Movin' On--and Out!

[JudyJB]

OK, got the china all packed. I had stuff of my own, my mother's, and my grandmother's, so there was a lot of stuff. It ended up being three very large boxes and a lot of bubble wrap and paper. I put a sofa pillow in the bottom of each box and one on the top of two of them!! Good place to store them, and they provided a cushion and took up space to lighten load. China is really HEAVY, so I was afraid to fill boxers all the way. Should have got smaller boxes.

Den and remaining books are all packed. Ditto for most travel stuff--I buy WAY too many booklets and books when I travel!

So I am taking a break. Just got some guys from DPW to pick up some stuff that i know will not sell in a garage sale and that I don't want to bother moving. Tonight I will go through the remainder of my clothing and pack up what gets stored--mostly a few business and formal things in case I ever go on another cruise and need something dressy. That leaves me 14 pairs of long jeans which I think is at least 6 pairs too many, so I need to do more pruning. Dressers are already empty except for some shorts and t-shirts which will go.

Tomorrow I will clean out refrigerator and groceries and pack that plus the handful of stuff from my cupboard I am taking. Saturday morning is the move. Yea.

Whew!! I never, ever, ever want to go through this again. At keast the small space of a motorhome will be a limiting factor on my accumulating stuff in the future!!

Hope all the other ladies in my situation who are sorting and cleaning out "stuff" are doing well.

[Carolinagal]

Wow , Judy !!! In spite of toe, you are a mover. Wanta come to my house ? So glad you were able to do as you planned and china all packed, I know thats a biggy, thanks for the pillow idea.

You sure are movin' on, Happy Travels ahead, and you've earned it, what a few months you've had,

CArol

[Dawn309]

Judy, I need you here too! I am so impressed. I haven't packed up anything today. Been mowing all day, so I think I will fix something to eat and rest for awhile. Tomorrow will be another packing day. Plan on emptying the Jelly Cabinet and the linen closet in the hall. The bottom of the linen closet is full of toys that go all the way back to when our girls were little. They are going to Darla so her granddaughter can play with them when she gets a little bigger. That will definitely be a trip down memory lane.

I cannot wait until I am where you are and ready to hit the road. Congrats to you.

[JudyJB]

I am exhausted. Got almost all of my clothing packed. Bathroom stuff also.

Bad thing is that I had wanted to scan a bunch of stuff and am running out of time. Tomorrow, I need to pack up the remaining stuff from the kitchen, and then early Sat morning we go to get the moving van, so just no more time left.

Maybe I can squeeze just a bit of scanning tomorrow. Will try. Otherwise it will have to go into storage until a later time. Got to pack up grtoceries tomorrow and stuff from refrig. I think most of refrig stuff will get tossed.

Whew.

[Nasoosie]

It's very comforting to realize that we women all seem to treasure things----"stuff" as my daughter calls it. I hope I am around when it's time for her to downsize her "stuff" some day. Those inevitable trips down memory lanes when sorting old toys, old baby clothes, (I still have the outfit I wore when my mother brought me home from the hospital after my birth----I guess she was as sentimental as I) school projects, high school year books, old love letters, china and treasures from family members long in the ground, birthday and Mother's Day cards, Christmas cards, on and on, seem to happen to us all who are destuffing. Sometimes I find I have passed an hour or more just reading and reminiscing, crying a few tears (all right----sometimes sobbing out loud and going through boxes of kleenex) and then putting the most poignant things into yet another box to save, labled "MY STUFF." The rest of it I will offer to the kids, as the box for me is probably relevant only for as long as I am breathing. This downsizing process provides more entertainment than an TV shows could possibly do. And rather than being ashamed of what I have saved and treasured over the years, I find I am proud and very satisfied to relive those special moments that meant so much to me on my journey....and still mean so much to me.

I am thinking of all of us who are going through this process at this point in our lives, and commiserating as I read your posts!

[Travelinana]

Soos, I am a little envious of you going through your treasures. My dad died when I was ten and my mother moved us to a larger town. In doing so she drew a curtain on the past. My grandparents had passed away before I was born so growing up it was really just my immediate family. Mom wasn't sentimental in a family way. She saved things like the dress she wore to our dam dedication which John F Kennedy came for plus lots of newspaper articles about him. By the way this was one month before his assassination. I have saved some special things from my kids and will put them in storage. I am a card saver too but they will be sent to St Judes Hospital in Memphis.

