Impending Move - YIKES

[venturous]

Dear intrepid Unclutterers:

I am facing an impending move, end of October!
I downsized radically two years ago, so there is much less to deal with. But I am also a bit less mobile due to knee pain. I cant power through like I used to .

Planning is required. Here's where I could really benefit from suggestions.

The way I used to approach it:

• clipboard + sharpie
• 1 page per room or closet
• pitch/give away/keep

This time, I'm actually starting with a minimum basic list of KEEP. I'm hoping to pare it down even further. that means a lot of what came with me will need to be released.

STORAGE ugh
I know what happens with storage - I have friends who have struggled to pay for storage for years and never done anything with their stuff. or worse. but.....

ART STUDIO That is the part of life its always been a struggle to afford, and is dearest to my heart. I have several big peices (the flat file is the most precious, followed by an enamel top table, then a sturdy canvas storage shelf built of plywood, and a tall metal cabinet - things useful and expensive to replace)


all ideas and encouragement accepted!
BOOKS I reduced my library by 70% last move, and still have 16 liquor boxes (the best for books - small & sturdy!) of art books.

Comments

[fred_mouse]

and another thought - go back to areas repeatedly. What you can't see on day one, or two, or maybe three, is suddenly obvious the next day. An anecdote to illustrate:

I was once part of a lifehack community. One week, the task was to go to the linen cupboard *every day* and work out what was no longer needed. On day one, there was *nothing* to declutter. I grumbled, because having done that, what was the point of doing it for a week? On day two, I reluctantly went back [this may have been day three], and found a used-to-be-white pillowcase that I hated using, which I promptly moved to the scrap fabric box, because no point in taking one thing to charity, especially something they might not use. On about day five, I opened the linen cupboard, and found myself stunned that we had *so much* unnecessary stuff in there. I filled a bin bag with reasonable quality linen, etc; plus found towels to be repurposed. There is still more in there that I could have decluttered at the time, but I wasn't ready to see it.

[nou]

I love this tip — thank you!

[finch]

This is a very good point! I did something similar with our books when we were moving cross-country, and it was amazing to me how I found more books to get rid of every time.

[fred_mouse]

I think we've decluttered the kids' books on average once a year for over a decade (eldest is 16) - what surprises me every time is not just how many we have, but how many we get rid of and *still* fill multiple bookshelves.