07 August 2008

Purging, packing, and prepping


Even though we've been stuffing our stuff in a storage locker for several months, it's now nearly full and our place still looks like a family of 8 lives here. (Yes, we have issues with consumer goods; I also have the pack-rat gene going back at least two generations on each side.)

But, since we are now very close to starting the whole put-in-an-offer-and-sell-our-place dance, we decided that it's time to purge, pack and prepare for the eventual "staging" of this place.

We started by thinning our DVD collection which was overflowing 8 shelves and then some. We have packed away 4 boxes of movies and TV series and have vowed not to buy any more media until we have moved into our new home. (This will be a challenge...). Next, we needed more boxes. Hubby got them out of our in-house storage area by moving some of that stuff into more perma-storage containers (plastic bins).

Then we packed another 9 boxes with stuff out of the bedrooms -- shelf contents, clothing, and books. We stopped at this point; I think I need to be brutal with my closet and pass a bunch of clothing on to the local Sally Ann. Actually, we will probably list a batch of stuff on Craigslist (some for sale, some for free) as well as take some to charity and/or offer it to family & friends. (We may make use of thosedewolfes to track things we have available, I'll make a note here if we do.)

Aaaanyway. If I seem more insane than usual, it's likely because I'm spinning around trying to remember whether I'd already packed something. Sigh.

3 comments:

Star said...

When I get the de-cluttering bug I try to use the "if I were moving would I take it" line of reasoning. Of course I know I am not moving so it really doesn't work.

Tim Bailey said...

I hear that one really effective way of reducing your surplusage is to have someone else go through your stuff and throw it out (following rules that you set beforehand). I've read a couple descriptions of this where, although it was painful for the subject, they were able to shed stuff they wouldn't have been able to otherwise (and often they never actually know what they've gotten rid of, because they'd forgotten they had it).

Unknown said...

Star & Tim: see next post, there's too much for me to just comment. :)