[kelpie]

Sorry dumb question but what does St Judes do with old cards? I assume you mean greeting cards you have received? Never heard of this one.

[Readytogo]

My Mom was a saver. After she died I found all my adoption papers, letters from attornies, notes on my biological parents,my biological mother (but not father's) names. All kinds of stuff. Later I was adopted again (how many people can claim that I wonder?) by my stepdad so I could legally use his name. I empty out a drawer or closet once in awhile but won't do it for good until I have to. But I do think every family has things which should be saved and passed on. Wendy

[bluepinecones]

St Judes has a recycle program:
http://www.stjudesranch.org/shop/recycled-card-program/

[Echo]

Jeeze when I think of all the stuff I have gotten rid of my head spins!!!

I now only have one small box of pictures left over from 3 banana boxes that were full. The kids went thru them all and kept what they wanted and the rest got thrown away. I saved and kept a few very small mementos of my parents. The kids have theirs. All the cards and what not from birthdays, Christmas and Mothers Day I got rid of except for maybe 3 or 4 of them that have very special meaning. What I have left can and does fit in this TT. At least when I die I know that the kids wont have the job of pawing thru tons of stuff that I have kept through out my life. I did not want to leave that most heart breaking job to them. I did it when my Mom passed and when my Dad got killed. It was a job that I never ever wanted my kids to have to do that and go what I went thru.

I like being de-cluttered! And I will like it even more when I get rid of some more 'stuff'!!!

[JudyJB]

Son arrived at 8:00 pm and we just finished packing and organizing everything. I keep breaking into a sweat even with the AC. My throat feels a little funny, maybe from the surgery anesthesia? Or I am coming down with something.

Anyway, I am done and ready for bed. Just have to pack away laptop and unplug modems.

More on Sunday. Wish me luck with the big move. Hope the truck is ready, the movers here show up on time, we have no problems driving it to Ohio, and the movers show up there to unpack it.

Whew.

[Dawn309]

Whew! A lot done! Looking forward to hearing from you on Sunday. Drive safe.

[snowball]

it is a hard thing to do to downsize..did it when DH retired some went some went into storage and some into son's basement storage unit is gone sort of just a small bit down in Quartzsite AZ in a friends storage unit...still have son's basement to go through need to go through pictures and scan what I want into a hard drive ...some of the other stuff will depend upon how I work things out in the future...I have a dress that my grandmother made for me and I wanted to display it so made a doll for it when I was going through some baby stuff was able to get rid of all but a couple one is in the basement and the other well I made a doll for it after all .....all my daughters wore it...
my sisters makes cards and I know how much work goes into it so keep them...but the rest that come and get trashed might have to recycle to St Judes

good luck to all you that are doing that purging
sheila

[Getupngo]

Judy, you are singing to the choir here. I'm totin' and packin' and tossin' like crazy. Tons going to Deseret Industries -- the Mormon Church's variation of Goodwill. Made a trip to the dump today. Right now I have a pile of my late husband's stuff in the living room for my stepdaughter to sift through on Wednesday.

It's tough letting go of "things." To tell the truth, most of what I'm dealing with hasn't seen the light of day for years. I obviously don't need it. I'm feeling lighter already.

[JudyJB]

Horrible Saturday. Son arrived late Friday and helped me for 4 hours to pack the rest of my stuff and organize stuff. He is not very patient. Then I got about 3 hours sleep. I got up at 4 to do some stuff I had forgotten.

THEN, I had ordered a 22' truck, but my son and the counter lady at Penske talked me into a 16' truck. Professional movers arrived and started loading truck--short story is not everything fit. I was exhausted with the heat and cleaning the refrigerator and freezer and the heat. Son bustled about and supervised loading, but as I said he does a lot of yelling and is not very patient, especially with me. However, he really is good and that's just how he deals with stuff. Isn't really being mean. I really couldn't have done it without him.

Movers showed up here in Ohio, and son helped them while I unloaded stuff from Explorer into RV--heavy boxes. finished after 6:00 pm--12 hour day working, so I am feeling really lousy and my toe is swollen and sore. Bandage fell off in morning, so I have been walking around on it with the stitches showing. Just got a shower, cleaned foot, and new and much better bandage with antibiotic ointment.

Got truck loaded, but there is still a pile of stuff in the garage, so he is taking a trailer and driving the 170 miles each way tomorrow to get the rest!! Lesson learned is to always get the next size truck!! What a disaster!

Tomorrow I will spend a couple of hours in the RV putting things away, preferably with no toddlers distract me.