VERY slowly paring down the possessions.
Jessica | August 28, 2008 3:16 pmI’m back in Long Beach now, but had a nice visit in San Diego. Got some work for KJAZZ done. Got some work on my own projects done. Watched too much tv (damn that House marathon!) Also did a bit of cleaning though I had hoped to have sorted and thrown out more stuff. Ahh well. Some of it is gone anyway, and the rest is slightly more organized.
The problem I always have is that I can’t bear to just throw things away. If I want to get rid of something I feel the need to either use it up or find a home for it. And books, of course must be read before I can even consider getting rid of them. I don’t buy many books anymore, but I’m still working my way through all that I got when I volunteered an NPR and picked up 4-5 books each week from the shelves where the reporters left the ones they got from publishers.
Anyway, progress made this last week. Being far away from my stuff certainly helps me realize how little I actually need/want around me. Moving from the van to the prius, even more so. Just got to figure out what I can get rid of completely. Every little bit I do here will make the boxes of stuff easier to deal with once I decide to settle down.
8 Responses to “VERY slowly paring down the possessions.”
Ben has a floating holiday today and I’m playing hooky and we’re going to go through at least some of our stuff and get rid of the stuff that we don’t need or haven’t used in the last year or is redundant since we have two of them. I usually weed when I move and since we’re not moving this year (yay!) I thought we should spend a day doing it.
Yeah, that’s the nice thing about moving. It forces you to think about everything and ask yourself if it’s worth the trouble to keep it.
Good luck with it today!
We have (or are in the process of) trashing/recycling three computers, four boxes of clothes/shoes, 20 wonky 3-ring binders, and about 400 lbs of paper. And, the office looks great (except for Ben’s desk)!
Wow, sounds like a very productive day!
Where are you recycling the computers? I have an old laptop to get rid of (the one that a drunken Ben broke the screen on, I might add :) )
Staples takes old PCs for $10 each (how Ben got rid of his) and Apple takes old macs for free at (I think) any Apple retail store (how I got rid of mine)
Thanks, I’ll check out Staples.
hello, i just found your blog and i am enjoying reading .. i sold my house this spring, i had been living in my van 9 mo at that point.. traveling to avoid cold weather and see the sights.. i had lived in that place over 15 yrs.. i now have a small storage unit with the reminder of my things..mostly the antiques that i bought because they reminded me of my grandparents farm house, and i am not ready to loose them.. one day i may put togather a cabin and those items will complete it.. i did free cycle, and gave things to family and friends.. i was suprised how little ‘things’ meant to me. it felt better to lighten my load. i traded my truck and some furniture for the camera and lenses i had always hoped to own.. (much easier to travel with too). thanks for blogging.. take care.. diane
Hi Diane,
Thanks for the note. You’re sort of in the situation I’m sort of trying to avoid by doing my traveling early in life before I’ve gathered much stuff. Which isn’t to say that I don’t have more than I need at my parent’s place, but at least most of what’s there is easily packable in boxes and isn’t furniture or larger items.
Good luck with your travels! Hope everything goes smoothly for you and you get lots of good pictures taken!
Care to comment?