We finally got “the call” yesterday from the “Removal” company – had a bit of a chuckle over that one! – the one we’ve been waiting so patiently (?) for… we’ve heard rumours about how this move works and have been making decisions based on pretty much no information about what to do with all of our STUFF. Since we knew we were doing this we’ve been going through the tedious exercise of sorting through years of accumulated STUFF, deciding what to bring, what to donate and what needs to be trashed.   A couple of things that have really helped when the volume of the task begins to overwhelm is to ask “Have I used this in the last year?” and “Can I live without it?” and most recently “Does it ‘spark joy’?”  I found the last approach really useful when sorting through my clothes and books.  I read Marie Kondo’s book about the Japanese Art of tidying and decided to try applying her principal of ‘spark joy’.  It was amazing how much more quickly I was able to accomplish sorting when I tuned into that feeling of ‘joy’ that happens when holding an item that makes you feel great, and allows you to easily part with those pants from 15 years and 3 children ago that you really thought you “might” fit into one day!  It seems to me a very positive, in-the-moment approach – RIGHT NOW, how do you feel about said item?

I feel ridiculously sentimental about books.  I have a cherished collection of the most beautiful children’s picture books that have come into my life over the years, often at just the right time.  They have brought me and my students and my own children much joy – there is nothing like sharing a beautifully written story with little people.    I waffled on whether or not to take our books at all – it seems like a lot of extra weight and technically, I’ve read them all (many times!).  We talked about maybe just storing them here.  But then to go 5 years without my books by choice just doesn’t sit right.  If the moving company takes the choice away from me, I will comply, but I’m sincerely hoping that my stories can all come along.  I’m determined to improve their odds by weeding out the doubles, the ones that are too juvenile for the kids now and keep only those that ‘spark joy’.   I now have many boxes of books for donation.  Feel a bit of remorse over the realization that we’ve had SO MUCH STUFF taking up space that we now know we could definitely have lived without.  Looking so forward to living lighter moving forward.  How much STUFF do we REALLY need? What are those “things” in our life that add to it or are really useful and make living easier?  Why hang onto that which weighs us down?   We are often baffled by our STUFF, the sheer amount that we’ve accumulated; we repeatedly wonder as we work through our closets and drawers and garage WHY we’ve moved the same STUFF probably three times now…(you never know when it might come in handy)… and now some very objectively detached-from-OUR-STUFF strangers from a moving company hired by The Company will determine the kind of space needed to move it all.  And might tell us to pare down some more…