moving sucks!

Actually moving itself doesn't really suck.  I am genuinely excited about the new house.  But having to evaluate all your possessions, pack them into boxes and physically move them is the part that sucks. 

I just have accumulated too much stuff.  I lived in this house for almost 9 years, but I can't believe all the crap that I have managed to collect.  I want purge myself of all these extra things that do nothing but take up space.  So, I administered the help of a book that has recently become popular, I heard about it on the Today show.  It's call The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up ( the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing) by Marie Kondo.  The author explains all the reasons you need to purge your life of all things that no longer "bring you joy".  If I had any guilt about throwing out or giving away anything, this book would make it all ok.  The book is a bit wordy but it does have good tips on how to tackle the purge and how to put away what you are left with.

But as the move date approaches I find it more difficult to decide what to get rid of and I just end up throwing it all into the box.  I fear I am going to have to have second purge when I unpack.

Speaking of boxes, there are tons of them.  I pack things in smaller boxes because I can't physical pick up the larger one. Even so my entire body aches, yes moving sucks.

moving out

The past couple has been some of the most stressful week I have had in a long time.  I'll save you all the details and say this.  All is well that ends well, I am have gotten through the worst of it ( I hope) and its gonna be fine.


My mom survived the big move.  She is safely in her new apartment and even she has to admit its pretty nice.  We have most everything under control.  We still need to have all the pictures hung, but that should be done soon and then it will feel just like home.

After mom's things were moved out Charlie Peppers and his men from Adams Auctions got a chance to get a lot more things out of the house.  The auction is held in Bellevue Illinois on March 25th.  I can't wait to to see what happens!

Then the furniture and boxes that my brother and sister in law wanted were picked up by their movers.  Each day everything went pretty smooth.

There are only a few things left in the house now.  Charlie is coming back for the washer and refrigerator once I have the water lines capped this week.  There are also a few pieces of furniture and rugs that I am keeping for myself,  But its all pretty empty and weird.

Stay tuned.........

books, boxes and booze

I've been packing up my mom's house all week and its a lot of work.  I find myself throwing out at least one contractor garbage bag full of trash every day.  There are about 30 boxes full of stuff that I still have to go through with my brother, which I put in the basement.  Then there are the 30 donate/sell boxes, things that are not trash but that my mom doesn't want to move or my brother and I don't want to keep. Of course my mom has about 20 boxes so far of things she is moving to her new apartment. Its a lot of boxes.

There are a lot of books.  Books are really heavy.  I would love to donate them to a charity book fair, but they don't provide a pick up service and I am not lugging 8 boxes of books in and out of my car.

I've found a lot of cool things in mom's house.  First of all my dad kept a lot of records.  I now know exactly what the household expenses were in 1979, 1980. 1981.... you get the picture.  And this was all before computers.  I also have every card and letter I ever wrote to my parents as well as all the report cards. I think these things are only cool to me and my brother, but we should have a good laugh this summer when we go through them.

And then there are the bottles.  My parent's liquor cabinet contained all sorts of strange libations which were so old that that bottles where still sealed with those tax stamps they used to use in Missouri.  Mom still had three unopened bottles of scotch and whiskey which we gave away.  The rest of the booze was undrinkable.

Well, I'm off to Council Shop to drop off eight bags of clothes for donation.  Then to the dry cleaner to give them two shopping bags full of wire hangers. Finally to the grocery store's change machine to convert my mom's giant bag of change into paper money. I'm thinking its about $200 worth and she will be donating it to charity!