspect some day in the future, that too will be sold or given away, as we downsize with an eye to smaller square footage.  Or maybe even the RV lifestyle! Oh, boy, what a thought!