End of 2014

Things haven't changed much since April.

I still have almost nothing on my walls (a few mementos from the wedding, and that's about it). The same month I got married, I also was promoted to the Choir Director at our church, so a few times a week I run rehearsals, and research music for future services. It's a dream come true for me, professionally, but it leaves me very little time to work on the house. My wife and I come home to veg, for the most part.

Our current lease is up in May 2015, and we may move, not really sure.

I have not added much to my material list (a few CD's and a vinyl album, and computer equipment), but haven't significantly reduced, either. As I said in previous posts, I may have hit my material bedrock. I will see how the next move goes.   --JB

Another Year....

I moved back to College Station in April 2013. I was lucky enough to get my job back at Texas A&M (thanks in large part to Balin).

I signed a lease with my then-girlfrend, the lovely Teresa, and she moved her stuff into the house.

After I unpacked, a sort of stagnation settled over my belongings. I have framed pictures and memorabilia which, as of April 2014, are still not hung on walls, they're just in a pile on one table. We haven't been able to settle on a definitive arrangement in the living room, so we rearrange things every few months. I haven't added much to my collection of stuff, but I hard use or access what I have right now, which is very strange.

In January, Teresa and I got married. Fortunately, most of our wedding presents were cool things for the kitchen. So we now have a packed kitchen and living room, but hardly anything but furniture anywhere else in the house.

So, I think I've hit bedrock on the minimum amount of material stuff I can comfortably get rid of. Then next year should be interesting, as we have just signed a new lease that runs until the end of August, 2015.   --JB

2 Years on...

I've lived in Cypress TX since Christmas of 2011. My lease expires the end of this month.

It may be time to move again.

How have I done?

My book collection, once numbering nearly 900, is now down to about 45. There are some titles I absolutely cannot do without (like my first copy of The Forever War by Joe Haldeman), but most of my collection are autographed copies of books I've either gotten signed in person or given to my by good friends.

I still have about 4 milk crates full of vinyl albums. May have to revisit that, since I haven't had a phonograph in 2 years. My latest acquisition was a limited edition vinyl copy of Barry Manilow's 15 Minutes from 2011.

Magazines, gone. I have about 7 or 8 special copies of various commemorative editions, but not many.

Can't bear to part with my photo albums, clumsy as they are. I started compiling the books in 1978, when I got my first instamatic camera. Stacked all together, I have about 7 feet of photo albums. The last physical picture I took was probably in 2004. Been all digital ever since.

All in all, slightly less than I had at the end of 2011. This is taking a lot longer than I thought. --JB

Epic Fail, Pt II

So I finally get an apartment closer to my job. Takes a while for me to get someone to take over the lease for the one I moved into over the summer.

Not having lived with most of this stuff all Autumn, I think it should take no time at all to load into a standard moving truck -- why, I'll probably have extra room!

Wrong....

While it is true I did not technically fill the inside of a 14-foot, 733 cubic feet moving van (there was space at the top), I did manage to take up a good 3/4 of the truck (around 550 cubic feet). And, it took 4 hours to load, mostly because of my procrastination over the last few weeks, not packing when I had the chance.

550 Cubic Feet is not actually a lot of space, especially for a soon-to-be 48 year old living by himself. But it's a far cry from the 'drown in a bathtub' scope of how far I had wanted to reduce my material footprint.

One area I had failed to consider: kitchen equipment. Pots, pans, skillets, crock pots, waffle makers, microwaves, plates, cups, glasses, mugs. Many of my boxes were filled with this stuff, and I can't see parting with any of it, because I use it all at one time or another.

Time to look at everything, again, while repacking, and find out if this goal is even possible.   --JB

Life, the Monkey Wrench of existence...

So, I put down my last box from moving across town, and get a phone call that I've gotten a new job in Houston, 75 miles away!

So, this lovely apartment I have turned into a very expensive storage unit, as I'm staying with a friend in town while I work during the week, and coming home weekends to check my mail and see my friends in College Station.

Since August, I have not unpacked my stuff from the move, with the exception of some kitchen stuff, clothing, and CD's and LP's.  No books, no artwork on the walls, few pieces of furniture. Very interesting. I can actually live without this stuff, after all.    --JB

Epic Fail

Okay, so the big move comes. I moved to a new apartment, only 4 miles from my current one. Having purged a lot of things in the past year, I figure I was close to my original goal of being able to move everything I own in 2 pickup trucks.

Wow. I was so wrong. Last year my move took 12 hours and required 7 pickup loads, and that was only moving a mile. This year it required a week (!), and took 3 pickup loads and 7 loads in my Honda Accord. I spent a total of 55 hours physically moving stuff.

I do have less stuff than last year, but why did it take so much longer?

Media. Books, LP's, CD's, DVD's. Photo albums and slides. The stuff on my 4 shelf units alone took 3 trips to transport. Compared to everything else I own, they are heavy, bulky and dense. Worse yet, most of their function is backup: they sit on the shelf until I need them, to replace a crashed iPod or computer. The rest of the time, I'm stuck with a strange multicolored mosaic of spine art on my shelves.

This year, I forewent the use of cardboard boxes. I hate cardboard. It's not really designed to be much more than a temporary container. The smooth outside surface makes it hard to grip, and it has pitiful holding strength. I put all the books I own into 4 lawn and leaf bags, which was sufficient for the short journey. When I got them to the new place, I chucked the bags into the hall closet. I'm going to conduct and experiment to see how long I can live without physical books on my shelf. (I'm loving my Kindle!)

My music collection has been backed up and duplicated so many times it's hysterical, but I'm still loathe to throw out literally thousands of dollars of vinyl and CD plastic I've been collecting since I was 12. Sometimes I think, if I could just whittle the collection down to the stuff that irreplaceable (like signed copies of albums, promos, test pressings, limited editions, etc) my physical collection would be more manageable. Even that thought doesn't make me want to part with my ultimate backup. I may be losing this battle, after all.

I'm going to see where else I can reduce, and make a new goal for my next move. Stay tuned!   --JB

Countdown

My lease on my current apartment expires next month, and I'm moving. The whole goal of this adventure was to be able to reduce the amount of material I have to move in order to change residences. I will be taking inventory over the next few days to see how I've done.  --JB