When we moved into this Rental here in NY about 16 months ago, I was 8 months preggs with little lion #1 :) He then decided to appear a month early, throwing us completely for a Loop and running around in circles trying to get things situated for him. I'm convinced the stress of packing unpacking and moving brought him to us early but ya just never know. When he was born, we had nothing ready. Despite the planner that I am, we were completely thrown off guard. Months and months of all the friggin research I did on cloth diapers and carseats and comparing safety standards and prices of strollers and cribs and anything under the sun baby related, meant nothing when that day came - 1 month early - when my water broke AT WORK and we didn't have a car seat or his clothes washed or the nursery finished or a hospital bag packed. haha Amateurs! I can laugh at it now looking back. All the madness around his birth, including the 27 hours of labor was completely worth it. Here's a pic of the little monkey on day one (Thanksgiving Nov 2008). Ah, memories!ANYHOO - my POINT is that we never got the chance to Unpack from that move or from our 2 previous moves. We just kept shoving things into the garage aka The Black Hole. It is filled to the BRIM with everything we own from unopened wedding gifts to piles upon piles of baby gear.
Hubs got a bunch of Boxes from Home Depot for us to start filling up and labeling. Organization is KEY (organization is key, Candy. Rinse, Lather, Repeat. Organization is....) We agreed to first organize everything we currently have and be making some serious executive decisions on what to keep and what to chuck. Here are a few "Keeping it real" pictures to show u what the mess looks like day in and day out round here.
This sorting process we are going thru is very therapeutic I must say! Like the HGTV addict that I am, I've made piles of things to Keep, Throw away, Donate and one for Rethink :) It feels so empowering to fill up the THROW AWAY garbage bag but I noticed that I get on a high with it some days thinking I'm much more of a chucker than I really am so I start going nuts throwing away things I shouldn't be which that night as I'm trying to fall asleep, I regret. The next morning, I'll sheepishly tip toe to my throw away bag and quickly grab some things Outta there! I've only allowed myself to pull things OUT of my throw away bag a handful of times. Totally breaking the rules here but the intentions are good!! I feel really awesome to see the DONATE pile get bigger and feel like I'm doing my part to give to others who may need my favorite black and white checkered sweater from 1988 more than I think I need to still have it. :)
Seriously though, why is it SO hard to let go of things u "think" are so dear. If there is some inexplicable reason I just want to keep something, I'll let myself because u can't rationalize ur emotional attachment to certain items But I think deep down we KNOW, we really know whether we're going to find a use or place for said junky item in the future and I say go with the gut! Mine's making most my decisions these days :)
It's getting tiring but we are still chugging along and getting things done! This is my job these days. When I come across an item I'm not so sure about, I try to remind myself how I don;t want to clutter up a brand spankin new beautiful house with clutter and crap. I don't want to be cleansing thru useless junk like this for years to come. It's just amazing how much u collect over the years....How often do you go through a cleansing like this? Just with a move? or monthly junk maintenance? Pls tell me I'm not the only person who collects and is convinced every item is a diamond just waiting to be busted out and used years after the fact?
P.S. Note to self and to others out there in this position - don't start reading Old journals taking a stroll down memory lane. That's another post for another day ://
P.P.S. We have a running joke between us that we can't move houses unless I'm 8 months plus pregnant since that seems to be the tradition we've started. I seriously hope this organizing, packing and unpacking process doesn't put me in early labor....Again. :/
I totally keep saying that.. we always move when I'm WAY WAY pregnant, and we have a baby in every state we live in.. NOT THIS TIME!!! :)
ReplyDeleteOh we can commiserate on the the whole move, only to move again thing... GRRRRR.
I LOVE the part about moving where you get to throw out a ton of stuff... I have 3 boxes that we never opened during the rental part... but they have 'memorabilia' in them.. can't throw out old photo albums.. drat.
Dude.. I did that one day and start looking at old pictures and reading old journals! The things I wrote back then.. It was funny, sad, distrubing, and it was a big mistake!! If I kept it up, I would have put on "Your Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson and called you! :)
ReplyDeleteCarissa - it's so hard when ur in the thick of it! Just. want. to. be. done. I'm not even Close yet. CONGRATS on ur move today.
ReplyDeletePeewee - TOO FUNNY!! u were def a fellow journal writer with me. Mine are embarrassing to read1 ://
I had a similar experience with my first when she came 8 weeks early. We had just moved to ID and the moving truck hadn't even arrived before she decided to come. The stress of moving is bad for pregnancy, that's for sure.
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