One interesting aspect of moving is the realization that your possessions are simply that: possessions.  We made the decision early on not to move most of our furniture, simply due to the condition the items are in.  If you can sell your couch for $50 but it costs $100 to move, it simply doesn’t make financial sense to do it.  There are a few pieces that we are moving, mainly due to sentimental reasons:  a hand-painted stool given as an anniversary present, the kitchen table that has been in the family for decades, and of course our computers that are too expensive to replace.

Today we had our Freecycle “garage cleaning out” event, and we were able to dispose of about 60% of what was out there. It’s not a bad result, and only required an hour of our time.  Our goal is to get rid of all unwanted items, so that Nick doesn’t need to deal with it on his moving day. We have the items up under the “free” section of Craigslist, and we’ve already had a couple of bites on our TV armoire, so we’re hopeful that we will be able to give it away.   Our city does not have a bulky pick-up, so any unwanted items needs to be brought to the drop-off site.  Nick is renting a U-Haul truck for July 21st to clear out his bedroom and take our mattress set to his apartment, and the back-up plan is that he will remove any of our unwanted furniture for us, by bringing it to the disposal site.

We needed to buy more packing tape, so we went to Wal-Mart afterwards, where we made an interesting discovery:  they sell boxes, and at about half the price U-Haul charges.  We picked up a few, but I anticipate we’ll be needing to go back and get some more.  We’re nearing the end of our packing, and we don’t mind paying for a few to get the job done.   A word to the wise:  you will need way more boxes than you anticipate; start collecting them early.  We have needed to pack our boxes more securely than if we were just moving across town; which requires the use of more boxes, tape, and paper than we have utilized in the past.  Currently we have 206 boxes packed; which seems like a lot but realize some of these boxes are smaller boxes that Nick was able to bring home from the restaurant: free is free after all!  We don’t even want to consider how many boxes we would have needed if we had kept all our belongings:  we estimate that we have disposed of approximately sixty percent of our possessions.  Only pack what you truly treasure, as it will save you time and money in the long run. ♥